Akiva Goldsman had two cameos on Star Trek before he started writing episodes

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman’s Hollywood career has had many ups and downs. Pissar won an Academy Award in 2001 for his screenplay for A Beautiful Mind, but was previously nominated for a Razzie (honoring the worst in filmmaking) for his screenplay for Time to Kill. and the terrifying Batman and Robin. He has been heavily involved in major blockbusters and media franchises, having written The Da Vinci Code, 1998’s Lost in Space, and The Divergent Series: Rebel. He also wrote I Robot, I Am Legend and most recently The Dark Tower.

Since 2017, Goldsman has been working with Star Trek executives, serving as one of the franchise’s executive producers and writing several episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: The Incredibles. New worlds”. It also directed five episodes, taking its new place at the top of the Trek pile. Goldsman is also working on other projects — he created the TV series The Crowded Room in 2023 — 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 Paramount+-era shows was probably a dream come true for him. Also, it so happened that the screenwriter had to play in the sandbox of “Star Trek” for the first time. In 2009, Goldsman negotiated a cameo with director JJ Abrams, a friend of his, in his 2009 film Star Trek. Look closely at the image below and scan the faces of the two members of the Vulcan Tribunal looking down on a young Spock (Zachary Quinto). To the right of the center judge is none other than Akiva Goldsman in a wig.

In the Star Trek Into Darkness movie below, Goldsman can be seen as a human admiral of Starfleet. It’s a bald man with a white chest in a uniform to the right of the table.

Goldsman discussed his Trekkie faith StarTrek.com interview in 2014and how his cameos came about. The writer grew up watching Star Trek and is such a big fan that he has an opinion on the Trek vs. Tracker debate. At that time, he even went to conventions. He said:

“I’m a solid, solid, 1,000 percent track. And I say tracks, not tracker, and I don’t care what the nomenclature became. I think my first Star Trek convention was at the Statler Hilton in 1977 or 1978. I grew up in Brooklyn and what you saw was on WPIX, Channel 11. And you watched it at 7 o’clock at night, I don’t think I ever saw it in prime time.”

Goldsman recalls the wild and disorderly days of the 1970s, when a group of teenagers could leave town on their own, find a hotel room, and do nothing but watch Star Trek and roll joints (mostly seeds and stems, he says) on vinyl. copies of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (recent 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 sense of liberation as a teenager, finally finding “his thing”.

Goldsman said he followed everyone surprising legal battles started by Harlan Ellisonand he read all the design sources written by the show’s designer, David Gerald. When Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out, Goldsman said he was in college and fell in love with Persis Hambatta. There wasn’t a moment when Trek wasn’t a part of his life.

It seems that since Goldsman was friends with JJ Abrams, he was able to simply call his pal and ask for a cameo. Abrams co-created the 2008 Fringe series (with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci), and Goldsman worked on Fringe as a writer, consultant and producer. Goldsman eventually wrote 18 episodes of the show and even directed one. Knowing that Abrams was working on Star Trek, Goldsman reached out and subtly asked for a favor. Okay, actually he asked. In the words of Goldsman:

“I introduced Jay Jay to his wife.Fringe.’ And so when he was doing the first “Star Trek“, I begged. It went well, so I guess maybe it was just a good idea to bring all the people back from the first one (for “Into Darkness”). I could have begged for more. And here I was. I can’t love it more. I have a bubblegum card right here in my office where I’m on the Vulcan board.”

Akiva Goldsman, interestingly, is not one of the many, many producers listed for the upcoming Starfleet Academy series.currently under development. Both Discovery and Picard have come to an end, so from a Star Trek perspective, Goldsman can focus all of his energy on the upcoming seasons of Star Trek: Brave New Worlds. His third year will begin in the first months of 2025.