Quentin Tarantino says he is probably not making a Star Trek movie as his tenth and final film. Original reports that Tarantino was looking to develop a Star Trek film were met with puzzlement by some, excitement by others and dismay by a lot of Trek fans. Tarantino of course is known for his very particular cinematic style, which involves a lot of swearing and violence, and indeed it was reported that the filmmaker intended to bring these R-rated elements to his version of the otherwise PG-rated Trek.
As for how Tarantino’s Trek film might fit into the Kelvin universe timeline established by J.J. Abrams in his 2009 Trek reboot, Tarantino himself addressed these concerns and made it clear that his vision of Trek was its own thing and that he had no interest in working within the Kelvin timeline. After a long period with little news about the project, hopes that the flighty Tarantino might actually still deliver on his Trek promise were recently bolstered when it was revealed that two Trek movies are indeed in development, though it was not confirmed whether Tarantino’s movie was one of the two (in fact, plans for Trek seem to be more about bringing the franchise's movie and TV properties closer together rather than branching out).
Now though, it appears Tarantino’s Star Trek is not going to happen after all, and this comes directly from the director himself. Speaking to Consequence of Sound, Tarantino responded to a question about Trek with the curt answer, “I think I’m steering away from Star Trek, but I haven’t had an official conversation with those guys yet.”
Tarantino's remarks don't sound definitive, but it does seem the director has lost enthusiasm for his Star Trek project. That Tarantino might start down the road of developing a project like Trek only to abandon it should come as no surprise, given the huge number of movie ideas the filmmaker has teased over the years only to drop. Of all Tarantino’s long-promised movies, only Kill Bill: Vol. 3 seems like a realistic possibility to ever see the light of day, as he recently said it’s still very much in the cards. But even a statement like that must be taken with a bit of skepticism, again, as Tarantino has a lot of ideas and seems to get very enthusiastic about them, only to later cool off and find something else to develop.
Indeed, Tarantino’s 2019 movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a project no one knew anything about until it was suddenly reported that the director was doing a film set in 1969 and involving the Manson family. Ultimately, that movie would prove to be one of Tarantino’s biggest hits, and is currently garnering huge awards buzz.
As for Star Trek, it now appears that project can be added to the long list of Tarantino ideas that came to nothing. Then again, the door's always open for others to take Tarantino’s Trek ideas and carry them forward (indeed, Mark L. Smith was hired to write a script, and it's still not known how much work was actually done). It’s still possible that some germ of what Tarantino had in mind for Star Trek could make its way into a future movie, though it now appears highly unlikely that the director himself will ever personally take the helm of Trek.
Source: Consequence of Sound