If you thought the violent action of Star Trek: Discovery is hardcore, get ready for Reservoir Trek. Famously bloody film director Quentin Tarantino might helm the next big budget Star Trek film. And that means, the creative team of Simon Pegg and Doug Jung are probably history and that rumored time-travel movie with Chris Hemsworth won’t happen at all.
On Monday, Deadline reported that Tarantino has pitched a concept to J.J. Abrams and is has “the plan is to assemble a writers room,” to craft the new film. Though Abrams didn’t direct 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, he is apparently still serving as the producer of the Star Trek films in some capacity. According to Deadline, “Paramount declined comment,” if this rumor was accurate or not.
If Tarantino’s idea for a new Star Trek movie becomes a reality, it would probably mean whatever Simon Pegg and Star Trek Beyond director Doug Jung were working on back in 2016 will be scrapped. It’s also unclear if this new project would follow the continuity of the current reboot films, or begin another separate series entirely. Relevantly, the rights to Star Trek feature films are controlled separately from Star Trek on TV; the films are in the Paramount camp, while CBS has Trek on TV. This means, direct crossovers between Discovery and any new film are very, very unlikely. (Even though we still think the Beyond uniforms are kind of referenced on Discovery)
Swap it for a phaser?
Star Trek Beyond ended with Captain Kirk and the gang watching as a new starship Enterprise was being constructed. In the ongoing comic book series set after these events — IDW’s Boldly Go — it’s been revealed the crew didn’t get to jump on that new Enterprise right away, but instead, have split up to different assignments while the Starfleet finishes up the new ship. While it’s unlikely a new film will reference any of this, one could speculate that the days of Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk and company are over. In August of this year, Karl Urban — who plays Bones in the new movies — said: “If Beyond is the note that we end it on – as sad as that is – I am actually happy with that film.”
So, if a new director and writing team are brought on board, it’s possible that Star Trek Beyond will be the last we see of Kelvin Universe on the big screen, forever.
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