Paramount may have been forced to publicly deny that they’d given up on making Star Trek movies entirely, which is hardly surprising when the franchise has raked in close to $2.3 billion at the box office, but none of the four projects in development stand a chance of entering production at any point in the near future.
Quentin Tarantino’s R-rated effort and a pitch made by Wrath of Khan producer Robert Sallin always felt rooted more in wishful thinking and hope rather than reality, so in the eyes of most people, it was a two-horse race between the canonical Star Trek 4 featuring the return of the Kelvin crew and Noah Hawley’s new take on the beloved sci-fi series, which would have served as another clean slate.
The former has already faced several major setbacks in terms of personnel, and it was recently announced that Hawley’s movie had also been placed on the back burner. In fact, in a recent interview, the Legion and Fargo showrunner admitted that the film isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
“It doesn’t appear to be in my immediate future. I think when Paramount President Emma Watts came in, she took a look at the franchise and wanted to go in a different direction with it. But you know, life is long, we were very close to production but in this business that doesn’t mean much. You got to get out of the gate to be in the race, if you know what I mean.”
The jury’s out on whether or not fans and general audiences would rather have the Kelvin gang return or see a fresh spin on the mythology, but Hawley was certainly talking up his movie as a return to the roots of Star Trek, one which would have focused less on the blockbuster spectacle and more on the sort of resonant themes and ideas which have always been such a key part of the brand’s long lasting appeal. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t look as though we’ll be seeing either of them, but on the plus side, the small screen timeline is mapped out until at least 2027.
