‘Star Trek’ Movie In The Works From Quentin Tarantino, JJ Abrams

Prolific director Quentin Tarantino made headlines months ago when he said he would be open to directing a new Star Trek film.

And even though he’s preparing his latest film with Sony Pictures, Paramount is moving forward with plans for Tarantino to steward the franchise, with help from a writers room headed by J.J. Abrams.

A report from Deadline states that Tarantino came up with a “great idea” for a new Star Trek film, and that Abrams will produce if it moves forward. The plan now involves assembling a group of writers to hear Tarantino’s story and try to develop a script for a potential film.

Tarantino kickstarted the Star Trek frenzy in September when he appeared on the Nerdist podcast, revealing what fascinated him about making a film in the franchise.

“I think one of the best episodes of Star Trek ever written was for [Star Trek: The Next Generation],” Tarantino said, speaking about the episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” where an Enterprise ship from the past breaks through a time rift and alters the course of history. “I actually think that is not only one of the great space stories, but the way it dealt with the mythology of the whole thing — that actually could bare a two hour treatment.

“Because the whole thing with that episode that was so cool, they save the ship, but little do they know by saving the ship it’s actually in a different time period — but they don’t know that,” Tarantino said. “But what ends up happening is — because they screwed up with the timeline, everything changes. The characters don’t know it, but we know it. And the thing about it is, it turns out that the Klingons and the humans on earth have been having this hundred year war that’s been going on, and it’s just the bloodiest war imaginable in the history of any universe.”

Tarantino later added that he would prefer to direct a Star Trek movie over a Star Wars movie, choosing a side in the eternal battle that has dominated nerd fandoms.

Tarantino has only made his own movies throughout his directing career, though he has helmed two episodes of CSI and one of ER. But it seems like a Star Trek movie is waiting in the wings, so long as they can get a talented team of writers to put it together.