At one point, it was widely reported Quentin Tarantino was going to helm a film in the Star Trek franchise, surprising longtime fans of the auteur. After all, the director has long said he's going to retire from filmmaking once he makes 10 movies, a sum he'll reach with the release of his next picture. Because of that, Tarantino says, his Star Trek movie is never going to happen.

"It's never going to happen. There's been so much misinformation about what it was going to be--nothing but misinformation. I live in a special zone and part of my zone is because I'm not on Instagram and Facebook, I'm not creating this constant dialogue with the world with what's going on with my life," Tarantino explained on the latest episode of Bill Maher's podcast. "Consequently, if you're Joe Schlomoka and you're some transient reporter of some kind, if you hear Quentin is going to make a Star Trek movie or a make a movie called The Movie Critic, or any f--king thing, it's a little bit like that guy who wrote the Howard Hughes biography that ended up being a hoax. The thing is, they can say anything. My point being though, they write it in a show biz magazine and then that gets picked up in 140 pieces because I'm not shutting that down because I'm not connected."

Interestingly enough, screenwriter Mark L. Smith has said he penned a script based on a story idea by Tarantino, suggesting he was, at least at one point, attached to a Star Trek project.

"Quentin and I went back and forth; he was gonna do some stuff on it, and then he started worrying about the number, his kind of unofficial number of films," Smith told Collider last year. "I remember we were talking, and he goes, 'If I can just wrap my head around the idea that Star Trek could be my last movie, the last thing I ever do. Is this how I want to end it?' And I think that was the bump he could never get across, so the script is still sitting there on his desk."

Smith continued, "I know he said a lot of nice things about it. I would love for it to happen. It's just one of those things that I can't ever see happening. But it would be the greatest 'Star Trek' film, not for my writing, but just for what Tarantino was gonna do with it. It was just a balls-out kind of thing."

The cast of Star Trek: Lower Decks are giving their take on what their favorite moments and cameos are before the series wraps up. The Paramount+ original animated series is a spinoff of the popular Star Trek franchise and focuses on the crew of the lesser known Cerritos in the 24th century. After four seasons on the streaming service, Star Trek: Lower Decks is ending its run with Season 5, though there is some time before fans have to say their goodbyes. The show's cast and showrunner recently shared the episodes they're looking forward to the most, and looked back at which episodes were their favorites.

ComicBook spoke to Star Trek: Lower Decks' creator/showrunner Mike McMahan and actors Jerry O'Connell, Tawny Newsome, and No?l Wells at San Diego Comic-Con, where we asked them to look back at the animated comedy and share the things that they will remember. When asked what episode they're looking forward to the audience seeing, Jerry O'Connell replied, "Probably the finale. I found it to be very emotional." When asked what his character Jack Ransom is doing, he teased, "You'll have to see," with Newsome and McMahan also chiming in with positive Jack Ransom feedback.

"I really love the Jennifer episode... I love the stuff [D'Vana] Tendi gets to do this season," Newsome said. "It really warms my heart the way this show... this 22-minute nonsense show... is the one that has advanced Orion canon so much. As a rabid fan, no other show has given as much to the Orion culture, so it's wild that we've expanded that."

Wells added, "I think the premiere sets up the season so well. From there, it's really going to take off."

Star Trek: Lower Decks showrunner teases final season cameos

Showrunner Mike McMahan revealed that the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks will include some special cameos that even he wasn't sure they'd be able to pull off.

"There's also some classic legacy cameos this season that are pretty bonkers," he said. "They're sort of sprinkled throughout, but since we had a head's up that this would be our last, we started going to the wish list and everyone wanted to be on. It was pretty wild. I was sure we weren't going to get everyone, but you'll see some familiar faces this season."

The opening of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood is right around the corner, but this won't be the only nighttime event fans can look forward to on the horizon, as the park has announced today that it will be kicking off Universal Fan Fest Nights in spring 2025, allowing guests to celebrate their favorite Universal properties in all-new ways. The limited-time, after-hours experience will allow fans to immerse themselves in the worlds of Star Trek, Back to the Future, and Dungeons & Dragons, all of which will match the impressive production quality of what Universal unveils every year at Halloween Horror Nights. You can head to the Universal Fan Fest Nights official website to sign up to be able to purchase tickets.

