It’s been nearly a year since we last heard any news about Paramount’s sequel to Star Trek Beyond, first announced by the studio in July 2016, which at that time was said to feature the return of Thor actor Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk, reprising his role from the first Kelvin Timeline film in 2009.

Back in 2015, famed director Quentin Tarantino talked a bit during a Nerdist interview about his thoughts on Star Trek, calling out some favorite episodes like “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and also expressing an issue with the current film series that forces the storytelling to include all the established characters rather than allowing a focus on the main leads (Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.)

They might have trapped themselves a little bit by the simple fact they have to use all the crew now.

In all the films they’ve established it so much, that you need Uhura, you need a Scotty, you need Bones, you need all that stuff going on all the time — everybody has to be represented in some big story where they all have to deal.

Tarantino talks Trek in that interview, also touching on the casting of Cumberbatch as Khan in Into Darkness, the greatness of “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzNnfKT6IrM

Now, after months of silence from the Paramount side of the franchise during the lead up and opening season of Star Trek: Discovery — remember, CBS owns the television half of Star Trek — Deadline is reporting (and The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed) that Tarantino has actually pitched a story to Trek film producer J.J. Abrams, and the studio is putting together a team of writers to explore the idea.

From Deadline’s Mike Fleming, Jr.:

Sources said that Tarantino has come up with a great idea for a Star Trek movie at Paramount. After sharing his idea with JJ Abrams (who himself is busy prepping Star Wars Episode IX), I’ve heard the plan is to assemble a writers room of scribes who’ll hear Tarantino’s take and begin to put together a movie. If it all works out, Tarantino might direct it, with Abrams producing.

While Tarantino has always come up with his own original films, many have wondered what he might do if he took the reins of an existing franchise. He has only done that on television, twice directing episodes of CSI and once an episode of ER. He has spoken about the appeal of taking on one of the James Bond movies, but the hard part of something like that is getting the rights holders to give him a wide creative swath that comes along with a final cut auteur like Tarantino.

This would give a remarkable boost to the venerable franchise for Paramount, which is looking to build them under studio chief Jim Gianopulos.

Safe to say this is way too early to call Tarantino’s involvement with the Star Trek film series anything close to a done deal, and there’s no way of knowing if Tarantino’s idea even includes the current roster of Kelvin Timeline actors.

Back in 2015, Marc Evans, Paramount’s Motion Picture Group president, expressed his interest in possibly expanding the Star Trek film universe to a wider range of stories in possible future films, referencing such heaver-themed tales like Zero Dark Thirty.

Until we know more, we’re certainly filing this under “wait and see” status — but it’s nice to hear that there are still some signs of life in the Star Trek movie business.

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