Noah Hawley Wanted Cate Blanchett to Star in the STAR TREK Movie He Was Developing
There was a time when Paramount Pictures had multiple Star Trek movie projects in development, and one of those projects, which isn’t moving forward, was being developed by Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo).
It was previously explained that the story for his film would have centered around “a virus that wipes out vast parts of the known universe.” The project ended up being put on hold as the storyline hit too close to home with the pandemic.
The film was actually pretty far along in development and there was a completed script, and he was hiring designers to help him conceptualize the film’s look. It turns out that he was also looking to cast a great actress to star in the film… Cate Blanchett.
This bit of information comes from Star Wars Insider and Fangoria contributor Brandon Wainderdi, who said on Twitter that while attending an event where Hawley was speaking and signing books, he shared that he was planning to cast Blanchett in his Star Trek movie.
He didn’t share any details regarding her character, but it’s a shame that this movie isn’t happening! It would have been awesome to see Blanchett in a Star Trek movie!
Hawley did previously open up about the project and shared some additional details on what his vision for this Star Trek is, and how he’s looking to bring back the smart aspect of the franchise. He explains that his story was less about action and more about exploration and creative problem solving:
"What I love about Star Trek is that it's not a war story. It's not a story in which might makes right. It's a story about exploration. It's a story about creative problem solving. My favorite moment in all of Star Trek is in Wrath of Khan when Kirk puts on his reading glasses to lower Khan's shields. It's a brief moment that is so exhilarating because he's using the best tool he has, which is his mind. As much as I like the Chris Pine movies they were mostly about running from one end of the ship to the other to put out a fire, to stop a thing, and then before he could catch his breath he had to do something else. They're much more action movies and what I wanted to get back to was this idea of humanity justifying existence in the universe by showing its best qualities."
Hawley also said that the film would connect to franchise history, drawing a comparison to how his Fargo series is tied to the 1996 film. He explained:
“We’re not doing Kirk and we’re not doing Picard. It’s a start from scratch that then allows us to do what we did with Fargo, where for the first three hours you go, ‘Oh, it really has nothing to do with the movie,’ and then you find the money. So you reward the audience with a thing that they love.”
Hawley is currently busy developing a new Alien series for FX, but I would have loved to see his vision for Star Trek brought to life. We do have a new Star Trek film coming and it will include the cast of the universe created by J.J. Abrams. I just hope it turns out to be good because it seems like the project is being rushed.