"For decades, Universal Studios Hollywood has been a leader in creating and executing innovative special events that are consistent with our brand," Scott Strobl, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Universal Studios Hollywood, shared in a statement. "From our esteemed Halloween Horror Nights event to this all-new Universal Fan Fest Nights experience, we are thrilled about how this breakthrough program will continue to elevate the guest experience in an all-new way."

The brands being showcased are described as follows:

• Star Trek: This experience is inspired by the Star Trek universe, one of television's most enduring franchises, which is known for its groundbreaking storytelling that addresses social, political, and cultural issues as well as entertaining millions of fans. Star Trek's optimistic view of the future and reflection on what it means to be human has inspired generations of dreamers and doers.
• Back to the Future: This exciting experience is inspired by the blockbuster 1985 Back to the Future movie. The groundbreaking adventure sparked one of the most successful trilogies in film history, won an Academy award, and launched a franchise that would go on to generate almost $1 billion globally.
• Dungeons & Dragons: 2024 has been a banner year for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). On the heels of the acclaimed film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and the smash hit video game Baldur's Gate 3, D&D is celebrating 50 years of the WORLD'S GREATEST ROLEPLAYING GAME. More than 64 million D&D fans love rolling dice, slaying monsters, and envisioning themselves as the amazing heroes they all are inside.
  

Per press release, "In spring 2025, Universal Studios Hollywood will introduce guests to Universal Fan Fest Nights, an all-new interactive and immersive separately ticketed event that brings the most compelling worlds of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Gaming, and Anime to life from the creators of its highly acclaimed Halloween Horror Nights event."

"Featuring a slate of all-new, thrilling, and unique fan-favorite experiences, the inaugural Universal Fan Fest Nights 2025 at Universal Studios Hollywood will debut these exciting properties with more to be announced soon.

"Universal Fan Fest Nights will be a limited-time, after-hours experience, exclusive to Universal Studios Hollywood that will showcase a dynamic line-up of captivating, immersive in-world experiences along with engaging celebratory activations throughout the theme park, from live entertainment to cosplay, inviting guests to embrace their favorite characters and share their enthusiasm with like-minded fans.

"Additionally, fans can look forward to an enticing menu of themed foods and new merchandise, including collectibles, apparel, drinkware, accessories, and more, to show off their fandom during Universal Fan Fest Nights and beyond."

You can head to the Universal Fan Fest Nights official website to sign up to be able to purchase tickets.

Will you be checking out the event? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

In the landscape of science fiction television, no shows have had an impact quite like Doctor Who and Star Trek. The two franchises have joined forces in the realm of comic books, even crossing over together in their respective mobile games early next month. Still, fans have advocated for some sort of live-action crossover between the two -- and apparently, it isn't completely out of the cards. During their joint panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies and Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman revealed what might be standing in the way of a proper crossover episode.

"We would love to bring you a crossover episode and the way we can make that happen is the fans," Davies explained. "The fans continue to make crossover art, and stories and continue to ask and push to bring these two universes together. Because we must get together. It must happen."

"We share values," Kurtzman added. "We share perspectives of the world. We want to tell stories that are illuminating about the human race. Each iteration of The Doctor and each iteration of Trek has endeavoured to do that for every generation that it serves. It's that beautiful connection."

When Will Doctor Who Return With New Episodes?

Season 2 (under the Disney+ branding) of Doctor Who has already wrapped production, although an exact release date has yet to be set. Both Gatwa and Gibson are confirmed to return for Season 2, as well as Varada Sethu as a mysterious second companion.

"It feels so much fun now," Gatwa previously said of acclimating to the role. "I've relaxed and [the Doctor] seems to have sunk down a little bit deeper, from my chest into my gut."

The first season of Doctor Who is available to stream exclusively on Disney+. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

Note: If you purchase one of the awesome, independently chosen products featured here, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is heading into its fifth and final season in October, but the misadventures of the U.S.S. Cerritos crew will continue in comic book form. During last week's San Diego Comic-Con, IDW Publishing announced it will launch an ongoing Star Trek: Lower Decks comic book series from multiple Eisner Award-winning writer Ryan North. The news comes as IDW Publishing freshly renews its claim to the Star Trek comics license. The Star Trek: Lower Decks ongoing series will launch in November, following the release of the Star Trek: Lower Decks - Warp Your Own Way interactive graphic novel (also written by North) in October.

