Star Trek fans are in for a bit of bad news. The long-gestating Star Trek 4, the planned sequel to 2016's Star Trek Beyond, appears to have been put on indefinite hold.

The news comes from Deadline, who's reporting that the movie has been shelved following the departure of its director, SJ Clarkson, who has just been recruited by HBO to helm and executive produce its secretive Game of Thrones spinoff/prequel pilot.

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Star Trek 4 has been stuck in development ever since the release of Beyond three years ago. At first, it was said that the movie would reunite Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk with his on-screen father George Kirk, who was played by a pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe Chris Hemsworth in J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot movie. Star Trek 4 was set to somehow employ some form of time travel to bring father and son together again for a daring new adventure.

However, it was later reported that both actors had walked away from the project following pay disputes. The fate of the movie was then put into question, although stars such as Karl Urban and John Cho remained hopeful that the film would still happen. In early 2018, SJ Clarkson was tapped to become the first female director to helm a Star Trek movie. Now however, Clarkson has departed the project and she is now set to helm the pilot episode of HBO's next Game of Thrones series.

The untitled prequel series was created by George R.R. Martin and Jane Goldman, and is set to take place thousands of years before the events of the fan-favorite Game of Thrones television series.

However, it's not all bad news for Star Trek fans. While Star Trek 4 may have been shelved, there are still many adventures to look forward to on the small screen. For one thing, the new season of Star Trek: Discovery will premiere on CBS All Access in just a few weeks. On top of that, Lower Decks, an animated Star Trek comedy series from Rick and Morty scribe Mike McMahan is currently in production, as is a new live-action series based on Sir Patrick Stewart's beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation character, Jean-Luc Picard.

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Returning on Thursday, January 17, on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Shazad Latif, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, Mary Chieffo, Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Michelle Yeoh.