Noah Hawley's Star Trek Movie Would Have Featured These Two Major Hollywood Stars

A fourth Kevin-verse "Star Trek" film has been in development hell for so long, there is a Wikipedia page devoted to its suffering. "Star Trek Beyond" was released in theaters in 2016, and in the intervening time, a follow-up film has been set up, torn down, handed to a new director, set up and torn down again, handed off again, and so on for several iterations. The overriding idea for "Star Trek 4" has been to somehow get Captain Kirk in the same room with his deceased father, mostly because the actors playing those characters — Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth, respectively — are such big movie stars. 

But the fates have persistently denied production from commencing in earnest. Firstly, there were wild reports that Quentin Tarantino would make a "Star Trek" film of his own, although he wanted it to be a new rebooted version of the "Star Trek" mythos, and not a sequel to "Beyond." That project mutated in Hollywood for a little bit, and Tarantino eventually stepped away. For a time in 2018, S.J. Clarkson was attached to "Star Trek 4," and this one would be a sequel to "Beyond." Danai Gurira was likely going to join the cast, but the previous "Star Trek" actors stepped out over a salary dispute, and negotiations never resumed. Clarkson left in 2019, and Noah Hawley stepped in. His version would have jettisoned Hemsworth, and started over production with a new cast of characters and a new story about a deadly virus sweeping through the Federation. 

That project also slowly unraveled, however, perhaps because of Covid; at that point, a virus story was no longer in good taste. Hawley appeared on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast to talk about his work, and he revealed that he had some heavy hitters lined up to star in his "Trek" movie. Notably, he had wrangled the participation of Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett and Rami Malek. 

Hawley noted on "Armchair Expert" that Hollywood is fickle, and that giant, solid, ambitious projects can indeed evaporate before your very eyes. Hawley has had a successful career creating the TV shows "Fargo" and "Legion," but his success didn't protect him from the "heartbreak" at the hands of the Hollywood machine. He then mentioned the collapse of his "Star Trek," and flippantly revealed that he had two major stars attached, saying: 

"Yeah, I mean, I was going to make a Star Trek movie with Cate Blanchett and Rami Malek. Could have had that, America." 

That was in February 2024, and it was the first time those actors had been mention in connection to a "Star Trek" project. Hawley offered no details whatsoever, though, as to what types of roles they had been in talks to play, what alien species they might have been, or even if they officially signed on or not. Hawley's vision for a "Star Trek" story would have taken the action away from the familiar, and fans may speculate if that meant he would introduce a new starship, a new captain, or even a new timeline into the "Star Trek" mix. Because his script has remained secret, these details are still undiscovered. 

Hawley went on to note that he was hurt by the folding of "Star Trek," but felt fortunate that he still had the success of "Fargo" to fall back on. "It can be very disconcerting and undermining of your sense of confidence, your sense of self," he said. "What 'Fargo' has afforded me is a sense of arrival and security." His "Trek" may have ended, but Hawley landed on his feet. 

Meanwhile, "Star Trek 4" has remained in flux. Matt Shakman was briefly attached to direct, but he also dropped out. As of this writing, the 14th "Star Trek" movie, "Section 31," is scheduled to air on Paramount+ in the near future, while a mysterious "origin story" film is also in the works. "Star Trek 4" struggles eternally, but maybe the studio will listen to star Chris Pine's idea about how to proceed.