Biopic about Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in the works

Today marks Gene Roddenberry’s 100th birthday and Deadline has reported that Roddenberry Entertainment has been working on a biopic revolving around the Star Trek creator.

Adam Mazer has penned the script for the Gene Roddenberry biopic and is best known as the writer behind HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack TV movie that starred Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Kevorkian. “Gene led a remarkable life,” said producers Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth. “He was an incredibly complex, compelling man, whose work changed the face of television, and whose ideas changed the world. It’s time to share Gene’s story with audiences everywhere.”

Beyond creating the Star Trek franchise, Gene Roddenberry served in the Army Air Forces and flew combat missions during World War II, and later worked as a pilot for Pan Am. During those times he survived several crashes and decided to join the Los Angeles Police Department where he began writing scripts. Roddenberry wrote for TV series such as Highway Patrol, West Point, Wrangler, Dr. Kildare, Naked City, Have Gun – Will Travel, and more, before creating his first series, The Lieutenant. The show featured many people who would later be associated with Star Trek, including Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nicols.

From that very first adventure all those years ago, Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise grew to include plenty of spinoff series and movies. The franchise is still going strong with Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Prodigy and more on the horizon. There’s also a new Star Trek movie in the works that’s set to be directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman from a script by Lindsay Beer and Gena Robertson-Dworet.