Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
Quentin Tarantino’s seemingly canceled R-rated Star Trek movie has received a final update from actor William Shatner. Tarantino proposed a concept for his Star Trek movie, but he later exited the project in 2020. Apart from him, Mark L. Smith was set to write a script for the film.
William Shatner gives definitive update on Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek movie
The Captain Kirk actor was recently at the Liverpool Comic-Con, where he gave an update regarding the Pulp Fiction director’s Star Trek movie.
Quentin Tarantino was supposed to make a Star Trek movie, which he pitched to J.J. Abrams as a 1930s-style gangster project. With Martin L. Smith on board to pen a script for the project, the movie was highly anticipated by fans. However, Tarantino eventually stepped away from it, stating that he didn’t want it to be his final movie before he retired.
Recently, William Shatner was asked by Monopoly Events’ Jamal Niaz if the movie would ever be made. He replied, “No. It’s past its time. He has passed his time.”
Previously, in 2025, Simon Pegg also shared details about the now-canceled project at a Fan Expo. According to Collider, he revealed, “That was what we call in the business bats— crazy. It was everything you would expect a Quentin Tarantino Star Trek script to be. I don’t know how it would have gone over with the fans, but it certainly would have been an interesting thing.”
Announcing his departure in January 2020, Tarantino said, “I think they might make that movie, but I just don’t think I’m going to direct it. It’s a good idea. They should definitely do it, and I’ll be happy to come in and give them some notes on the first rough cut” (via Deadline).
On the other hand, in 2019, while appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Quentin Tarantino had conveyed that William Shatner’s James T. Kirk was the reason he liked Star Trek more than Star Wars. Nevertheless, the veteran actor’s recent comments have reaffirmed that Tarantino’s Star Trek project is permanently shelved.
