Star Trek: Strange New Worlds showrunner admits borrowing from TNG and DS9

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will delve deeper into the characters.

One thing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ producers have promised fans is to develop the characters and allow them to grow onscreen. We’ll learn of their past and see how the legacy characters become who they were on Star Trek: The Original Series. To do that, co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers and the team looked for inspiration from the best possible source—previous Star Trek series.

Myers told IGN that he believed contemporary audiences would want to know more about the characters than we were shown in earlier series. But when those older Star Trek shows did focus on a character in a particular episode, they nailed it, giving fans much-needed insight into one character at a time. Myers admits they [the Strange New Worlds’ production team] “straight-up” borrowed from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine when they were developing character-centric episodes. And it makes sense to use what works.

Borrowing has made Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stronger

Myers said he thinks the borrowing made the series strong as episodes like The Next Generation’s “Data’s Day” and “Face of the Enemy” made the show feel more unique. And though he doesn’t specifically mention the episode, it’s probably safe to say that a take off “Duet” from Deep Space Nine” will eventually come into play. Touted as one of the best episodes of the series, it’s an amazing character piece which, if utilized as a reference, could only serve to enhance Strange New Worlds’ characters.

"“Episodes like [TNG’s] ‘Data’s Day’ or ‘Face of the Enemy,’ it’s what makes a show feel more unique. I’ve worked on a bunch of genre shows. There are only so many genre stories that you run into. You tell them over and over again. I’ve worked on so many body-switching episodes… But the thing that makes it unique and interesting is not the attempt to not do those stories … but it’s the attempt to do those stories through these new characters.”"

There are many exceptional episodes that exist in the Star Trek universe, and while it’s doubtful they will be directly copied, it just makes sense to use the same story premise with new characters. And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what Strange New Worlds can do with some Star Trek history.