CBS All Access clearly knows which side of the bread has the butter on it, because has it has sent in a series order for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Captain Pike, Number One and Spock will be donning their uniforms and trekking to the farthest stars aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise in the new picked up the new Star Trek: Discovery spinoff.
This is the third show in the Alex Kurtzman-pioneered rebooted Star Trek universe, after Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. With a title lifted in part from James T. Kirk’s beloved introduction to the original series, the third full live-action show in the Alex Kurtzman-pioneered Trekverse after Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. It will feature Ethan Peck, Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn reprising their respective roles as Spock, Captain Pike, and Number One from their roles in Season 2 of the Sonequa Martin-Green-led Discovery.
The new series will take the trio of Spock, Pike and Number One and the U.S.S. Enterprise almost right up to the handoff of the big chair to Captain Kirk. We’ve already seen some of Captain Pike’s story arc in Discovery, and there is a long unexplored history of Pike in command of the Enterprise that could keep the Enterprise flying the farthest reaches of the galaxy for years to come if the studio wants to do it.
The official confirmation of the long-rumoured show would probably have been held for San Diego Comic-Con, but as that’s been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus contagion along with nearly everything else, instead the stars went straight to YouTube to talk directly to the fans:
The new show will be produced by CBS Television Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. The premiere for Strange New Worlds will be one written by Oscar-winning Picard executive producer Akiva Goldsman from a story he wrote with Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. Other executive producers are Henry Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth, with Aaron Baiers, Akela Cooper and Davy Perez as co-EPs. (That’s a lot of executive producers, but that seems to be the trend in Hollywood, and unfortunately you can’t tell from the outside exactly what each one of them does on a production.)
There will be some continuity behind the camera as well, as Star Trek: Picard director Goldsman is coming back for the new series, and he’s been a huge Star Trek fan for much of his life.
“This is a dream come true, literally,” he said of the new show. “I have imagined myself on the bridge of the Enterprise since the early 1970s. I’m honored to be a part of this continuing journey along with Alex, Henry and the fine folks at CBS.”
It was the fans’ outpouring of love for Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck’s portrayals of the iconic characters when they made their appearances in Star Trek: Discovery that really tipped the scales. CBS has been roundly criticized in the past for being aggressive toward the very fandom that put the jewels in the Star Trek crown, but to their credit, they listened to what the fans wanted, and they’re delivering.
With the COVID-19 lockdown still in full effect, nobody has any practical idea as to when Strange New Worlds might premiere, let alone go into production in the first place. We do know that will debut as most of Hollywood is still in COVID-19 lockdown. However, we do know that Discovery is expected back for its third season later this year, and that the second season of the Patrick Stewart-fronted Picard is due out sometime in for early 2021. There’s also that Michelle Yeoh Discovery spinoff series all about her role in Section 31 in the pipeline, the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks that was initially announced in 2018, and a CG-animated Nickelodeon-set Star Trek for the YA audience.
CBS has realized that, whether they expected it or not, Star Trek now controls their destiny rather than the other way around. There’s lots of Trek to come.
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