Star Trek: Noah Hawley's Film In Danger Due to Its Space Pandemic Storyline
Legion and Fargo creator Noah Hawley's planned Star Trek movie appears to be in danger at Paramount, seemingly due to a plot point that the studio does not think would go over with audiences particularly well, given the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hawley's Star Trek film is currently "on the back burner" as Paramount's new motion picture group president Emma Watts assesses the sci-fi franchise's future. The publication's sources explain a possible reason for this is that Hawley's script involves "a virus that wipes out vast parts of the known universe." That being said, Deadline reports that the film could still possibly see the light of day as a standalone affair, similar in nature to the 2017 X-Men spinoff film Logan.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowThis past November, it was reported that Hawley had entered final talks to write and direct a new Star Trek film for Paramount, which would involve bringing in a brand-new cast. (With that in mind, he likely began to pen the script well before the real-life global health crisis began to take hold.) Hawley's film is actually one of three big screen Star Trek projects currently in various stages of development at the studio, the other two being the potential sequel to 2016's Star Trek Beyond, as well as the planned R-rated movie Mark L. Smith wrote for Quentin Tarantino to direct. (Tarantino will likely not direct, but will be involved in some capacity, should the project be given the green light.) Deadline notes that Smith's film could also potentially get the Logan treatment.
All three of these films have had a bumpy development process. The Beyond sequel (which would be the fourth film set in Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline reboot series launched by J.J. Abrams in 2009) was put on hold due to its director tackling other projects and key cast members Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth reportedly departing the project over contract disputes, the Smith/Tarantino version has yet to really take shape and now it seems as though Paramount may decide to put Hawley's reboot on the shelf for the the time being. All that being said, Watts has evidently made Star Trekher top priority, and is currently exploring avenues to bring the franchise back to the big screen in the near future.
Source: www.cbr.com