Quentin Tarantino Reportedly Pitches New ‘Star Trek’ Idea To JJ Abrams For His Final Movie

Standby to set your phasers to stun as news has surfaced that Quentin Tarantino is preparing to boldly go where he has never gone before by taking on a new Star Trek movie with director JJ Abrams.

According to Deadline’s exclusive report, the Oscar-winning filmmaker may be ready to explore strange new worlds as he has reportedly shown interest in taking the captain’s chair to work on a new movie in the popular sci-fi series. Sources claim that Tarantino has a “great idea” for a Star Trek movie at Paramount, which he is keen to direct with Abrams on board as producer.

If the project is greenlit, then it could be all hands on deck as it has been reported that the prolific pair already have plans to assemble a writers room to develop the idea and produce a script to beam the movie onto the big screen for what may be Tarantino’s final movie ahead of his retirement from the industry.

Just last year, Tarantino pledged to go out in style when he reaches the tenth installment in his impressive filmography as a director, and a movie in a mainstream blockbuster franchise like Star Trek would certainly be outside of his wheelhouse, which is better known for churning out original movies that often turn into cult favorites among cinema-goers.

This may seem like a highly illogical move for Tarantino, but it’s also not the first time that the Pulp Fiction director has shared his enthusiasm for the franchise. In a 2015 Nerdist podcast interview, the 54-year-old filmmaker said he would be much more likely to take on the Star Trek franchise over the likes of Star Wars, noting that he was a big fan of the original series.

“The only thing that limited them was their ’60s budget and eight-day shooting schedule. You could take some of the classic Star Trek episodes and easily expand them to 90 minutes or more and really do some amazing, amazing stuff.”

Before the currently untitled project blasts off at warp speed, though, the iconic director has another movie to see through to completion, with his Charles Manson-themed Sony picture currently in pre-production at the studio. This comes after the release of The Hateful Eight last year, which was viewed as Tarantino’s eighth cinematic endeavor following Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds, and Django Unchained.

Abrams, on the other hand, is no stranger to big-budget filmmaking as he was the person responsible for rebooting the Star Trek franchise back in 2009 and, after winning over a new generation of audiences, has continued to work on the blockbuster sequels ever since. Despite his involvement in the Star Wars sequel trilogy over recent years, Paramount vice-chairman Rob Moore told the LA Times that Abrams would still be involved in some capacity with a possible third Star Trek movie following his astronomical success on the rebooted sequels thus far.

The studio’s senior executive said Abrams would serve “at the minimum as a producer, if not directing the film.”

Watch this space.