The Star Trek franchise is moving on from the J.J. Abrams-initiated Kelvin Timeline, which debuted in 2009. Directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who are developing a new Star Trek film, confirmed in an interview that their project will not feature any characters from the Kelvin-verse.
This new film will instead tell an original story set in a different era, described by Goldstein and Daley as "a different time, not a different timeline per se, but it’s a little further in the future." They noted that their vision draws inspiration from films like "Crimson Tide" and "Training Day," and that it will not include any legacy characters.
The Kelvin Timeline, named after the USS Kelvin which encountered a vengeful group of Romulans, was instrumental in revitalizing the Star Trek franchise. The rebooted movies not only propelled stars like Chris Pine and Zoe Saldaña to fame but also contributed to the resurgence of Star Trek on television. This era also saw an expansion into comic books through IDW Publishing, which released a series of stories set within the Kelvin-verse, further exploring its universe.
Despite the success of the Kelvin Timeline, a planned fourth film in the series never materialized. Paramount has since sought to launch a new Star Trek film, cycling through directors before Goldstein and Daley took on the project. While the Kelvin-verse movies may be concluding, their visual style, particularly the sleeker design of the Enterprise introduced by J.J. Abrams, appears to have influenced more recent television series such as "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
Although a new movie set in the Kelvin Timeline is unlikely, the era did receive a sendoff in IDW's "Star Trek" comic series. Writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, along with artist Angel Hernandez, created a story where the starship USS Theseus travels into the Kelvin-verse, allowing for interactions between crews from different eras of Star Trek. This comic served as a narrative conclusion for the Kelvin-verse and highlighted its significant impact on the franchise's history.