The Star Trek franchise continues to boldly go where no franchise has gone before, with three separate ongoing TV shows in production, the most recent of which is Picard and is set for premiere on January 23rd. Meanwhile, a long-awaited fourth installment in J.J. Abrams‘ revitalized Star Trek film series has been promised. Though originally planned to be directed by S.J. Clarkson, the project has been delayed and switched hands resulting in Noah Hawley now set to pen and helm Star Trek 4.
In a recent interview with Deadline, Hawley stated that he has specific plans for the script based on an original story concept which he says will remain true to the Trek saga. Hawley, a fan himself, also expressed a keen fondness for some of the franchise’s most classic moments from Wrath of Khan and the Next Generation series, and further stated:
“There’s nothing better than that moment when William Shatner puts on his reading glasses and lowers Khan’s shields. It doesn’t cost anything. But it’s that triumphant feeling about smarting your enemy. For me it’s about to 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 gotta write a script.”
Recently, Viacom – the parent company of Paramount – joined CBS (the corporation responsible for several of the Star Trek TV shows) to produce the ViacomCBS company. The two organizations originally parted ways back in 2006 but have re-entered a partnership.
This means that a single company now holds the rights to both the films and the series. With this news, some Trekkies have hoped to see some of the cinema and TV material merge. However, Hawley says there are no current discussions for such correlations.
The filmmaker says he remains open to it, but states that there “isn’t a mandate from Paramount to connect it. And on some levels, there’s a bit of the wall, the TV version and the film version.” That being said, Hawley at least seems willing to explore it and says he’d be willing to bring it up to Alex Kurtzman, the Star Trek TV producer, providing a glimmer of hope for advocates of a crossover connection between future Star Trek movies and shows.