The biggest hit of 2026 so far at the movies is Project Hail Mary. The Ryan Gosling sci-fi film has become beloved by both audiences and critics alike, a rare feat these days. The film is based on the 2021 science fiction novel of the same name by author Andy Weir. His first novel, The Martian, became a huge hit when directed by Ridley Scott in 2015. With only four novels to his name, and half of them becoming hit films, Weir has become a hot commodity. But in doing press for Project Hail Mary, he recently slammed most modern versions of another beloved sci-fi property: Star Trek.
Via Gizmodo, we learned that while a guest on The Critical Drinker podcast, Weir vented his feelings about modern Trek. Podcast host Will Jordan, whose primary angle centers on decrying how all the franchises of his youth have become “too woke now”, suggested that all modern Star Trek become de-canonized. In response, here’s what Andy Weir had to say on the subject:
You’re a little more severe than I am—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. And here’s another thing: I pitched a Star Trek show to Paramount, and I was in a Zoom with the showrunners of all the shows and spent a lot of 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. But at the same time, those shows are shit. He is a nice guy. But they didn’t accept my pitch, so, you know, f*** ’em.
Weir’s comments quickly blew up on social media, leading to the author apologizing publicly to Alex Kurtzman on Facebook. You can see Weir’s post below:
In this post, Weir said, “I was trying to be funny, but in retrospect it comes off as disrespectful and mean.” He added that he regretted his quotes had become “salacious sound bytes.” He finished by saying to Kurtzman, “Anyway, if you want to talk about it in real time – even if it’s just to rip me a new one – I’m happy to hop on the phone or Zoom.” Given that people these days usually just double down, it is nice to see Weir be a grown-up about this.
Having said that, we can see why Paramount rejected his Star Trek pitch. In a different interview, Weir said, “As a lifelong Star Trek fan, it’s always bothered me that there is a presumed ‘responsibility’ within Star Trek shows to talk about social issues. I just want to watch Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other.” Whether you like modern Trek or not, discussing social issues allegorically is baked into Star Trek’s DNA since 1966. It’s hard to imagine a version of Trek that isn’t that. If you can’t recognize that, and just want “pew-pew-pew” in space, there are plenty of sci-fi options to choose from. Either just to watch, or to create for.