Andy Weir just picked a very loud moment to stir up ‘Star Trek’ discourse. The ‘Project Hail Mary’ author took aim at several recent entries in the franchise during a podcast appearance, then followed it with a public apology to Alex Kurtzman as the comments started spreading online.
What makes the timing stand out is where Weir is in his own career right now. ‘Project Hail Mary’ is not just another adaptation tied to his name. It is officially Amazon MGM’s highest-grossing film ever, with $300.8 million worldwide after adding another $54.1 million from 86 markets as of March 29. That gives every off-the-cuff remark a lot more heat. When the writer behind one of the year’s biggest box office stories starts dragging a major streaming franchise, people are going to pay attention.
Andy Weir praised a few ‘Star Trek’ shows and torched the rest
During a recent taping of the podcast ‘Critical Drinking’, Weir gave a pretty blunt breakdown of how he sees the current ‘Star Trek’ era. “All modern TV shows and movies have been heavily influenced by the original Star Trek, except for the current batch of Star Trek shows,” he remarked. He said he likes ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’, called it pretty good, and said ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ was entertaining. He was less generous with the rest.
Weir also revealed that he had pitched a ‘Star Trek’ show to Paramount and had spent time on Zoom with the franchise’s creative leadership, including executive producer Alex Kurtzman.
Suddenly the story had an extra edge. This was not just a guy complaining from the sidelines. He had actually tried to get into the sandbox.
That detail changes the read a little. In a fandom as intense as ‘Star Trek’, criticism always gets amplified. Criticism from someone who had his own pitch rejected gets picked apart even faster. And because Weir is currently attached to a massive theatrical hit, the comments landed with much more force than they might have otherwise.
His apology tried to cool things down fast
After the backlash grew, Weir posted a public apology to Kurtzman on March 30. The message was direct and personal. “I was trying to be funny, but in retrospect it comes off as disrespectful and mean. So I’m sorry for that.”
That is probably the clearest summary of what happened here. The original comments sounded loose, sharp, and built for laughs in the room. Once clipped and repeated, they read harsher. Weir also said his remarks had been turned into “salacious sound bytes,” while noting that he had also said positive things about Kurtzman himself and about ‘Strange New Worlds’ and ‘Lower Decks’.
The bigger issue is not hard to see. ‘Star Trek’ remains one of Paramount+’s most visible franchise brands, and Weir is having a major box office moment with ‘Project Hail Mary’. That makes this clash feel less like random podcast chatter and more like a collision between two different corners of studio-era sci-fi. One side is fighting for streaming relevance. The other is riding a theatrical win.
For now, Weir seems eager to put the whole thing to bed. Whether fans let it go that easily is another matter.
Andy Weir’s open letter to Alex Kurtzman
On March 30, he posted an apology to Kurtzman via Facebook. Read it in full below.
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 to hell with it)!” 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.
You can watch the full podcast here.
