Why Chris Pine’s Star Trek Comeback Won’t Be On Instagram
Chris Pine isn't on Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media sites.
As Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek‘s Kelvin timeline, Chris Pine is willing to go where no one has gone before. But in real life, there are a few places Pine won’t go.
Namely, you won’t find Chris Pine on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook — at least not under his own accounts, because his accounts don’t exist. The actor has some specific reasons for this and they are why this is unlikely to change anytime soon.
CHRIS PINE SAYS HE HAS NO INTEREST IN SOCIAL MEDIA
USA Today asked Chris Pine about his absence from social media in January 2014, and the actor’s answer was simple — he likes it that way. Pine said he had “no interest” in social media.
The Star Trek actor cited what he sees as a threat to privacy represented by social media’s prominence in our daily lives. “Privacy is not as guaranteed, is not as respected, cherished or desired as it once was,” Pine said.
The actor added that he thought social media is taking away from what he calls “the authentic experience.” Chris Pine gave the example of Instagram posts about “The Perfect Wedding” or “The Perfect Weekend,” and how they supposedly inspired people to “compare themselves” to the images and try to compete with them.
It’s certainly not the first time such criticisms have been aimed at social media and it almost certainly won’t be the last.
Still, Pine fell short of damning the concept of social media altogether. He pointed to how instrumental Twitter was to the Arab Spring, and even admitted to admiring how Dwayne Johnson uses social media. Pine said there are “wonderful things to do” with social media, but that he simply has no interest.
CHRIS PINES EX-GIRLFRIEND ANNABELLE WALLIS IS ON INSTAGRAM
So is there a way to follow Chris Pine on Instagram or other social media sites through another account? Well, it’s not easy. One way to find shy celebrities is through their less-shy romantic partners, but in this case, there’s no luck.
Up until this year, Pine had been dating English actress Annabelle Wallis since 2018, and unlike Pine, she has active Instagram and Twitter accounts. But apparently, Pine is just as shy when his partner is taking the pictures because you won’t find the actor in Wallis’ social media feeds.
One way to find some updates on just about any actor is to follow the social media accounts of whatever films they have in production. This works particularly well with someone like Chris Pine, who usually appears as a leading man. It’s not foolproof, however.
For example, Pine currently has five films in various levels of production and yet the only one taking advantage of social media at all is the psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling. The film has an Instagram page.
THERE ARE SOCIAL MEDIA FAN PAGES
For now, it seems like the best way to keep track of Chris Pine on Instagram or any other social media site is through fan pages. There’s a Pine fan page on Instagram, though it doesn’t update very often.
A better option is Twitter’s Chris Pine Network. Operating since 2007, the CPN’s feed is much more likely to have recent images and Chris Pine-related news. It’s not quite as intimate as an actor’s personal account, but it’s better than nothing.
Chris Pine’s absence on social media is likely a source of frustration for quite a lot of fans. The actor enjoys a dedicated fan base who refer to themselves as “Pine Nuts.”
The separate phenomena of Pine Nuts and Benedict Cumberbatch fans — referring to themselves as “Cumberbitches” — led to a now legendary segment of BBC’s The Graham Norton Show in which the titular host went through the crowd to find how far people had traveled. While most of the people Norton talked to were there for Cumberbatch, at least one woman had flown all the way from Japan just to see Chris Pine.
The name “Pine Nuts” has led, unsurprisingly, to some funny references to Chris Pine on Instagram and Twitter. For example, in the 2018 historical action drama Outlaw King, Pine plays Robert the Bruce and he has a full frontal nude scene in the film.
When a Twitter user let the world know about the scene, the Chris Pine Network retweeted the announcement, clarifying that the name of Pine’s fandom came long before “we got to see his pine nuts.”
THERE IS NO CHRIS PINE INSTAGRAM OR TWITTER, BUT STAR TREK COULD BE ON THE WAY
Giant Freakin Robot was one of the first to have the exclusive that Chris Pine was returning to the Star Trek franchise and would be reprising his role as Captain James T. Kirk.
It was exciting news for Trekkies out there that the Kelvin Timeline was going to be alive and kicking in this franchise. And along with this, there was great positivity that the rest of this prequel cast was also going to make their collective way back to the Enterprise.
Among others, that would look to include Zachary Quinto as Spock, Simon Pegg as Scotty, and Karl Urban as Bones. This has yet to be fully confirmed by the studio, though there remains hope that we will get another story in this space. A Star Trek 4 has been a long time coming with numerous starts and stops over the years following 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.
Chris Pine opened up recently about why he thought some of the Star Trek movies and properties had “struggled” compared to another major studio franchise, like what’s happening with Marvel.
In this way, he was mostly speaking about the financial expectations for Star Trek as compared to the MCU. He believed that some of the “disappointment” was related simply to the comparisons and not to what the Star Trek franchise was actually accomplishing.
He’d even hinted at going a bit smaller with these movies going forward, not needing them to be billion-dollar upside films when it came to the production budgets.
It’s not clear where this movie is in the pipeline, or if it’s going to happen at all. Fans are still holding out hope, especially after seeing Pine in Don’t Worry Darling and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The latter movie is likely to get a sequel as well.
