Ever since Alex Kurtzman signed on to take command of everything Star Trek for CBS All-Access he’s been building an entire fleet of shows to bring our favourite show to more fans than ever.
From 1982 to 2005 Star Trek fans thought we were living in the golden age, we had movies from Star Trek: The Original Series And Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven seasons each of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager and four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise. All told that’s 624 episodes and 9 movies in 23 years.
The coming years may be even bigger.
Official Short Treks promo Image courtesy of www.startrek.com
Star Trek: Short Treks
A companion series which has so far consisted of four episodes with a much shorter runtime, each has so far served as an outstanding character study for one character. Three focused on known Star Trek: Discovery characters while one followed a new character and was set in the distant future.
It was recently announced that another two episodes will be added to the series, and from their reception so far I think it’s safe to assume they won’t be the last.
Star Trek Insurrection Picard
Star Trek: Picard
Expected to première in late 2019 new details about this series have recently been released, the former Captain of the Enterprise will star as a man changed by his own life, and by the events of his career and the preceding twenty years.
Following the supernova that lead to the destruction of Romulus and the apparent loss of Ambassador Spock the Romulan Star Empire was dissolved and it’s people spread out. That’s the backdrop for the universe in which we find Picard, who’s mission during his career had involved trying to find a path towards peace between Romulus and the Federation.
Said to be a far more contemplative series, it will bring us along on an unexpected journey for one of our most iconic characters, and is planned to have a substantial run including multiple seasons and possible guest appearances by some familiar faces from the franchises past.
This new information also serves to confirm that we will get our first look into the Star Trek universe after Voyager and will cement the catastrophe that lead to the Kelvin timeline into Prime timeline canon for the first time.
Starfleet Academy
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Announced in June 2018, and being developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl) there are few details, however the series is expected to skew towards the young adult market and would follow cadets through Starfleet Academy in San Francisco.
There have been several versions of the Academy pitched as series in the past, as well as many novels on the subject which have ranged from the Star Trek: The Original series crew as cadets to Worf in the academy to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s flirtation with advanced or élite groups of cadets receiving advanced training.
Star Trek The Animated Series Enterprise.
Star Trek: Lower Decks
The next series to be announced, a half hour animated comedy from Mike McMahon (Rick & Morty), is expected to be family friendly while skewing towards a slightly older crowd as some more edgy animated series do these days.
‘The series will follow the ‘less important’ crew members on an ‘unimportant vessel’ in Starfleet. The original pitch included the types of characters who put the yellow cartridges in the replicators so yellow coloured bananas can be made. While hardly technically correct for the science of Star Trek it does sound like comedy gold.
Season 2 star trek Discovery Agent Gorgiou copyright CBS
Star Trek: Section 31
This series is set to be a spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery starring Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou, an agent for Section 31, and former emperor of the mirror universes Terran Empire.
By all appearances a part of Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery will serve as a backdoor pilot for the series in which the mirror doppelgänger of Captain Georgiou will complete missions for the secret espionage branch of Starfleet. Likely to be for an older audience with violence and questionable moral decisions it’s an interesting way to move forward with a part of the universe good moral citizens may not feel comfortable working in. It’s being called something of a Jack Bauer meets Star Trek type series.
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Untitled Kid friendly animated series
Announced January 8, 2019 this series will be the third animated series for the Star Trek and the second now in development. This series is set to serve as the Star Trek universes entry-level show for children. While details are scarce we should expect to get more information on this series in the coming weeks.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Ceti Alpha v
Ceti Alpha V
A three-part mini series focusing on the planet Ceti Alpha V in between the time of the first season of Star Trek and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan this series written by Nicholas Meyer (Wrath of Khan) will follow the crew of the SS Botany Bay in the aftermath of their encounter with the Enterprise and Captain Kirk in the first season episode Space Seed.
The events of this miniseries will allow us to follow Khan as he goes from the overconfident leader we saw in 1966 to the vengeful killer of 1982.
There’s something for just about everyone
Some of these series may never make it to post production, but with so much announced in a short span of time it certainly appears that Alex Kurtzman is keen to bring something to the table for everyone to enjoy.
The next golden age of Star Trek is upon us, and with the potential end of the Kelvin timeline, more Trek on TV will be needed to fill the gap.