Zachary Quinto Reveals ‘Star Trek’ Cast Would Be ‘Happy to Jump on Board’ for Possible Fourth Movie (Exclusive)

Since its arrival almost six decades ago, unknowingly venturing into an immersive abyss of movie franchises and television spinoffs, it’s no secret Star Trek has remained a longstanding enterprise loved by audiences far and wide. After the series returned to the big screen with J.J Abrams’s vision in 2009, later spawning two more movies in 2013 and 2016, fans have since wondered if the cast would return for a fourth movie. Star Trek star Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the trilogy, told PopCulture.com exclusively in a telephone conversation on April 5 that he is sure the cast would “be happy to jump back on board” if another movie were to happen.

“Honestly, I have no real idea what’s going on with Star Trek. [But] we all love each other and we all love that experience and I’m sure if it comes back around and we’re all available, I’m sure we’d be happy to jump back on board. No pun intended,” Quinto told PopCulture. “But I don’t know — that’s in other people’s hands and I know I, for one, have had sort of moved on in terms of any kind of expectations, but you never know things come back in surprising ways and it’s surprising times, and it could be fun if it happens.”

With the Star Trek franchise continuing to thrive in TV with Discovery and Picard — both streaming on Paramount+ and available to new subscribers with a free trial — there’s clearly a steadfast interest in reviving these kinds of stories for a larger, more expansive scope of storytelling. In keeping with how the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded its catalog on Disney+ with WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Quinto weighs in a hypothetical should the Abrams vision ever receive the same treatment with their movies and characters branching out, including the possibility of a Spock-led series.

“It’s so hard to say. I consider anything and everything that comes into my experience and I consider it on an individual basis based on criteria that are specific to that time and those circumstances. It’s hard to be theoretical about things,” Quinto told PopCulture, reiterating while he has not moved on from the character, he is not going to “feel attached” to any expectations just yet. “I love that character. I love that world. I think there’s a lot of possibilities of storytelling in there and I’d certainly be open to any conversation, but it depends on the who, what, where when and how and why — and like all those questions that can only be answered in specifics, not necessarily hypothetically. So we’ll see.”

While uncertainty looms over the Star Trek movie franchise and any possibilities of a fourth film — though news broke Friday that an untitled installment would be arriving June 9, 2023 — fans of Quinto can hear the actor take on a whole new role with the Audible Original series, Sorry Charlie Miller. The comedy-mystery series of twists and turns from writers Tanner Cohen and David Ludwig, and producer Will Malnati of At Will Media, finds Quinto playing the role of Mark Green, a police department employee turned “detective” who sets out to find D-list reality TV star Charlie Miller (Ashley Benson) after she goes missing.

Quinto tells PopCulture he is happy to be able to share the series with fans after he, the cast and crew recorded it last year during the height of the pandemic. “It’s great to be able to share it with the world finally and to hear it,” he told PopCulture of the 10-part series now available on Audible. “You’d never know that it was put together in such an uncertain time. […] It sounds real. Like we were all able to go to studios and be together, and if only that were the case.”

Quinto, who has also lent his voice to Netflix‘s Big Mouth and Amazon Prime’s Invincible, has been having a lot of fun with voiceover work. But with Audible raising the bar for creative storytelling and podcasting with its original scripted series across a catalog brimming with authenticity, Quinto shares that this medium has emerged into mass appeal thanks to its digestibility.

“During the pandemic, all of the ways in which we digest content have shifted and people have, I think generally, a lot more time on their hands and a lot more situations in which they can experience content,” he said. “I think audio content and podcasts and audio dramas, or audio comedies, or books on tape, or they just become something that you can bring with you wherever you go. So, you can be in the car, you can be at the gym, you can be on a hike, you can be in the world doing your things and listening to stuff.”

The 43-year-old adds how Audible and all the mediums of which content is streamed opens up “a whole new portal of opportunities for these kinds of stories” for the masses. “And audiences seem really keen to have a wide variety of things to choose from,” Quinto said. “I’m really thrilled that we’re able to contribute to that. I know we’ve gotten a lot of really positive feedback and the podcasts are doing really well. And it’s exciting to be able to share with the world in this way.”

Brightly blending the TikTok-era with sharp, witty comedy against a mysterious backdrop of intrigue against popular culture, Quinto admits recording the series during the midst of a pandemic was “another really interesting aspect” to the overall experience, which he hopes brings a natural reprieve for listeners. “We want people to have some place they can go and feel like there’s some levity to experience,” he said, sharing how he hopes Sorry Charlie Miller brings a little “fun” to everyone’s life. “The best humor I think is rooted in reality and so I think the kind of reflection back at audiences to the culture we live in and making fun of it and embracing it, I think is all part of this experience and that’s what I’d really love people to identify.”

All 10 episodes of Sorry Charlie Miller are currently available at Audible. For more with Zachary Quinto, all your favorite Audible Original series, Star Trek news and more, keep it locked to PopCulture for the latest in entertainment headlines.