Andor director helming new Star Trek movie

Andor’s Toby Haynes is about to make the jump to the big screen, directing a new movie set in the Star Trek universe.

A staple of the UK’s television industry for 20 years, Haynes got his start with an episode of anthology series Coming Up in 2004.

Since then, he’s directed installments of high-profile productions such as Doctor Who, Black Mirror, and Andor. He’s also called the shots on the likes of Sherlock, Utopia, and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

It’s an impressive run of genre fare – so much so that Paramount Pictures has decided Haynes is a good fit for Star Trek, despite him having never helmed a theatrical release.

Andor director helming new Star Trek movie

The news that Haynes will boldly go where several other filmmakers have gone before comes via Entertainment Weekly.

According to EW’s sources, the British director’s as-yet-untitled Star Trek film is an “origin story” that takes place “decades before the events of J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek movie.” The outlet also confirmed that The Lego Batman Movie co-writer Seth Grahame-Smith will pen the screenplay for Haynes’ Star Trek outing. Abrams’ production company, Bad Robot, will produce.

Little else is known about the project, other than that it reportedly won’t replace Star Trek 4 – stalled since August 2022 – on Paramount’s Star Trek movie slate. We don’t even know what release window the studio is targeting (although it’s presumably several years away).

That said, we do have some sense of what a Haynes-helmed Star Trek movie might be like. Haynes’ 2017 Black Mirror episode “USS Callister” parodies classic Trek and demonstrates the director’s familiarity with the franchise.

What other Star Trek movies is Paramount developing?

Aside from Star Trek 4 and Haynes’ film, Paramount has at least two other feature-length additions to the series’ canon in development. There’s Michelle Yeoh vehicle Section 31, as well as a mystery movie headlined by Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard.

Don’t expect acclaimed auteur Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited Star Trek flick to materialize anytime soon, though. That project remains on the back burner for the foreseeable future, along with another overseen by Fargo’s Noah Hawley.

For all the latest Star Trek news and updates, check out Dexerto’s full coverage here.