Asked if the film would involve a new cast, he responded, "Yeah, I think so. Yeah."

Pressed if anyone from the cast last seen in 2016's Star Trek Beyond would return, Hawley added, "It's early days. I don't know. But new characters often involve new cast."

Hawley also expounded on his vision somewhat, referencing 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, widely considered to be a high point for Trek.

"It's William Shatner putting on his reading glasses and lowering Khan's shields, which cost like $9.50. There's no big action sequence. He's just more clever," Hawley said, recalling a key scene. "There's something really uplifting about that feeling. I went to Paramount and just had my own ideas for what I wanted to do with it. So that's the direction that I'm going in. It's still very early days, so I can't really be more specific. But it's going to be different."

While CBS All Access has been building out its Star Trek universe with shows including Discovery and the upcoming Star Trek: Picard, Paramount has had trouble finding a big screen follow-up after Beyond underperformed at the box office.

Succession helmer S.J. Clarkson was set to make history as the franchise's first female director on the big screen, but that project fell apart in 2018 over salary disputes wit stars Pine and Chris Hemsworth. Quentin Tarantino has been developing his own take on Star Trek since 2017, but recently suggested he was moving on.

Hawley will produce his Trek via his 26 Keys shingle along with Bad Robot, the production banner run by J.J. Abrams, who helmed the first two installments of this current Trek incarnation. On the TV front for Hawley, Fargo season four bows in April on FX.