Noah Hawley's 'Star Trek' film has been put on hold by Paramount Pictures.

The studio - which has a new boss, Emma Watts - is deciding how Paramount should approach the project, which is the early stages of development.

The 53-year-old director is still attached to the film despite rumours that the delay could lead to his exit from the motion picture.

It is reported that the new flick will require a new cast and centres around a deadly virus that is seen as inappropriate with the world in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hawley previously suggested that the movie may not be connected to the three recent movies in the iconic sci-fi franchise, which starred Chris Pine and Simon Pegg.

The 'Fargo' creator said: ''For me, it's definitely an a new direction, but it's still early, in terms of who exactly would be in it or what the characters would be. I don't think of it as Star Trek 4, to be reductive. This is a new beginning.''

There are a number of possibilities for the future of 'Star Trek' on the big screen, including a spin-off involving Quentin Tarantino and Mark L. Smith, which had been set to see the crew in a time travel narrative.

It is hoped that the cast of recent films such as 'Star Trek Beyond' would return for another movie but it has been complicated by the schedules of stars such as Pine.

Simon Pegg - who has played Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott in the three most recent installments of the popular sci-fi franchise - previously admitted he was expecting to be back for a fourth film but admitted making another could be ''difficult'' following the death of Anton Yelchin, who played Pavel Checkov and passed away in 2016 aged 27 after he was crushed by his Jeep.

The 50-year-old actor said: ''I know we're doing more.

''I'd love to - I love those guys. It's, of course, difficult because we lost Anton and moving forward without him still feels unimaginable.''