Although the TV side of the Star Trek franchise is going strong with Star Trek: Discovery and upcoming series like Picard, the film side is in flux. The plan was for the Kelvin timeline to continue with Star Trek 4, but following reported salary disputes and script issues, the project has been shelved indefinitely.
Instead, it’s looking like the Star Trek movie Quentin Tarantino pitched will be the one to keep the film series going, and George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek: The Original Series, the first six Star Trek movies and an episode of Star Trek: Voyager (among other projects) is excited to see what kind of Star Trek story Tarantino has cooked up. He said:
I’m a Quentin Tarantino fan, but it seems like such a polar thing. But I think he’s got a very imaginative, inventive mind, and that is what Star Trek was about — boldly going where no one had gone before. And Quentin Tarantino bringing all of the places that he had been to and bringing it to the 23rd century is awfully exciting. I think it’s a great combo.
George Takei expressed his support for Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek movie while speaking with EW at San Diego Comic-Con about his AMC series, The Terror: Infamy. At this point, it’s been over 20 years since Takei last played Sulu in live action, but depending on if this movie’s set in the original Star Trek timeline and when specifically, perhaps there might be a way for the actor to briefly reprise the role.
Word came in towards the end of 2017 that Quentin Tarantino pitched an idea for a potential Star Trek movie to Paramount Pictures, and not long after that, The Revenant writer Mark L. Smith was hired to write the screenplay based on that pitch. With Star Trek 4 off the board, this other cinematic tale stands a better chance of becoming a reality.
What’s still unclear is whether or not Quentin Tarantino will actually direct this R-rated Star Trek movie. The director plans to retire from filmmaking after helming 10 movies, and his ninth movie is about to come out. Tarantino has come up with a loophole where he makes Star Trek and then adapts another one of his own ideas as the official 10th movie.
However, Quentin Tarantino also said that he wouldn’t mind directing Star Trek as his 10th movie, as it could serve as an example of what his career might have looked like if he focused on adapting other people’s scripts. We’ll have to wait and see which option he chooses, or if he decides to simply serve as executive producer and leave the directing to someone else.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the biggest news concerning the Star Trek franchise. In the meantime, feel free to browse our 2019 release schedule to plan your trips to the movie theater this year accordingly. That includes Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which opens on July 26.
