Star Trek 4: Noah Hawley Has Discussed the Upcoming Film With Jeff Russo (Exclusive)

Composer Jeff Russo has engrossed himself in the Star Trek universe. He’s scored two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and is working on the third. He also created the sound for Star Trek: Picard. Outside of Star Trek, he’s also worked with Noah Hawley to score shows like Legion and Fargo. Paramount Pictures tapped Hawley to write and direct its next Star Trek movie. Given their history and their shared interest in Star Trek, we wondered if Russo and Hawley have discussed this upcoming Star Trek movie. It turns out that they have, although not in any sort of official capacity.

“We have had conversations about what it might sound like, what it might be, what he’s thinking,” Russo told ComicBook.com during a phone interview. “Nothing is set in stone right now. The movie is still in development and still being written and there are lots of pieces that need to get put into place, so who knows what’s going to happen? But Noah and I are close friends as well and we talk about music all the time and talk about that and talk about the Star Trek that I’m already doing and we talk about that and right now we’re working on Fargo so there’s always talk about that. This was two people who are artistic talking about what the possibilities are for what the new Star Trek movie could sound like or could have in it or could be.”

While he couldn’t speak to Hawley’s Star Trek movie, Russo did share his thoughts on the core sound of Star Trek. “There’s a sound of Star Trek, there’s a sound to that swashbuckling space show, and I try to inject that into both those scores. But Picard is significantly different than Discovery. It’s different in as far as I’m dealing with a much smaller emotional piece. Meaning, I wanted it to be more intimate. I wanted Picard to be a more intimate sound because I’m just talking about supporting one character’s story and that character’s emotional story arc as opposed to an entire crew. Now, I do deal with the other characters, obviously, and I take care to make sure that they are musically represented and their story is told that way, but it really does all boil down to people in Picard.

“And that’s just a different way of looking at how to tell a story with music than what I think I do on Discovery, which is a much broader score and a much broader way to look at it. But I do think that there’s a certain tonality and a certain sound that I utilize in both shows, strings and big horns and I definitely try to bring a more emotional take to both those shows. And I think that’s simply because that’s the way I like to write music.”