Thanks to Star Trek Discovery and the upcoming Picard series, Star Trek feels fresh in a way it hasn’t in a long time. That’s on the streaming side, though; while the big screen franchise is venturing into undiscovered country. With Simon Pegg suggesting the upcoming Star Trek movie by Noah Hawley won’t be a sequel, and may even boast a totally new cast, Hawley’s recent comments to Deadline throw gasoline on the fire.
While Hawley doesn’t spill any plot info, he’s eager to lean into the mystery surrounding the cast of his Star Trek movie…
“I have my own take on ‘Star Trek,’” said Hawley. “And going back to what I loved about the series ‘Next Generation,’ when a lot of franchises focus on ‘might makes right,’ ‘Star Trek’ is about exploration and humanity at its best, and diversity and creative problem-solving.”
He added, “There’s nothing better than that moment when William Shatner puts on his reading glasses and lowers Khan’s shields. It doesn’t cost anything. But it’s that triumphant feeling about smarting your enemy. For me it’s about to getting to those elements of the show. I don’t necessarily find action in and of itself interesting unless it’s story. So, it’s early days, I’m still talking with Paramount and I have a take and I gotta write a script.”
As for whether his movie will tie-in with the Star Trek universe being built over on CBS Access, Hawley says he isn’t beholden to anything but the property itself…
“I have my own story and want to make sure as I did with ‘Fargo’ and ‘Legion’ that I’m respectful to the underlying material. That I’m not unintentionally changing things that people love or feel passionate about. So, it’s important to do that research as I go.”
So Pegg wasn’t wrong, and it makes me wonder if we’ll ever see those characters again or if Star Trek Beyond is how they’ll go out. At least to me, Hawley isn’t the most inspiring filmmaker, especially after Lucy in the Sky, but I’m curious to see where Star Trek goes from here.
