Project Hail Mary author slams Star Trek TV shows as he reveals his pitch for one was rejected

Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, has taken aim at Star Trek's recent TV offering, revealing his own idea for a series was rejected by Paramount.

Speaking on the Critical Drinker podcast, Weir said: “I’m Gen X, so my sci-fi was like original series Star Trek reruns and Lost in Space reruns.

"And there wasn’t really much in the way of [new] sci-fi that was airing — where people are off in space doing cool things — until we got to [Star Trek: The Next Generation].”

While podcast host Will Jordan suggested everything since Enterprise (which ran from 2001 to 2005) should be removed from the Star Trek canon, Weir admitted that might be a little "severe".

However, he added: “I’ll give you my opinion and I’m just a consumer. I like Strange New Worlds. I think it’s pretty good. I didn’t hate Enterprise. I thought it was kind of weird. Lower Decks I thought was entertaining and fun. All the others, they can go.”

Speaking about his pitch for a new series, Weir went on to say: “And here’s another thing: I pitched a Star Trek show to Paramount and I was in a Zoom with the showrunners with all the shows and spent a long time talking to [executive producer Alex Kurtzman].

“I don’t like a lot of the new Trek. He, as a person, is a really nice guy. I feel a little bad for him but at the same time, those shows are s**t. He is a nice guy."

Weir jokingly added: "But they didn’t accept my pitch so, you know, f**k ‘em!”

As it approaches its 60th anniversary, Star Trek doesn't currently have any new series in active development. However, still to air are series including Starfleet Academy season 2 and Strange New Worlds seasons 4 and 5.

Kurtzman recently opened up to Radio Times about his plans for future Star Trek series, saying: "There's a perception, I think a lot of the time, that because it's 60 years’ worth of storytelling, it's very difficult to enter into that fresh, and obviously we want to grow Star Trek for future generations. Otherwise it won't be around."

Radio Times has contacted Paramount for comment.

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