The ‘Star Trek’ franchise, now just a tad over 50 years old, is enjoying a Renaissance of sorts.  After a long stretch of having no new TV content on the airwaves, the franchise returned last year with ‘Star Trek: Discovery;’ while both critics and fans seem firmly split on whether the show is a worthy bearer of the name or not, it’s undeniable that the show at least has people talking about televised Trek once again.

Couple that with the recent work that the franchise has done with a trilogy of “reboot” style films, throw in a liberal amount of nostalgia, add a dash of sci-fi envy from the other “big” franchise (‘Star Wars’) seeing lots of attention as well, and you’ve got the makings of a “perfect storm” of sorts for the long-running space fiction series.

Now, for the first time ever, it’s been confirmed that there are actually two separate upcoming Trek films in the works.  While one will be set in the same timeline of the previous three JJ Abrams films, the other came about as a direct result of longtime Hollywood creative Quentin Tarantino directly pitching an idea to Abrams and his team at Bad Robot (Abrams’ production company).

In a recent interview, Star Trek actor/writer Simon Pegg spoke a bit about the novelty of having two Trek films in the works at the same time, and whether this was a planned move or not:

“I think it was a coincidence. We were gearing up for ‘Four’ and getting ready for that, and then Quentin strolled into Bad Robot one day and said ‘listen to this.’ It was just really interesting, and I think it just got out, and so everyone started talking about it. And also, Star Trek is kind of, with ‘Discovery’ and stuff, it’s in the public consciousness. It never left it, really. It’s entering its second 50 years. I think it’s great that it’s being talked about so much.”

As for Tarantino’s film, Pegg doesn’t seem to have many details – or at least, not many that he’s willing to share at this point:

“I know as much as you do on that. I’m fascinated by the idea. I know for a fact that he is very passionate about Star Trek. He has very strong opinions on it and he loves it. He doesn’t want to tear it down. I think everyone is like ‘Oh, it’s going to be like this. It’s going to be Pulp Fiction in space.’ I wouldn’t worry about that. I think it will be really interesting take on it, sure, but he’s not going to just recycle Star Trek. As a fan of Star Trek, I would be excited.”

As further news develops on these two films, we’ll be sure to keep you posted!