15 More Things You Didn’t Know About Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)

15. It Was One Of Two Khan Follow-Ups In Development

Many fans know that when Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan opened to boffo box office and a record opening weekend, Paramount pounced on the idea of making sequels and spinoffs. Just days after the film’s opening The Los Angeles Times reported:

Not one to rest on its laurels, Paramount is already preparing ‘Star Trek III: In Search of Spock’.

(In Search Of… having been a Leonard-Nimoy narrated syndicated show). Indeed, Harve Bennett was quickly tasked with developing a sequel story.

But the article went on:

According to Paramount President Michael Eisner, there even may be a future movie about the fate of Khan, the villain of ‘Star Trek II’ played with Cordoban relish by Ricardo Montalban.

Indeed, even as Harve Bennett was busily writing his first draft sequel, another screenwriter—future Ferris Bueller writer and director John Hughes—was banging out a screenplay for another Star Trek movie, a prequel titled The Rise of Khan.

The story was a space-age take on The Count of Monte Cristo, with Khan substituting for Gérard de Villefort, with his adversary, a non-superman named John Piece, subbing for Edmond Dantès.

Hughes delivered his 136 page screenplay in January of 1983, but the Development Department at Paramount were unimpressed, and produced scathing coverage. It appears the screenplay was tossed in the circular file shortly thereafter.