Akiva Goldsman had two cameos in Star Trek before he began writing episodes

Akiva Goldsman has experienced many ups and downs in his career as a screenwriter in Hollywood. The screenwriter won an Oscar in 2001 for writing “A Beautiful Mind,” but he was previously nominated for Razzies (which honors the worst filmmakers) for writing the screenplays for “A Time to Kill.” and the horrific “Batman & Robin.” He has been instrumental in major blockbusters and media franchises, writing The Da Vinci Code, 1998’s Lost in Space and The Divergent Series: Insurgent. He also wrote “I, Robot,” “I Am Legend,” and most recently “The Dark Tower.”

Since 2017, Goldsman has joined the Star Trek brass, serving as one of the franchise’s executive producers and writing several episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange. New worlds. He also directed five episodes, embracing his new place at the helm of the Trek franchise. Goldsman is also working on other projects – he created the 2023 series “The Crowded Room” – but “Star Trek” seems to be taking up most of his time.

Goldsman has been a Trekkie for a long time, so joining the new wave of shows from the Paramount+ era was probably a dream come true for him. Coincidentally, it wasn’t the first time the screenwriter got to play around in the Star Trek sandbox either. In 2009, Goldsman bargained with director JJ Abrams – a friend of his – for a cameo in his 2009 Star Trek film. Take a close look at the image below and scan the faces of the two Vulcan tribunal members, who look down on young Spock (Zachary Quinto). The one directly to the right of the central judge is none other than Akiva Goldsman in a wig.

In the image above from Star Trek Into Darkness, Goldsman can also be seen as a human Starfleet admiral. He is the bald man in the white uniform on the right side of the table.

Goldsman discussed his Trekkie credibility an interview with StarTrek.com from 2014and how his cameos came about. The author grew up watching Star Trek and is such a big fan that he has an opinion on the Trekki vs. Trekker debate. He even attended conferences back then. He said:

“I’m a die-hard, die-hard Trekkie, 1000 percent. And I say Trekkie, not Trekker, and I don’t care what the term is. I think my first ‘Star Trek’ convention was at the Statler Hilton Hotel in 1977 or 1978. I grew up in Brooklyn, and what you saw was on WPIX, channel 11. And you have it seen every evening at 7 o’clock. I don’t think I ever remember seeing it in prime time, but I picked it up very quickly in syndication.

Goldsman remembers the wild days of the 1970s when a bunch of teenagers would leave town alone, get a hotel room and do nothing but watch “Star Trek” and roll joints (mainly seeds and stems, he said). on vinyl copies of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (from the youngest EGOT Elton John). It’s probably no coincidence that his production company is called Weed Road Productions. He said he associated “Star Trek” with his own sense of youthful liberation when he finally found “something of his own.”

Goldsman said he followed everyone the strange legal battles stirred up by Harlan Ellisonand he read all of the design sourcebooks written by the show’s designer, David Gerrold. When Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out, Goldsman said he was in college and fell in love with Persis Khambatta. There was never a moment when Trek wasn’t part of his life.

It seems that since Goldsman was friends with JJ Abrams, all he could do was call his pal and ask for a cameo. Abrams co-created the 2008 TV series “Fringe” (starring Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci), and Goldsman worked on “Fringe” as a writer, consultant and producer. Goldsman ultimately wrote 18 episodes of this series and even directed one. Goldsman knew Abrams was working on Star Trek and subtly asked him for a small favor. Okay, actually he begged. In Goldsman’s words:

“I introduced JJ to his wife. I did that.Edge area.’ And the first time he did,Star Trek‘ I basically begged. That worked well, so I guess it was just a good idea to bring people back from the first part (for “Into Darkness”). I might have begged some more. And there I was. I couldn’t love it more. I have a gumball card of me on the Vulcan Council here in my office.

Akiva Goldsman is strangely not one of the many, many producers listed the upcoming TV series “Starfleet Academy.”currently in development. Both Discovery and Picard have ended, so when it comes to Star Trek, Goldsman may be focusing all of his energy on the upcoming seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The third year will begin in the first months of 2025.