A new 'Star Trek' film is in the works.
J.J. Abrams
Kalinda Vazquez has been hired to write the latest movie in the iconic sci-fi franchise for Paramount Pictures, which is being produced by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company.
If the film is given the green light, Kalinda would become the first woman to pen a 'Star Trek' flick.
It is not known what approach Vazquez will take to the project but she has previous experience in the franchise having written episodes of the TV series' 'Star Trek: Short Treks' and 'Star Trek: Discovery'.
Vazquez also serves as a co-executive producer on 'Fear the Walking Dead' and has penned episodes of 'Runaways', 'Once Upon a Time' and 'Nikita'.
The movie is not the only 'Star Trek' production currently in the pipeline, as Noah Hawley had also been set to direct a film in the universe – although it has been put on hold by Paramount, with suggestions that a plot focused on a deadly virus would be seen as inappropriate amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Noah previously revealed that the project will "feature a new crew of characters" and won't feature icons of the franchise such as Captain Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard.
The 54-year-old filmmaker said: "We're not doing Kirk and we're not doing Picard.
"It's a start from scratch that 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 had previously explained that the flick may not be linked to three recent 'Star Trek' movies, which starred Chris Pine and Simon Pegg.
He said: "For me, it's definitely a new direction, but it's still early, in terms of who exactly would be in it or what the characters would be. I don't think of it as Star Trek 4, to be reductive. This is a new beginning."
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