Star Trek: The Motion Picture 1979. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Preview:
- 'Andor' director Toby Haynes is joining a new 'Star Trek' movie.
- Seth Grahame-Smith will write the screenplay for the new film.
- It's just one of the “Trek” movies in development.
Ever since “Star Trek Beyond” premiered in 2016, things have been eerily quiet on the big screen Trek front. While the TV side of things has gone from strength to strength with series like “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Star Trek: Picard,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and other universe-expanding series to streaming success, it felt that Paramount didn't really have a solid direction for the films.
Various ideas have been floated, but nothing has come to fruition. So we're understandably skeptical––though excited––about news of another one.
What is the latest 'Star Trek' movie in development?
Star Trek: The Motion Picture 1979. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
As reported by Deadlinethe new film will take place years before Captain Kirk (Chris Pine, at least assuming his setting is within the alternate “Kelvin” timeline established in JJ Abrams' 2009 “Star Trek.
Toby Haynes, who did a great job as one of the main directors on the recent Star Wars series, 'Ador', will oversee this series, while Seth Grahame-Smith (no stranger to the genre, having written the likes of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and producer of the “It” movies and more, will pen the script.Abrams will produce.
Related Article: Rebecca Romijn and Anson Mount Talk 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2
Does this replace the discussed fourth mainline 'Star Trek' movie?
(L to R) Anton Yelchin, Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho and Zoe Saldana in 'Star Trek' (2009). Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
For now, it looks like the studio is still going full speed ahead on the next 'Trek' movie with Pine and the rest. Or at least still developing it. Little is known about the film, which at different times had Matt Shakman –– who has since left to focus on Marvel's “Fantastic Four”–– and previously, SJ Clarkson directing.
It looks like Paramount's film arm is looking to take a page from its TV side and have several projects in the pipeline.
Which brings us to…
What about Quentin Tarantino's Trek movie?
Quentin Tarantino accepts the Academy Award for Original Screenplay for 'Django Unchained' during the Oscars® telecast live on ABC from the Dolby® Theater in Hollywood, California, Sunday, February 24, 2013.
There was, for a while, great excitement over the idea of Quentin Tarantino directing a “Star Trek” movie.
There was an idea –– a spin on a planet full of gangsters, inspired by a classic “Trek” episode called “A Piece of the Action” – and a script written by Mark L. Smith of “The Revenant”. The plan was to deliver something that would be very different from the usual “Trek” style (though “Discovery” and its partners have long introduced swearing to the universe), with a hard R rating.
But with Tarantino having long said he planned to retire after one more film, it seems he didn't want this film to be a “Star Trek” outing.
Here's what Smith told Variety about the matter:
“Quentin and I went back and forth, he would do some stuff on it and then he started worrying about his number, his unofficial number of movies. I remember we were talking, and he says, 'If I can just wrap my head around the idea that 'Star Trek' could be my last movie, the last thing I ever do. Is this how I want to end it?' And I think that was the blow that he was never able to deal with, so the script is still sitting there on his desk.”
Less “going boldly” than “going around boldly”, then. Here's hoping Haynes' film has more luck.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture 1979. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
