Quentin Tarantino Is Teaming Up with The Revenant Screenwriter On His Star Trek Movie

2017 has been a banner year for bizarre news stories, but perhaps no other development has led film nerds to screw up their eyes and go huh? more than the news that Quentin Tarantino is planning to direct a Star Trek movie with J.J. Abrams’ blessing.

That story got stranger yesterday as THR reports that Tarantino’s Star Trek will be written by Mark L. Smith, best known for writing the script for Alejandro Iñárritu’s The Revenant. Tarantino and Abrams had previously said that they planned to get a writer’s room together for the picture, with Tarantino slated to direct.

Tarantino, a longtime Star Trek fan, first has to complete work on his film about Charles Manson before he can direct this one, so don’t expect a release any time soon. The most recent Trek film, Beyond, somewhat underperformed at the box office, so perhaps Abrams is looking for a new direction for the franchise. He’s certainly going to get it—we doubt the writer of The Revenant and the director of The Hateful Eight are going to go in the same direction as Simon Pegg, who ended the Star Trek film he wrote with one ship surfing a fleet of enemies like a wave to the tune of The Beastie Boys.

Details are sparse on exactly what Tarantino’s vision for Star Trek entails, but reportedly he sold J.J. Abrams on the project on the strength of his plot alone.