Matt Shakman departs Star Trek 4

'Star Trek 4' has lost its director.

Matt Shakman, who was due to helm the upcoming film, has dropped out due to a scheduling conflict over his work with 'Fantastic Four' for Marvel Studios.

Paramount Pictures said in a statement: "Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming 'Star Trek' film. We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around world."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the search for a new director will get underway immediately.

'Star Trek 4' is set to follow-on from 2016's Star Trek Beyond', which starred Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk.

Along with Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg are set to reprise their roles as Spock and Scotty, respectively, while Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (Bones) and John Cho (Sulu) are also attached to the sequel.

The late Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov, sadly died before 2016's 'Star Trek Beyond' hit cinemas, and it's not known if his character will return with another actor.

JJ Abrams - who previously rebooted the series - has teased that they will take "'Star Trek' into areas that you’ve just never seen before".

Announcing the fourth movie, he said: "We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new 'Star Trek' film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take 'Star Trek' into areas that you’ve just never seen before.

"We’re thrilled about this film, we have a bunch of other stories that we’re talking about that we think will be really exciting, so can’t wait for you to see what we’re cooking up. But until then, live long and prosper."