Star Trek came into 2024 with five shows, two films, and an endless supply of uncertainty behind it. With the concerns over project funding due to Paramount's mismanagement and the impending sale/merger that was bound to happen (which ended up going to Skydance), we had no idea what to expect in 2024.
By the end of the year, two shows are finished (Discovery, Lower Decks), one show hangs in the balance (Prodigy), one show missed almost two years of air time (Strange New Worlds) and a fifth is in production (Starfleet Academy). The first of two films (Star Trek 4) never got announced and the second of two films (Star Trek: Section 31) isn't trending in the right direction as far as fan hype is concerned.
Star Trek has seen its budgets for projects limited, which isn't indicative of Star Trek, it's a byproduct of Paramount's struggles that is affecting most of their scripted projects. They had shows canceled, and their having fewer projects pushed into development. It's not a good year and you can't really argue against that thought.
Yes, some of the shows put out good content. Yet, just because we got three new seasons of shows this year, doesn't mean this is a good year for the franchise. Star Trek's video game IPs aren't doing great, especially after the Star Trek: Resurgence launch. They lost their toy line with Playmates, saw one of their few remaining print magazines end with 'Star Trek Explorer' and it seems unlikely that 2025 will hold much in the way of new announcements for merchandising or television series.
It's been a hard year for Star Trek fans, especially when you remember that not more than three years ago, there were talks of having Star Trek for 52 weeks a year. That was the goal, to have four or five shows, airing new episodes weekly, for 50+ weeks.
Now, we're looking forward to one middling movie, that is doing everything it can to not be a Star Trek film and a Star Trek series that hasn't had a new episode out since 2023. That's it.
How can anyone sit here and say 2024 was a 'good' year when the cupboard is pretty bearing.
Now, this isn't to sound the alarms. The reason most of this is happened was due to Paramount's tightening of the belt ahead of a change of ownership. Skydance has desires to push out more shows and more films once things stabilize, assuming nothing wild happens between now and the completion of the deal.
Once the new company is finalized, Star Trek should benefit. We should expect to see a few more shows and a few more movies announced not too far into the future. Things should improve in 2025 and beyond with Skydance in charge.
That won't help it's IP in the world of games and merchandise, but hey, it's a step in the right direction.