Simon Pegg Thinks Next Star Trek Film Should Be Smaller, Have Less Spectacle

Authored by trekmovie.com and submitted by Neo2199
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While there has been a lot of activity on the television side of Star Trek lately, things have been mostly quiet with regards to the next feature film. Now Simon Pegg is talking about where he thinks Trek movies may be headed.

Pegg still unsure if Kelvin crew is in Hawley Trek, but has some suggestions

Simon Pegg played Scotty in the three Kelvin-verse movies produced by J.J. Abrams and co-wrote 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. Two years ago Pegg was upbeat about returning to Star Trek as Paramount prepped a fourth outing, but that project ended after negotiations with Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth stalled. Late last year, hope for Star Trek on the big screen returned as Fargo’s Noah Hawley was tapped by Paramount to develop a new Trek movie.

It is unclear if the Hawley project would involve the Kelvin cast, and in a new interview with Collider, Simon Pegg says he still doesn’t know himself, adding that he and his Star Trek co-stars do remain in touch and they would “all jump at the chance” to return if asked. However, Pegg also pointed out that the accidental death of co-star Anton Yelchin (Chekov) in 2016 “slightly took the wind out of our sails in terms of our enthusiasm to do another one.”

For now, Pegg is working for Paramount on the next two Mission: Impossible films, being shot back-to-back by director Christopher McQuarrie. Filming for that project went on hiatus in February due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Regardless of his involvement, Pegg did have some thoughts on how Paramount should approach the next film:

The fact is, the appeal of Star Trek is slightly more niche than the appeal of, say, the Marvel movies, which make huge amounts of money, and have this really, really broad appeal and they do very well. I think Star Trek is just a little bit more niche, so it isn’t gonna hit those kind of numbers. So yes, the obvious thing to do would be to not go for that massive spectacle, go for something a little bit more restrained in the vein of the original series. Yes, that would be a brilliant thing to do, and I’m sure it probably has been discussed… You specialize a little bit more.

It’s likely that scaling back for the next Star Trek film is something that Paramount is doing, as indicated by their attempts to renegotiate with Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine following the lower-than-anticipated performance of Star Trek Beyond.

Pegg even suggested that perhaps ViacomCBS should just let the CBS side run with Star Trek for now:

Maybe TV is a better place for [Star Trek] now. Television has evolved so much. It’s become something which is very much a contemporary, a peer of cinema. It’s simply viewed in a different way. It isn’t a reduced scope anymore. You can still do masses of interesting things, and it can still look modern and not inexpensive.

After Quentin Tarantino indicated he was walking away from his Star Trek project late last year, the Hawley Trek project seems to be the only one going at Paramount right now. In February ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish touted a “highly anticipated new Star Trek feature at Paramount” to investors. In Early April Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard composer Jeff Russo, who works closely with Hawley, said he had spoken to Hawley about the story for his Star Trek film and found it “exciting.” Later in April, it was reported that Paramount was still waiting on a script for the next Star Trek film, as they looked to work with Chris Pine again on a reboot of The Saint.

Keep up with all news regarding upcoming Star Trek films at TrekMovie.com.

Bweryang on May 20th, 2020 at 18:36 UTC »

I don't understand why this is such a hard sell.

Imagine if Arrival were a Star Trek movie, with Uhura and Spock as the main characters.

Or if Annihilation were about an away team of all-new Kelvin Timeline characters, with the main cast as supporting.

Do that. They both cost ~$50million.

Tomcat2011 on May 20th, 2020 at 17:44 UTC »

How about a film like the Wrath of Khan where it's very few sets, mostly just space, and all character/ship action? Why is it every film needs to be saving the Galaxy?

Edit: I guess it was my mistake at not clarifying my thoughts better. I'm just trying to say that I would love a film on a smaller scale like Wrath of Khan. Yes there was a world ending/creating weapon/device but it was the backdrop for the larger Kirk/Khan conflict. I'm talking about a film that has real character building and emotion and heart like the original films. Something more akin to Moby Dick than Die Hard. Just my two cents.

Edit 2: And for the sake of the future and all mankind, can the Enterprise PLEASE make it through a film without being horribly crippled or destroyed?!? PLEASE???

Neo2199 on May 20th, 2020 at 16:53 UTC »

Two years ago Pegg was upbeat about returning to Star Trek as Paramount prepped a fourth outing, but that project ended after negotiations with Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth stalled. Late last year hope for Star Trek on the big screen returned as Fargo’s Noah Hawley was tapped by Paramount to develop a new Trek movie.

It is unclear if the Hawley project would involve the Kelvin cast, and in a new interview with Collider Simon Pegg says he still doesn’t know himself, adding that he and his Star Trek co-stars do remain in touch and they would “all jump at the chance” to return if asked.

Regardless of his involvement, Pegg did have some thoughts on how Paramount should approach the next film:

"The fact is, the appeal of Star Trek is slightly more niche than the appeal of, say, the Marvel movies, which make huge amounts of money, and have this really, really broad appeal and they do very well. I think Star Trek is just a little bit more niche, so it isn’t gonna hit those kind of numbers. So yes, the obvious thing to do would be to not go for that massive spectacle, go for something a little bit more restrained in the vein of the original series. Yes, that would be a brilliant thing to do, and I’m sure it probably has been discussed… You specialize a little bit more."