Fans shouldn’t expect anymore 32nd century Star Trek

Star Trek fans shouldn’t expect any more exploration of the 32nd century.

Star Trek: Discovery will go down as a show that tried to be many things to many people, but ultimately couldn’t find its landing. It was a prequel to the original series, but then it was also a Christopher Pike, Spock, Number One origin story. Then it became a journey to the 32nd century, before going full bore into that gimmick for three seasons.

The show never found its rhythm, and while it had its fanbase, the larger science fiction community never embraced it like Paramount hoped, which is why it’s getting canceled after a fifth and final season.

The series, for all of its good and bad, will forever be the show that brought Star Trek back as a television/streaming staple. Whether it was a good show or not, that fact alone can’t be taken away from it.

Despite all that, the show will take many concepts and ideas down with it, namely the exploration of the 32nd century. Speaking to Cinemablend, Star Trek icon Jonathan Frakes, who serves as a director on Discovery, reveals that he doesn’t believe the franchise will return to the 32nd century.

When asked if he thinks the franchise will return to the 32nd century, Frakes was very candid;

"I wouldn’t hold my breath."

Star Trek: Discovery’s journey to the 32nd century was a failure

Discovery got canceled because its cost-to-benefit ratio got out of hand. Whether it had 10 thousand or 10 million viewers was irrelevant, it became too costly to keep around. This was a show that had its budget slashed numerous times over the last four seasons and had there been more fan interest in the series and concepts, then we’d be getting more seasons of Discovery and more stories in the 32nd century.

It’s safe to say that the fan support, whatever it was, wasn’t enough to justify the show’s expensive budget. The poor showing probably spooked ViacomCBS and Paramount from exploring more stories too outside of the legacy characters and stories.

If the show had been more successful with its time jump, then you’d better believe we’d be getting all sorts of spinoffs. Right now it looks like Paramount is circling its wagons and cutting the fat from Star Trek to save money.

Don’t be surprised if the franchise has far fewer shows going forward.