Right now, Star Trek: Khan —Ceti Alpha V is being written as an audio drama.
Star Trek fans were disappointed to learn last year on Star Trek Day that the Khan series/movie they wanted wasn’t coming. Instead, the story of the villain’s time on Ceti Alpha V before he returned on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan would be told via an audio drama or as Nicolas Meyer prefers to call it a “radio play.”
Meyer spoke with Larry Nemecek [via Trekmovie] about what’s going on with the drama since last year, and Meyer admitted that any timeline is now out the window, presumably because of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The series is being worked into nine or ten half-hour episodes,
"“It’s now being worked as a radio play: nine or ten half-hour episodes. I guess the thinking is, if it is successful, then we go back to making it something on film.”"
But he wouldn’t offer any additional information beyond that when Nemecek asked about production values or casting.
Nicolas Meyer mentioned behind-the-scenes issues for Star Trek: Khan —Ceti Alpha V
Meyer didn’t clarify what type of issues need to be resolved, only saying they would need to be worked out before casting and all that could proceed. So there’s no indication as to when the drama will start producing.
Meyer is confident this is the medium for Khan’s story after Captain Kirk exiled him and his followers to Ceti Alpha V.
"“When I’m looking for a movie, I’m looking for what I want to leave out. Radio is perfect because it’s all your imagination. Imagination is perfect because it doesn’t need to be trained.”"
But if the radio play does go forward and is successful, what would be the point of a movie? Certainly not to retell the same story. Granted, there was a lot of time between Khan’s arrival on Ceti Alpha V and his escape so there would be more ground to cover, but picking up where a play left off seems…weird, at least to me. I don’t think anyone is quite sure how all of this will work out, but at least those who’ve been wanting Khan’s story will be getting something in the future.