Quentin Tarantino has had a Star Trek film in development for several years now. Here's everything we know about the film and its premise. Tarantino has been one of Hollywood's top talents since debuting with bracing - and violent - films like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. In recent years he's become an awards season darling with films like Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and Inglourious Basterds. From his inauspicious independent beginning, Tarantino has risen to the Hollywood elite.
Tarantino also happens to be a huge Star Trek fan. The director has often spoken of his love of the franchise, and he came surprisingly close to directing a Star Trek film a few years ago. That seems like it's a dwindling prospect at this point, but Tarantino's Star Trek story pitch may still have a bit of life left in it. Other writers have been brought in to flesh out the idea, and it's believed to be in separate development from the other Star Trek films.
It's still unclear where Star Trek's cinematic future goes from here. A fourth film starring the cast of the reboot films directed by J.J Abrams — known as the Kelvin timeline — is still a possibility, and could even be incorporated into Tarantino's Star Trek pitch, though that's never been made plain. Abrams himself has moved on from Star Trek; the fact he's now producing a new Superman reboot with Ta-Nehisi Coates means he's likely to be fairly uninvolved with the future of Star Trek, which has shifted most of its cultural influence to television. Star Trek is currently thriving on Paramount+ with a half dozen shows either in active production or getting very close to it. Tarantino's Star Trek project may end up nothing more than an interesting footnote — or it could potentially be the kind of radical reinvention that makes Star Trek relevant again on the big screen.
Quentin Tarantino Was Making A Star Trek Movie
Since the box office underperformance of Star Trek Beyond, the state of the Star Trek movie franchise has been in limbo. There have been several false starts for a fourth movie in the Kelvin timeline, starring Chris Pine in an alternate universe as a young Captain Kirk. Directors S.J. Clarkson and Noah Hawley were both attached to direct the next Star Trek movie at different times, though they have both since departed their respective projects.
The most intriguing prospect for Star Trek's big screen future, however, is the project pitched by Quentin Tarantino. The auteur director of Kill Bill and Django Unchained has never done a franchise film like Star Trek. A longtime Trek fan, he brought his idea to Paramount through Abrams, and the studio was keen on his idea for a rougher, R-rated Star Trek with the award-winning director.
Will Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek Movie Happen?
Tarantino's interest in the project seems to have ebbed and flowed over the years. Initially, the idea was that Tarantino would both write and direct the film based on an idea he conceived of. But as time went on, it became less and less clear how involved Tarantino would still be in the project. Eventually, Paramount brought in The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith to write a script based on Tarantino's story idea.
Tarantino has long maintained that he wants to direct ten films and then retire. He's currently at nine films, and beyond all other considerations, it seems highly unlikely that Tarantino would make a Star Trek film his last cinematic outing. At this point, he's still attached as a producer, but someone else would direct the potential film. The movie could still potentially happen, but with the recent reports that Paramount is moving forward with a film based on a script by Star Trek: Discovery writer Kalinda Vazquez, it would seem that Tarantino's idea is on the back burner for now.
Why Tarantino Loves Star Trek
Tarantino has often rhapsodized about Star Trek, particularly Star Trek: The Original Series. Tarantino has heaped praise on the hammy, over-the-top performance of William Shatner, which he said is his favorite thing about the franchise. Shatner played Kirk on three seasons of TOS and in seven feature films, from Star Trek: The Motion Picture through Star Trek: Generations. His version of Kirk was a swashbuckling, highly emotive man who was tempered perfectly with the emotionally distant, aloof Vulcan science officer Spock.
Tarantino has also had praise for Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, the modern iterations of Kirk and Spock on the big screen. Tarantino may love William Shatner, but it seems highly unlikely the 89-year-old actor would headline another Star Trek film. While it hasn't been confirmed one way or another, actors from the modern films — including Pine and Quinto — have expressed interest and excitement at the prospect of working with Tarantino on the next Star Trek film.
Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek Story Hints
Not much concrete information is known about Tarantino's take on Star Trek. Rumors have swirled that it would take place on the gangster planet originally introduced in the TOS episode "A Piece Of The Action." It's a silly, fun episode, and one that it's easy to imagine Tarantino putting his personal spin on with Pine and crew. The film would almost certainly feature Pine's version of Captain Kirk, which Tarantino has gone out of his way to praise. Pine has also morphed into the kind of A-list star in recent years that would likely be working with Tarantino on something anyway eventually.
Tarantino's film would have been R-rated; at one point it was described as "Pulp Fiction in space." The gangster planet would give Tarantino plenty of opportunities to indulge in the kind of violence and salty language he likes without breaking the overall world of Star Trek too much. It's a fascinating, off-the-wall idea, and even if it never happens, it's good to know one of the biggest directors in Hollywood history has such a deep appreciation of the Star Trek franchise.