A New ‘Star Trek’ Movie Is Coming From ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Writer Kalinda Vazquez
Star Trekmay be powering up its film franchise once again with the help of aStar Trek: Discoverywriter.DiscoverywriterKalinda Vazquez, who is actually named after a character from aStar Trek: The Original Seriesepisode, is writing a screenplay for a newStar Trekmovie for Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot. But whether that movie will reunite the cast of Abrams’Star Trekfilms, expand theDiscoveryfranchise, or be an entirely new story altogether is up in the air.
Deadline reports thatStar Trek: Discoverywriter Kalinda Vazquez will be writing the screenplay to a newStar Trekfilm for Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot under “a blind deal for an original movie that she hatched” which will see her expand her role in the franchise.
Details are otherwise very scant — it’s unclear if Abrams will return to the helm after directingStar TrekandStar Trek: Into Darkness, or if another director will take the role like with the 2016 Justin Lin-directedStar Trek Beyond. But based on the statement that this is “an original movie” conceived by Vazquez, it seems unlikely the film will take place in the Kelvin timeline, in which the Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto-led movies have taken place. It also is likely separate from the otherStar Trekfilms in development fromQuentin TarantinoandNoah Hawley, though it’s unclear whether they will be affected by Vazquez’s project (or, indeed, if they’re still happening at all).
But does that mean this newStar Trekmovie will be a feature spin-off forStar Trek: Discovery? That’s less certain. TheStar Trekfranchise is alive and well on the newly rebranded Paramount+, where showsStar Trek:Discovery,Star Trek:Picard,Star Trek:Lower Decks, and even more to come are expanding the universe (and its various alternate universes). It’s a big sandbox that Vazquez could play in, but perhaps her aim is to create a new, separate piece ofTrekstorytelling.
But Vazquez appears to uniquely suited to helming a newStar Trekmovie. Aside from being named after aStar Trek: The Original Seriescharacter (specifically, Kalinda from the episode “By Any Other Name”), Vazquez has cut her teeth on genre shows likeFear the Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time, Runaways, Nikita, Prison Break,and more, before making her way to the writing staff ofStar Trek: Discovery. She’s also recently worked with George R.R. Martin on an adaptation of the Roger Zelazny novelRoadmarksand adapted Brian K. Vaughan’sBarrierfor Legendary Television.
