Paramount Pictures has spent years trying to figure out what to do with Star Trek in theaters. The studio recently threw in the towel on the Chris Pine-led series, and at least a couple of reboots are in the works (the first to reach the finish line may come from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves filmmakers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley).
Similar to when Quentin Tarantino's unmade Star Trek movie was announced, Trekkies were thrilled when the news broke that Fargo and Legion showrunner Noah Hawley was developing his own take on the iconic sci-fi franchise. Unfortunately, it fell apart and has since been scrapped.
The script was written, and stages were booked in Australia. However, a change in leadership at Paramount saw the studio get cold feet. "I signed on, you know, after 'Lucy in the Sky'; I thought, 'Oh, I like this movie thing,'" Hawley says in the video below. "I’d like to do another one, but I think maybe I’d like to try something a little bigger."
"I went in, I talked to Paramount, I sold them this original idea," he said after explaining that the exploration elements of Star Trek have always appealed to him. "It wasn’t Chris Pine, it wasn’t anything. I wrote it, they said, 'We love it, let’s prep it.’'We were, you know, we were...I was going to move to Australia, we were booking stages."
"And then, as happens in Hollywood, Jim Gianopulos, who was running the studio at the time, he’s like, 'I’m going to bring in somebody else under me, and they’re going to take over the film studio. And the first thing they did was kill the original 'Star Trek' movie because they said, 'Well, how do we know people are going to like it?'"
"Like, you know, 'Shouldn’t we do a transition movie from Chris Pine[’s cast], play it safe, you know, whatever?'" Hawley recalled. "And so it kind of went away." The filmmaker added that he's spoken briefly with David Ellison about his love of Star Trek, and previously revealed that he was eyeing Cate Blanchett and Rami Malek for roles in the movie.
Still, don't feel too sorry for Hawley as he has another massive sci-fi franchise to explore with FX's Alien: Earth. Season 2 has been officially announced, but don't expect that to be part of the Alien vs. Predator project Disney looks to be building towards.
Asked if a Predator crossover is on the table, Hawley replied. "No, not onto the show. I mean, I loved 'Prey.' I think he’s doing a great job with that franchise. He clearly has a plan there. You know, I’ve met Dan [Trachtenberg] once. [But] we’re not kind of coordinating any of that stuff. It’s not really my plan to do it."
It's not hugely surprising to hear that Alien: Earth will remain standalone, and it seems Trachtenberg will be tasked with eventually bringing the two sci-fi franchises together on the big screen.
You can hear more from Hawley in the player below.