Andy Weir has a different idea for Star Trek’s future: stop treating the franchise’s next big move as a movie problem and rebuild it as a television series. The Martian and Project Hail Mary author argues that Trek works best when it has room for weekly discoveries, unfamiliar worlds, and a crew whose mission is exploration rather than nostalgia.
That recommendation runs directly against Paramount’s current feature-film strategy. The studio has hired Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the filmmakers behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, to write and direct a new Star Trek movie. The project is expected to use an original cast and stand apart from both the classic continuity and J.J. Abrams’ alternate-timeline films, effectively giving Paramount a clean starting point. The filmmakers’ hiring was framed as an effort to revive Trek on the big screen after a lengthy absence from theaters.
Weir’s proposed alternative is less a rejection of Star Trek’s mythology than a return to its most durable format. He has suggested a streaming series simply called Star Trek, centered on a ship other than the Enterprise and free to tell new stories within the franchise’s broad science-fiction framework. In his view, Paramount could introduce a fresh crew, establish a recognizable tone, and let the audience decide whether the concept deserves to grow.
There is a practical reason that idea may appeal to longtime fans. Star Trek’s television history was built on series that changed the shape of the franchise without abandoning its identity. Deep Space Nine became a serialized political drama, while Voyager used a stranded starship to create a more self-contained exploration story. Paramount’s own recent lineup also demonstrated how flexible the property can be: Lower Decks pursued animated comedy, Prodigy targeted younger viewers, and Strange New Worlds returned to a more episodic format. Paramount’s official listings describe the latter two shows as part of its broader streaming Trek lineup.
Weir has been more candid than most outside observers about what he thinks modern Trek has lost. He has praised Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks, but has criticized the franchise when it moves too far from the optimism, curiosity, and accessible adventure associated with Gene Roddenberry’s original premise. He has also said that he previously pitched a Star Trek series to Paramount, giving his advice an unusual personal angle rather than the feel of a casual fan complaint.
Whether Paramount follows that path is uncertain. A new film could give Star Trek the scale and visibility of a theatrical event, while a series would offer more time to develop characters and explore the setting that Weir believes is the property’s real strength. For fans, the disagreement points to the central question facing the franchise: should Star Trek sell itself as a familiar movie brand, or once again function as an ongoing voyage into the unknown?
