Described as the ultimate deep dive into the world of Star Trek by Deadline, History will be airing an eight-part mini-series from the CEO and founder of Nacelle, Brian Volk-Weiss. The series will air in part of the 55th anniversary of the original series, and it will give fans a new look into the franchise beyond the lens. The series is called the Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek. Fans old and new will have the opportunity to explore more about the franchise that they love.
Volk-Weiss explained the desire to work on the project to Deadline, saying;
"Star Trek, from before I was 10 years old, gave me the closest thing I have to a code to follow in my life. If it wasn’t for the words ‘I don’t believe in the no-win scenario,’ I’d be very alone, broke, and miserable in this world. So to say this is a passion project would be a tremendous understatement."
Each episode will feature interviews from the cast, crew, and Star Trek “experts”. They’ll offer new perspectives about the franchise stories as a whole. The mini-series will also explore lesser-seen elements of Star Trek, and as Deadline states, will include The Animated Series and Phase II – the sequel series to the original that never got made.
For fans who may not know, Phase II is an interesting idea that never fully got looked at. That alone would be worth a look in the documentary. Since it’s a sequel series to the original that never happened, not a bad way to launch the 55th anniversary.
The series will see Ian Roumain serve as showrunner and the show’s executive producer, with Gates McFadden of Star Trek fame, Cisco Henson, and Mark Altman serving as executive producers as well.
The series will give new fans a chance to learn about the series, and better understand the franchise from both in front and behind the camera.
There’s no word yet on when the show will air, but as it is supposed to coincide with the original Star Trek series, the most obvious expectation would be for it to premiere around the same time the first series did. Since the original series aired on Sep 8, 1966, a fall premiere makes sense.
There’s just no other date that works. When celebrating the 55th anniversary of something, you want to make sure you line up as much as possible with the original event as much as possible. If you want to celebrate the 55th anniversary as best as you can, releasing it on or around the original air date is the way to go.