Simon Pegg says the Quentin Tarantino–devised Star Trek feature that never got made lived up to its legend, calling the pitch “batshit crazy” during a weekend panel in Boston while noting he’d heard a detailed rundown from producers even if he never read the script himself. He added that seeing the franchise through Tarantino’s lens would have been a fascinating curio, while admitting he wasn’t sure how fans would have received it.
The remarks revive a project that first surfaced in late 2017, when Paramount convened a writers room around Tarantino’s R-rated concept and tapped Mark L. Smith to script. Smith has since said the story mixed Captain Kirk and time travel with a strong strain of classic gangster cinema, echoing touchstones long associated with the director’s tastes.
By early 2020, Tarantino publicly stepped back, saying the studio might still pursue the film but that he would not direct it. The title has not moved forward since, as Paramount’s feature slate shifted through multiple Star Trek iterations in development.
Pegg, who plays Scotty in the Kelvin timeline films, also signaled fresh optimism about that series’ future in light of new corporate leadership following the completion of the Skydance–Paramount merger, with David Ellison installed as chief executive. His comment arrives amid a broader strategic reset at the combined company.
While specifics of Tarantino’s idea remain under wraps, prior accounts from collaborators describe a standalone entry with an Earthbound, gangster-inflected thread and a harder edge than past installments—consistent with the R-rating under discussion at the time. Pegg’s latest characterization underscores both how far the proposal traveled inside the studio and why it still looms large for fans of the franchise’s cinematic wing.