"Lower Decks is my favorite Star Trek, and I have seen every single Star Trek there is to see, except for one episode I will never reveal," North said in a press release. "This raises the obvious question: will something in this comic contradict something that I missed in that one episode I never saw? Thankfully the answer is no, because the entire Lower Decks team - both at IDW and Paramount - has been so amazing - supportive, clever, brilliant. We're making a big funny heartfelt book with huge sci-fi ideas, important character developments, tons of that Trek flavor, and a bunch of jokes, too. If you love Lower Decks you'll love this comic!"

Star Trek: Lower Decks Returns as a Comic

Star Trek: Lower Decks will have episodic storytelling and each story will come from a different artist. Derek Charm will draw the debut issue, reuniting the team behind the Eisner-nominated Star Trek: Day of Blood - Shaxs' Best Day one-shot.

"I get to team up with some of my favorite artists for this book, starting with Derek Charm, who we last teamed up with on the Eisner-winning Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and on the Eisner-nominated Shaxs' Best Day. He is: the best."

IDW Group Editor Heather Antos adds, "Just when you thought we couldn't go lower... we're BACK with the first ever ONGOING Lower Decks series. Just like the fans out there, we too want more Lower Decks and this time we're giving it to you tenfold!"

Antos continues, "Ryan North is showing us just how deep of a Trek nerd he is with these stories, and paired with the comedic geniuses of Derek Charm, Jack Lawrence and more on art duties for a rotating cast of 'episodic' issues, this series is a mission so fun that even the Lower Deckers themselves won't want to miss it!"

Star Trek: Lower Decks #1 goes on sale on November 13th. Star Trek: Lower Decks - Warp Your Own Way goes on sale on October 22nd. Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 debuts October 24th on Paramount+.

Star Trek will embark on new adventures with IDW Publishing. During last week's San Diego Comic-Con, IDW Publishing announced that it had extended its partnership with Paramount Global to continue publishing Star Trek comic books. IDW Publishing has been publishing Star Trek comics since 2007 and will celebrate 500 Star Trek issues across various ongoing and limited series with the appropriately titled Star Trek #500 in September. Over 17 years, IDW Publishing has published comics based on Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the rebooted Star Trek film series (stories featuring the cast of Star Trek: Enterprise have appeared in anthology issues, making Star Trek: Prodigy the only Star Trek series that IDW hasn't featured in its comics).

"Star Trek is not just an iconic franchise, but a universe that celebrates diversity and creativity," Davidi Jonas, CEO of IDW Media Holdings, said in a press release. "The Star Trek community is one that we're proud to serve and be part of. The team at Paramount share our love of storytelling, universe expansion, and delighting fans. We are humbled and excited to renew our commitment, and plan on years of going boldly forward with our partners and fans."

IDW Publishing Will Continue to Publish Star Trek Comics

IDW Publisher Mark Doyle added, "I have always loved Star Trek for its positive vision of the future. It's been such a joy to watch and support the editorial and creative teams as they tell bold new stories in this universe that have really resonated with audiences old and new. From Eisner nominations to glowing fan praise, the Star Trek community has really embraced the stories we're telling and I cannot wait for them to see where we go next!"

According to IDW, Star Trek #500 is a "massive milestone issue" that will include a prelude to the next major crossover event to the refreshed line of interconnected Star Trek comics the publisher launched in 2022, which has gone on to win the Star Trek franchise its first Eisner Awards attention (Star Trek #400 preceded that launch and had a similar story setting up Star Trek's first comic book crossover event, Star Trek: Day of Blood). Star Trek #500 also includes a short story co-written by Patton Oswalt and more.

IDW Publishing will release the interactive graphic novel Star Trek: Lower Decks - Warp Your Own Way in October. The Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant ongoing series will continue for the foreseeable future, with the spinoff miniseries Sons of Star Trek having recently concluded.

Star Trek #500 goes on sale September 4th. Star Trek: Lower Decks - Warp Your Own Way hits stores on October 22nd.

