“Star Trek” just celebrated 60 years on television, and the franchise is about to face its biggest fork in the road. Both “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” have announced they are ending with their upcoming seasons. That leaves Paramount+ with no announced new “Trek” series in development. The question is simple: where does the franchise go from here?
Strange New Worlds And Starfleet Academy Are Ending
Season 4 of “Strange New Worlds” is on right now, and a second season has already been planned. Its sister show, “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” which stars Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti, came out earlier this year and is coming back for Season 2. Both series have said they will finish after their next seasons.
The present lineup of “Trek” TV is getting smaller. No additional “Trek” series has been announced or is under development right now. The franchise sits at a turning point, and the big question hanging over it is where the property heads next.
A Decade Of Mixed Quality
More than a dozen years after the last entry in the “Star Trek” series disappeared from television, the franchise returned with a vengeance in 2017. The revival brought with it “Star Trek: Discovery.”, which featured spectacular visual effects and the mind-bending spore drive. It also introduced audiences to new characters, including Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham.
But the show drifted off into a fog of dense technobabble and grandiose speechifying after Anson Mount’s Pike and Ethan Peck’s Spock left. Those two actors brought the best of “Trek” history into the new series, and their departure marked a decline.
“Star Trek: Picard” saw the welcome return of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. That show didn’t find its footing until its third and final season, when it stopped trying to reinvent the wheel and gave audiences the “TNG” reunion they had been wanting all along.
A cast of fresh-faced recruits was brought in for “Starfleet Academy”, an attempt to reinvent the wheel, but it kept running into the same clunky, self-righteous pitfalls that “Discovery” did. Of the new “Trek” series, “Strange New Worlds” has been the strongest from start to finish, returning to the standalone, creature-of-the-week adventures that were pioneered by the original “Star Trek” TV show. Even so, it has faced complaints from fans lately for leaning too much on genre exercises — the soap opera episode! The puppet episode! — instead of pure science fiction.
Over the last ten years, there has been a steady stream of “Trek” series, and they have not all been created equal.
Two Paths Forward
We suggest launching a pair of fresh series instead — one rooted in tradition and another built for today’s audience.
First, we’d love to see the rumored “Star Trek: Legacy” series come to fruition. It would build off of the “Star Trek: Picard” series finale, with Seven of Nine, Raffi, and Jean-Luc’s son Jack helming a new Enterprise. The show would feature occasional drop-ins from Jean-Luc and the “TNG” crew.
Second, we’d love to see a show that tells a fresh “Trek” story by exploring a part of Starfleet we haven’t seen on screen yet, without anchoring itself to Kirk or Picard, and getting back to the sci-fi roots of new life and new civilizations.
Who Should Run These Shows
We’d give Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga a huge budget if we ran Paramount. Both longtime TV pros played central roles during the “Next Generation” glory days before moving on to work on hit genre shows like “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Orville,” and “Outlander.”. They understand “Trek,” and they have the experience to guide the franchise through a fresh chapter.
Terry Matalas excelled as showrunner of “Star Trek: Picard” during its final season, and his work there makes him an ideal candidate to carry forward the narrative he began with “Star Trek: Legacy.”.
What Fans Want
What exactly do we want from a “Star Trek” series? Are we content to merely revisit beloved characters such as Kirk and Spock aboard the Enterprise for a nostalgic thrill? Or do we desire entirely fresh material, even when it feels strange and new?
Beam down to the comments to make your voice heard.
The Road Ahead
“Star Trek” is one of the crown jewels of all science fiction, and it deserves to last another 60 years and beyond. It’s lasted 60 years for a reason, and it deserves to keep going.
A blend of past favorites and fresh ideas might define the way ahead for the franchise. Bold moves have shaped its history before. Bold moves can shape it again.
Key Facts Box
- “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is airing Season 4 and has announced a fifth season.
- “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” debuted earlier this year and is returning for Season 2.
- Both shows have announced they will end after their upcoming seasons.
- No other “Trek” TV series has been announced or is in development at this point.
- “Star Trek: Discovery” debuted in 2017 on Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access).
- “Star Trek: Legacy” is a rumored series that would build off the “Star Trek: Picard” finale.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.