Noah Hawley is striking hard with a new Alien series, but he’s opening up on how close he came to a Star Trek movie that would have used an iconic Next Generation character!
When it comes to the biggest space-set franchises in movie history, three stand out: Star Wars, Star Trek, and Alien. The latter has been seeing a revival, with 2024’s Alien: Romulus resparking the famed franchise. There’s also the brand-new Alien: Earth, which finally brings the action to Earth as humans face those monstrous Xenomorphs.
The show is helmed by Noah Hawley, the Emmy-winning writer/producer of FX’s Fargo and Legion. It’s gotten rave reviews to be a major success and a great bounce-back for Hawley, whose last attempt at a sci-fi franchise faltered.
Back in 2019, Paramount announced a new Star Trek film to be written and directed by Hawley. It would be set in the Kelvin Timeline but feature an original crew of characters. There were even rumors that Cate Blanchett and Rami Malek were approached to star.
However, the project ended up being canceled in 2021 just as pre-production was beginning. That was the last heard of it, but Hawley is finally talking about what it may have involved and what connection it would have to a classic Trek series!
What was Noah Hawley’s Star Trek movie going to be?
Speaking to Men’s Journal, Hawley touched upon his Star Trek film experience and a very intriguing hint as to how this show could have connected to Star Trek: The Next Generation!
“It was great. And we had sound stages in Australia. We were on the runway, and we were negotiating with actors. Mostly, what I can say is that it was a really hard loss because we got so close. It was an original story that was not Chris Pine-related, nor was it Captain Kirk-related. I guess the thing that might stick with people is that there was an unboxing of Data, the idea of the android. And that was to become an element in the films.”
Hawley’s words don’t show that it would have been Data himself in the movie, as this would be a few decades before his creation. Instead, it indicates that androids would have played a notable part in the film. It could be that in this altered timeline, the Federation explores the use of androids earlier, which may have opened the way to a Terminator-style plot as these creations decide to wage war on organics.
Perhaps Brent Spiner could have done a cameo as a young Noonien Soong to provide a connection. Hawley didn’t go into more detail, but shared how he also wanted to capture the feel of arguably the greatest Trek movie ever.
“It was an adventure. I love The Wrath of Khan. My favorite moment is when [William] Shatner puts on his reading glasses and lowers Khan’s shields. It costs nothing! But I love that creative problem-solving. They outsmarted their enemies. And that’s my favorite kind of storytelling.”
Viewers of Alien: Earth know Hawley has proven himself as a man who can breathe new life into a sci-fi franchise. It’s a shame he didn’t get the chance to do that with Star Trek, but here’s hoping one day he may get that chance.