Noah Hawley’s Star Trek Movie: All We Know
An original Star Trek movie concept being developed by writer/director Noah Hawley.
This article is more than 2 years old
Paramount Pictures has officially announced that another Star Trek movie is happening, but what exactly that movie will be is up in the air. Currently there are three possibilities. One would be Star Trek 4, a sequel to Star Trek: Beyond. Another would be an idea from Quentin Tarantino. The other is what we’re talking about here, an original Star Trek concept being developed by writer/director Noah Hawley.
Unfortunately, Noah Hawley’s Star Trek movie has now been put on hold at Paramount. It’s unclear, at this point, if it’ll ever be made.
Should production restart, here’s everything we know about Noah Hawley’s Star Trek movie, so far.
Who Is Noah Hawley?
After many stops and starts, it seems the studio has hired Noah Hawley to work on an idea for the next Star Trek movie. Hawley has earned a name in the industry for his work on the television series Fargo and Legion, where he’s known for great character development.
Most recently Hawley directed his first film: Lucy in the Sky. This story about a NASA astronaut returning to life on Earth was a total flop at the box office, earning only $54,058 in total. No one saw it. Worse, the movie was reviled by critics. It currently has a dismal 22% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite this, Paramount is giving Noah Hawley a chance as both writer and director for one of the three ideas being developed as Star Trek 4.
The Plot of Noah Hawley’s Star Trek Movie
Word is that Noah Hawley’s movie would totally ditch the current Star Trek cast composed of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest.
Noah Hawley himself seemed to confirm this when asked directly by the press if Chris Pine and the rest of the Kelvin timeline cast were going to be in his Star Trek movie he had this to say: “I have my own take on Star Trek… Star Trek is about exploration and humanity at its best, and diversity and creative problem solving. For me, it’s about 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’ve got to write a script.”
His answer is vague but it sounds like he’s not married to the idea of bringing back the same cast. It does almost sounds like he’s planning to reboot the entire franchise and remake it in his own image.
Adding fuel to the Noah Hawley reboot fire are comments from actor Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the Kelvin timeline films. When asked about Noah Hawley’s Star Trek movie he had this to say: “I don’t know anything about it. Noah Hawley’s been hired to write something for Star Trek, which is very exciting. He’s a brilliant writer and always creates interesting stuff. Whether or not we’re involved in that, I don’t know. I don’t think so. I don’t think that Noah’s thing is necessarily going to be Star Trek 4. I’m talking out of my ass, as usual. But we’ll see what happens with that.”
So Hawley’s Star Trek movie will NOT be Star Trek 4 and will not be a sequel to Star Trek: Beyond. It may not even be set in the Kelvinverse at all.
Instead, Noah Hawley’s Star Trek story would be a totally original concept set in the world of Star Trek, involving some kind of deadly virus according to the Trades. That sounds a little pedantic for a Star Trek story but maybe he has an original spin. The timing of it is not ideal though, coming in the middle of a global pandemic. It’s not surprising that Paramount may be considering scrapping his project and going a different direction. More on that in a minute.
Is Noah Hawley’s Star Trek Movie Still Happening?
That right, even though Noah Hawley was officially announced as the director of the next Star Trek movie, he may end up being fired before he shoots a single frame. Paramount has since announced that his movie is only one of three possible Star Trek movies they’re considering. And they’re only going to pick one of them to actually produce. To find out what the other two movies are, go here.
That said, for now Noah Hawley is still working on his Star Trek concept. Previously we got an update from composer Jeff Russo. Russo has done scoring for Star Trek: Picard and apparently he’s also friends with Noah Hawley.
Russo says he’s been talking to Hawley about the score for his Star Trek, which indicates that Hawley is on some level still working on the movie. However, those discussions don’t sound very serious. Here’s what Russo told ComicBook.com…
“We have had conversations about what it might sound like, what it might be, what he’s thinking. Nothing is set in stone right now. The movie is still in development and still being written and there are lots of pieces that need to get put into place, so who knows what’s going to happen?
But Noah and I are close friends as well and we talk about music all the time and talk about that and talk about the Star Trek that I’m already doing and we talk about that and right now we’re working on Fargo so there’s always talk about that. This was two people who are artistic talking about what the possibilities are for what the new Star Trek movie could sound like or could have in it or could be.”
— Composer Jeff Russo
Which Star Trek Movie Do You Want?
Three possible movies. Only one will be the next Star Trek. Cast your vote for the one you want below…
