Alex Kurtzman on making future Star Trek movies

On the red carpet for the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Alex Kurtzman talked about his feelings on the future of Trek at the movies.

After what feels like forever, the second season of Star Trek: Discovery has officially arrived on CBS All Access. Early reviews for the first episode of the new season are almost universally positive with practically everyone agreeing everything is bigger and better.

In addition, the lead up to the premiere has been filled with one announcement after another about the future of Star Trek on television. A Section 31 series, two new animated series, more Short Treks, a rumored Starfleet Academy series. And of course, Star Trek: Picard and the foregone conclusion of a third season of Discovery.

Of course, not everything in Trek Nation is coming up roses. Announced last month, Star Trek 4, the next entry in the Kelvin Timeline movie series, has been all but cancelled. Paramount has shelved the project after both Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth left the project and director S.J. Clarkson has moved on to work on HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel.

It would appear the Kelvin Timeline has run out of time.

However, with rumors persisting of CBS and Paramount once again becoming one big happy family, it begs the question of could we see Prime Timeline movies once again? Maybe even a Discovery feature film?

Last night at the Discovery Season 2 world premiere red carpet, Trek Movie.com asked Trek producer Alex Kurtzman about just such a possibility. Kurtzman worked on the first two of the Star Trek reboot films so he has a unique perspective on the matter. His answer was very interesting.

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"I’d be really curious to see what the new version of a Star Trek movie would be, because I think it has to be something different now. I think that the movies we made were perfect for the time that we made them in. And now, things have changed, the world has changed, ideals have changed, and so the question would be, ‘How do you make it worth going to the movies for?’ Because the truth is, that you can get a pretty cinematic experience by watching Star Trek: Discovery, and you’re going to be able to get the same thing watching anything else. What might help is that when people see it on the big screen tonight, they’ll recognize that the line between movies and television’s really over. So I would approach it more from the point of view of what kinds of stories can’t we tell on television that are better for the screen."

In other words, why make a movie unless it is something special that you can’t see on television. Which, when you look at Discovery, makes perfect sense. One of the big advantages to the franchise making the move to a streaming service is that Star Trek looks better than it ever has before.

Season 1 of Discovery looked as good or better than any of the big budget Star Trek films and the first episode of Season 2 continued that trend. Why make a movie unless it can tell a story in a fashion that just can’t be done any other way?

If Star Trek does return to a theater near you some day, we can only hope that Kurtzman leads the charge. Because despite what some fans think, the man just gets Star Trek.