Chris Pine, who has played James T. Kirk in the Kelvin timeline big-screen Star Trek adventures, is reportedly set to head up the cast of the film Nowhere Fast, to be written and directed by Noah Hawley, according to the entertainment trade publication Variety. Hawley is best known for his work as the creator, producer, director, and writer of the television shows Fargo and Legion, and he wrote, produced, and directed the Natalie Portman film Lucy in the Sky. Variety reports that Pine will play “a small-town criminal who inadvertently kills the nephew of his boss.”
What makes the team-up between Pine and Hawley especially noteworthy is the fact that the two men nearly worked together on a fourth Kelvin timeline Star Trek film. Here are just some of the names, in no particular order, associated with assorted projects that might have become a Star Trek feature, and remember at one point there were two potential films simultaneously in play: J.D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Quentin Tarantino, Mark L. Smith, S.J. Clarkson, Kalinda Vazquez, Matt Shakman, Lindsey Beer, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Steve Yockey, and Hawley.
The news about Hawley directing the potential fourth Star Trek film broke in November of 2019. However, it all fell apart with a changing of the guard at Paramount Pictures. Other potential ideas, writers, and directors have come and gone since, but nothing seems on the verge of actually happening any time soon, much to the disappointment of the Star Trek fan base.
Though Hawley didn’t get to realize a project set on the final frontier, he will be represented by a different science fiction enterprise before he and Pine start work on Nowhere Fast. He’s created an upcoming Alien prequel series for FX on Hulu called Alien: Earth. Production is complete, but an airdate has yet to be announced.
As for Pine, he recently attended SNL50: The Anniversary Special, which celebrated 50 years of Saturday Night Live. At one point, during the red-carpet portion of the evening’s events in New York City, he reunited with Star Trek producer-director J.J. Abrams. Pine was last seen or heard on the screen in 2023, when he turned up in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Poolman (which he also directed), and the animated feature, Wish.