There are currently two Star Trek movies in active development, both of which are being produced by J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot, but we don’t really know much about either of them at this point in time.
The first hails from Discovery writer Kalinda Vasquez, but it hasn’t been made clear if it’s a theatrical release or a Paramount+ exclusive, or even whether or not it comes from the same timeline as the show. The second, meanwhile, has been penciled in to hit the big screen in June 2023, but it’s believed to be a different project from the one Vasquez is working on, even if nobody seems to know what it is.
It’s at least been confirmed that it’s not going to be Noah Hawley’s effort, though, after the Legion and Fargo creator departed Star Trek to head over to Hulu and work with Ridley Scott on an episodic Alien series, but in a new interview, composer Jeff Russo revealed that the concept that Hawley had would have blown the minds of fans everywhere.
“I would say it was not all that different. I mean it was different in its voice because Noah has a voice; his writing voice. So in that way, it may have had a different feel. But it was a very Star Trek story. And it was a very interesting way to tell that Star Trek story, which is what made me so excited about it and had me inspired to write music already for it. The way he explained it to me made me feel like the fans are going to lose their mind.
It literally felt like that, to me. Lose their mind. I read the script and my call to him was the fans are going to lose their mind, because of just what the story was. I would say in a good way. Because it would have been telling a story that they hadn’t heard, that hadn’t been done in a way that would have been very fulfilling. Finding out answers to questions that have never been answered.”
Russo certainly knows a thing or two about both Star Trek and Hawley having worked on Discovery, Picard, Legion and Fargo, so he would have had a much greater insight into how the movie was coming together than most people. The filmmaker didn’t divulge a ton of information on his plans for the franchise before he jumped ship, although he did reveal that his project would’ve featured a brand new crew and focus less on scale and spectacle and more on the thematic and ideological side of things, which has always been a key component of Star Trek since its very earliest days.