Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will serialize character stories

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will debut on May 5th on Paramount Plus.

Remember when Captain Kirk lost his brother and sister-in-law on the final episode of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series? Or when Edith Keeler died? Or when Counselor Troi had an alien child that didn’t stay around long because it was only there to visit in “The Child?” Of course we remember these as plot points (and there are so many more to choose from), but what wasn’t shown was the aftermath of the trauma. When Kirk’s brother died, there were no emotion nor was his death ever mentioned again. Troi’s “child” wasn’t mentioned again, either. That’s something Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is aiming to avoid.

According to executive producer and co-showrunner, Henry Alonso Meyers, who spoke at a panel at Star Trek: Mission Chicago [via Trekmovie], when something happens to some of the characters aboard the Enterprise in Strange New Worlds, they will continue to feel the appropriate effect. Meyers said that if someone were to lose “the love of their life one week, they’re not completely fine the next week.”

This decision by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds might not apply to all characters.

Meyers did specify that Strange New Worlds serialized “some of the characters’ stories,” which may mean some characters will be left out or there simply won’t be traumatic events to necessitate the continuation of a storyline.

Not all Star Trek series had the issue with abandoning emotions and feelings after a life-altering event…at least not completely. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine did a great job of serializing character arcs with Major Kira, Odo, and Captain Sisko. They didn’t do as well with Chief O’Brien after he spent twenty years in prison virtually and then attempted to kill himself. As traumatic as that was, it was never mentioned again.

Though Chief O’Brien was a main character on Deep Space Nine, the failure to follow through on his time in prison, even though they were memories and not actual events, was a major lost opportunity and, had it been handled properly, could have really fleshed out Colm Meaney’s character, making him more than the just the married Chief Engineer aboard the space station.

It sounds like Strange New Worlds will head in a different direction, keeping the episodes episodic while the characters are actually treated as real-life people who don’t get over a trauma in one episode.