Simon Pegg has weighed in on one of the most talked-about Star Trek projects that never came to be — Quentin Tarantino’s proposed feature.
Speaking at Fan Expo Boston over the weekend, the actor revealed that while he never read the script himself, he was given a detailed rundown by producer Lindsey Weber and J.J. Abrams. His verdict? Exactly what you might expect from the filmmaker behind Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill.
“That was what we call in the business batshit crazy,” Pegg said, as per Collider. “It was everything you would expect a Quentin Tarantino Star Trek script to be.”
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Pegg on the Wild Vision Tarantino Brought to the Table
Pegg didn’t go into specific plot details but said he believed it “would have been such an incredible sort of curio to see Star Trek through his lens.” He added, “I don’t know how it would have gone over with the fans, but it certainly would have been an interesting thing.”
Tarantino’s involvement with Star Trek was first reported in 2017, with The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith attached to work on the script. The film was said to take inspiration from the 1968 Star Trek: The Original Series episode “A Piece of the Action,” which saw the Enterprise crew encounter a civilisation modelled after 1920s gangsters.
Why It Never Reached Warp Speed
Plans for the film eventually stalled, with Tarantino stepping away amid concerns that it could end up being his final movie — a decision that seems to have been the project’s final nail in the coffin. Smith has previously said the script is still sitting on Tarantino’s desk, untouched.
Pegg’s Hope for the Kelvin Timeline’s Future
Even if Tarantino’s Star Trek remains firmly in “what if” territory, Pegg is optimistic about the Kelvin Timeline — the rebooted continuity launched by Abrams in 2009. With Skydance founder David Ellison now in a leadership role at Paramount following a merger, Pegg noted, “David’s always been a big supporter of the Kelvin timeline. So who knows, maybe we’ll get to make another one.”
For now, Tarantino’s unmade Star Trek sits as one of modern sci-fi’s most tantalising near-misses — the kind of oddball crossover that could have been unforgettable, whether Trekkies loved it or not.