Star Trek is getting its first live-action comedy series, which is in development over at Paramount+. The series was a surprise reveal during San Diego Comic-Con 2024's Star Trek Universe panel in Hall H. During the Star Trek: Lower Decks portion of the panel, series star Tawny Newsome and panel moderator Justin Simien (Dear White People) broke off to announce that they are the creative team behind this new Star Trek comedy series:

A post from the official Star Trek Twitter account revealed the first details of this new Star Trek live-action comedy:

A new @StarTrek series is in development from co-creators Justin Simien and @TrondyNewman! In this live action comedy, Federation Outsiders serving a gleaming resort planet find out their day-to-day exploits are being broadcast to the entire quadrant.

There is one important takeaway from that synopsis: this Star Trek live-action comedy is in no way stepping on the toes of The Orville. Seth MacFarlane's Star Trek parody series earned a dedicated fandom during its run (2017-2022) and is going to be the biggest thing some people point to as the reason for NOT needing this new show.

However, both Star Trek diehards and casual fans alike were critical of Lower Decks when it was first announced - but as series star Jerry O'Connell pointed out that initial "frosty" reception melted into a burning fandom after fans got to engage with the show. Star Trek Universe head Alex Kurtzman has already sung big praises about Newsome's work writing this new series, and the premise does sound like an intriguing "Star Trek Truman Show" idea that could work just like Lower Decks - i.e., pulling from Star Trek canon while also commenting on it from a humorous-but-loving satirical point of view.

What is Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 about?

According to Paramount+'s official synopsis:

In season five of Star Trek: Lower Decks, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos is tasked with closing 'space potholes' - subspace rifts which are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant. Pothole duty would be easy for Jr. Officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford...if they didn't also have to deal with an Orion war, furious Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries and scariest of all: their own career aspirations. This upcoming season on Paramount+ is a celebration of this underdog crew who are dangerously close to being promoted out of the lower decks and into strange new Starfleet roles.

Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos. The Star Trek: Lower Decks voice cast includes Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, No?l Wells, and Eugene Cordero as the junior officers and Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman as the Cerritos bridge crew.

The ComicBook Nation crew gives a spoiler-free review of Deadpool & Wolverine, and then dips into all of the breaking news from San Diego Comic-Con so far! We also review Kite Man: Hell Yeah! And then talk Transformers, Joker 2, Absolute Power, and comics, along with a preview of this year's Gen Con!

PLUS: Two Bonus Episodes - one LIVE from Comic-Con! ComicBook Nation host Kofi Outlaw teams with Phase Zero hosts Brandon Davis and Jenna Anderson, and ComicBook.com's Chris Killian to break down the biggest reveals, wild happenings, and crazy behind-the-scenes stories from Thursday and Friday at San Diego Comic-Con!

A second BONUS episode reunites ComicBook Nation hosts Kofi Outlaw, Janell Wheeler and Matt Aguilar summon their energy reserves to recap SDCC after the convention is done. Tune in for it all!

Deadpool & Wolverine Review

Phase Zero host Jenna Anderson said this in her 4.5. out of 5-star Deadpool & Wolverine Review:

Amid the never-ending conversation around superhero fatigue, too many spoilers, and not enough effective storytelling, it feels rare to be truly surprised by a new superhero adaptation. Deadpool & Wolverine is such a pleasant surprise - both in its jaw-dropping elements and in the sentimental reason for those elements even existing - that it almost feels like a miracle. The movie's handful of flaws are outweighed by its pure blockbuster storytelling and the gleeful rapport of its two protagonists. Through its no-holds-barred execution and the wildly entertaining performances of its ensemble cast, Deadpool & Wolverine serves as the most unlikely reminder of why we care about superhero movies in the first place.

Comic-Con Recap

ComicBook Nation is here to wrap up all the biggest news from Friday at San Diego Comic-Con! The Boys season 5 news and a Soldier Boy spin off! A new Lord of the Rings Rings of Power Season 2 Trailer! Huge anime updates for One Piece and much, much more!

ComicBook Nation is bringing you ALL the big news, huge reveals, and major returns cough* Robert Downey Jr * cough from San Diego Comic-Con 2024!

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