We’re definitely getting at least one Star Trek movie in the near future, it just isn’t clear yet in which direction it’ll be headed. The rebooted Kelvin timeline kicked off by J.J. Abrams a decade ago may have done decent business at the box office, but in general terms, the films didn’t post big enough numbers to justify budgets of at least $150 million apiece, with Abrams’ Into Darkness the highest-grossing entry with a solid-if-unspectacular $467 million global haul.
The fourth installment has already suffered some major setbacks, with original director S.J. Clarkson and returning star Chris Hemsworth both jumping ship, while Chris Pine initially walked away from the franchise before being convinced to return. Legion showrunner Noah Hawley is currently developing the project, but based on his recent comments it sounds as though he might be planning to reboot the series again, and even Simon Pegg isn’t sure what the future holds for the Kelvin crew despite his role as a key cast member and co-writer on the last movie.
There was also Quentin Tarantino’s brief flirtation with an R-rated Star Trek that he eventually lost interest in, and now it turns out that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan producer Robert Sallin is also working on a pitch for a new movie that would run parallel to Hawley’s, as he admitted in a recent interview.
“I don’t have it completely written, but I have a lot of it written. I have a concept for another Star Trek feature that I’ve had discussions with Paramount about, at least on the phone. This one I guarantee you is unlike anything that has been done in Star Trek, and it will be part of the canon, but they don’t want to talk about it until they see what Noah Hawley does.”
He may have been heavily involved with what’s widely regarded as the best Star Trek movie ever made, but The Wrath of Khan is the only film Sallin has ever produced, and he doesn’t have any previous writing credits to his name despite having been involved in the business since 1958. However, he certainly believes that he has an idea well worth looking into.
“I’m really intrigued that the studio has brought Noah Hawley into the Star Trek thing because I have complete respect for his work. I find his work unique, engaging, and fascinating. I think the guy is really a special talent. I’ll be very curious to see what he brings to the franchise. Unless I am completely off base here, it is completely different. Nothing has been done like this and I think it will become part of the canon. That’s all. I hope one day to be able to have the meeting and have them say, ‘Hey Bob, come on in, let’s talk about that’.”
We previously learned that Paramount were considering the idea of folding their movies and TV shows together into a shared Star Trek cinematic universe, and if Sallin’s idea is as good as he seems to think it is, we might yet end up with another addition to the ever-increasing roster of sequels, reboots, TV shows and spinoffs coming down the pipeline.