The author of “Project Hail Mary” may be behind one of the biggest films of the year, but Andy Weir did non mince words when it came to Paramount Plus+’s recent batch of “Star Trek” series, some of which he criticized during a recent interview.
“I’ll give you my opinion, and I’m just a consumer,” Weir said during a taping last week of the podcast “Critical Drinking.” 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.”
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Weir also spoke about making a pitch himself to the “Star Trek” team.
“And here’s another thing: I pitched a ‘Star Trek’ show to Paramount, and I was in Zoom with the showrunners with all the shows and spent a lot of time talking to [executive producer Alex Kurtzman],” Weir continued. “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.”
On March 30, Reid posted an apology to Kurtzman via Facebook. Read it in full below.
Open letter to Alex Kurtzman:
Hey, Alex. Andy Weir here. I’m posting to apologize about stuff I said on the Critical Drinker’s podcast.
I feel like my quotes were taken out of context as salacious sound bytes. I hope you saw the other parts where I said how much I like you as a person and what a nice guy you are. Also how I like SNW and LD.
I was trying to be funny, but in retrospect it comes off as disrespectful and mean. So I’m sorry for that. I was also trying to be self-deprecating when I said “But they didn’t like my pitch so fuck ’em!” but out of context it can read like I actually meant it.
I’m a blunt person – always have been. And it’s been 10 years since the media cared what I had to say about anything so I kind of forgot to watch my words when I have a film in theaters. In a couple months I’ll be back in my cave writing novels and no one will care again.
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.
Watch the original Critical Drinker segment below.
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