Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek Will Be R-Rated, Close to Locking in a Writer

In case you had any doubts that this Star Trek film project from Quentin Tarantino and J.J. Abrams would ever leave orbit, Deadline reports that it is getting closer to a reality. Not only is the project close to selecting its screenwriter, but the film, as is any Tarantino film, will be rated R.

Tarantino and Abrams assembled a writer’s room, consisting of Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), Lindsey Beer (the forthcoming Chaos Walking) and Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3). Out of the three, Smith is the frontrunner to be the pointman on the screenplay, according to Deadline.

Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures and Abrams have agreed to Tarantino’s condition that the film have an R rating. Why this was an absolute condition, we do not know—Tarantino is a self-confessed Star Trek fan, but the optimistic and utopian franchise was never known for violence and profanity. But with big franchise tentpoles such as Deadpool garnering critical and box office success, studios are probably more comfortable with putting out big budget R-rated tentpole films at this point, especially with a known commodity like Tarantino at the helm.

Tarantino’s next film will be an ensemble movie, taking place during the 1969 summer of the Manson murders—the release date for that project is set for Aug. 9, 2019.