‘Project Hail Mary’s Sci-Fi Author Addresses His ‘Star Trek’ Comments After Backlash

The talk of cinema right now has undoubtedly been Christopher Miller and Phil Lord‘s blockbuster sci-fi adaptation of Project Hail Mary. Led by Ryan Gosling, the film has been a massive success for Amazon MGM Studios, earning over $300 million so far at the global box office and being showered with near-universal critical acclaim. It’s a rare non-franchise winner and another renowned adaptation of a book by Andy Weir, following Ridley Scott‘s Oscar-nominated Matt Damon epic based on his 2011 novel, The Martian. However, during a time of celebration for the epic tale of two species working together to save the very stars themselves, the author has been met with controversy for his comments about another longtime sci-fi darling.

In a recently posted open letter on Facebook, Weir apologized to Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman for what he said about the franchise while appearing on the Critical Drinker podcast. During the episode, he slammed the direction Paramount has taken with its shows under Kurtzman and addressed his own pitch for the storied universe being rejected. “And here’s another thing: I pitched a Star Trek show to Paramount, and I was on Zoom with the showrunners with all the shows and spent a lot of time talking to [Kurtzman],” he recalled. “He, as a person, is a really nice guy. But at the same time, those shows are s–t. He is a nice guy, but they didn’t accept my pitch, so, you know, f–k ’em.”

Weir’s comments drew widespread outrage from across the internet and especially from his writing peers, like Crime 101 author Don Winslow, who called on him to apologize and said on X, “You don’t take your moment in the sun to attack another writer because they didn’t buy your pitch.” Weir claimed in his apology that “I was trying to be funny, but in retrospect it comes off as disrespectful and mean,” adding that he was trying to be self-deprecating, but “out of context it can read like I actually meant it.” In his eyes, his words came off more as “salacious sound bytes” when taken away from the podcast episode. Admitting he’s “a blunt person,” he also emphasized how much he appreciated Kurzman as a person, even if his quotes may not have conveyed that, closing by saying, “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.”

Alex Kurtzman Has Built a Prolific Resume During His ‘Star Trek’ Tenure

Kurtzman has been aboard the Star Trek franchise since the 2009 movie, which he co-wrote and executive-produced. Since then, he’s remained a driving force within the sci-fi mainstay, extending beyond the cinematic installments and onto the small screen as a creative on Star Trek: Picard, Discovery, and Strange New Worlds, the latter of which Weir even praised during his initial interview. Most recently, Paramount+ debuted the new series Starfleet Academy under his watch, which proved divisive for viewers and suffered from review-bombing, but was a major success with critics for taking the spacefaring universe to new frontiers. With viewership not being quite where the company hoped and big changes coming amid the upcoming merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, though, the Holly Hunter-captained show is set to end after its sophomore run, leaving the future of Star Trek wide open beyond two more new seasons of SNW.

Project Hail Mary is currently in theaters. Stay tuned here at Collider for further updates on the blockbuster, Weir, and the future of Star Trek.

Release Date

March 20, 2026

Runtime

156 Minutes

Director

Christopher Miller, Phil Lord

Writers

Drew Goddard, Andy Weir

Producers

Ryan Gosling, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Aditya Sood, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rachel O’Connor