By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
In the entertainment journalism business, it’s easy to get cynical, especially when creators talk about their projects. You’ll see headlines breathlessly declaring new updates about, say, an upcoming film; once you click on it, though, it will just be writers and directors saying that their upcoming movie is the best thing since sliced bread, all without spilling any real details. It’s frustrating, to say the least. Every now and then, though, creators will surprise you by being hilariously blunt about what they are working on. That happened last week at San Diego Comic-Con with the directors of the next Star Trek movie.
That film is being written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the same dynamic duo who brought us the excellent Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Recently, they made an appearance at SDCC to promote Mayday, an upcoming Cold War action comedy featuring Marvel veterans Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. They briefly spoke about their upcoming Star Trek film, speaking of it with all the generalities you might expect. In the midst of their vague platitudes, however, they admitted something shocking: that they’re not sure if their new Trek film will ever see the light of day.
Star Trek’s Uncertain Future
When discussing the Star Trek film they are working on at SDCC, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley didn’t give away too many concrete details. Daley, for example, said that the movie “would be very surprising for people because it is a version of Star Trek that no one’s ever seen before.” He went on to say that “We are subverting it in a way that I think would be very exciting and also set itself apart from the television versions of the IP, but also the J.J. movies.” All of this is just vague wording to tell fans that the movie will be very different but that they’ll still like it.
What really caught my eye, though, was the cautious way that Daley framed his marketing pablum. Before mentioning anything else about the new Trek movie, he said, “If we get to make it.” And what did he say after ensuring that the movie will subvert our expectations? “It’s just a matter of if we get to actually get it done.” You don’t have to read between the lines to see that Daley is nervous that his movie will never leave dry dock. That’s understandable: Paramount toyed around with different Star Trek 4 ideas for years, including one that would have been written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Self-Destruct Mode: Activated
Eventually, the studio decided to kill their successful Kelvinverse altogether in favor of a kind of origin film featuring entirely new characters. It’s no exaggeration to say that Paramount is gambling everything on this new movie: they’ve completely pulled the plug on making new Star Trek TV shows in an attempt to pivot this franchise entirely to the big screen. Many fans have lamented that, even as they celebrate the franchise’s 60th anniversary, Star Trek television is effectively dead; much like Doctor Who, we simply have no idea when or even if it will return to the airwaves.
For those despondent fans, the only real hope is that the next Star Trek movie would, like the genesis planet, bring this dead franchise to life. Now, though, the film’s directors are being very candid in their concerns that the movie will never make it off the ground. In that case, Paramount will have phasered itself in the foot, destroying Trek television in the name of a movie that never even comes out. Given the pending, high-profile merger with Warner Bros., that just leaves fans to ask a very uncomfortable question: from Harry Potter to Superman, what beloved franchise will they kill next?
