Fargo creator Noah Hawley explains the typically inventive take that his planned (and on hold) Star Trek movie was going to follow.
A while ago, there was talk of three different Star Trek projects on the development trail at Paramount, with one of them expected to eventually provide the blueprint for the future of the franchise. Quentin Tarantino’s much vaunted movie was one, a return to the Kelvin timeline in a sequel to Star Trek Beyond was another, whilst Fargo creator Noah Hawley was also working away on a possible third project.
As these things sometimes do in Movieland, it currently seems that all three projects have lost their momentum and Paramount currently has frozen plans for the franchise, partly as it recalibrates itself following the appointment of a new president and a huge corporate merger. Ironically, this loss of confidence and creative direction has happened against the backdrop of a flourishing rebirth of Star Trek on the smaller screen, with live action shows and cartoons aplenty raising the Starfleet profile.
Hawley has been chatting to Variety about his project though, and the creator has dropped a few interesting nuggets that may indicate why the studio were both interested and somewhat reticent to green-light his film. He has revealed that in the first instance at least, the film begins with an all-new cast of characters, whilst eventually revealing some kind of connection to the existing Star Trek universe.
He said that “we’re not doing Kirk and we’re not doing Picard. It’s a start from scratch that then allows us to do what we did with Fargo, where for the first three hours you go, ‘Oh, it really has nothing to do with the movie,’ and then you find the money. So you reward the audience with a thing that they love.”
Whilst not stating what the connection would be, Hawley likens the connection to characters from his Fargo TV show unearthing money buried by Steve Buscemi’s character in the Coen Brothers’ original movie, forming a connection between the two projects. Whilst Hawley’s planned Star Trek movie got as far as the design stage, it’s currently frozen, despite sounding rather interesting. Only time will tell if it ever gets to see the light of day.
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