This year marks the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, one of the most beloved and enduring franchises in TV history. Although it’s taken TV hiatuses before, it appears we may enter another one soon. Although Starfleet Academy is running this year, as is Strange New Worlds, both have already wrapped production. The latter for good. And according to a report from TrekMovie, this signals the first time since 2016 that a Star Trek series is not in any form of production, pre-production, or even greenlit. SNW’s already-shot fifth season officially marks the end of that series, and the fate of Starfleet Academy after season two is very up in the air. Could this be the end of modern Star Trek on Paramount+?
A few years back, it seemed Trek was thriving in the streaming era. We had Discovery, Picard, and then Strange New Worlds. We had our first animated Trek series in decades, with Lower Decks and Prodigy. Discovery ran a respectable five seasons, and Picard ran for its intended three-seasons. But when Lower Decks and Prodigy ended unceremoniously, and Strange New Worlds only got a very short fifth season, it felt like change was in the air. The folks in charge of Trek all these years were Secret Hideout, Alex Kurtzman’s production company. Kurtzman has been part of the Trek family since J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot film. But are Paramount’s new owners, Skydance, looking to go in a different direction? Kurtzman denies he’s finished with Trek, but is the decision even up to him?
Star Trek has gone through long television hiatuses before. There were no live-action Star Trek series on TV from 1970 to 1986. However, there were several hit movies in that interim. Then, from the end of Enterprise in 2005 till the start of Discovery in 2016, there was a decade and change of no Star Trek on TV. The question isn’t if Trek will return, it’s when and how. And who will be in charge of it? This might all be alarmist, and Starfleet Academy gets a season three greenlight soon. And maybe Paramount pulls the trigger on the rumored Star Trek: Year One series spinning out of SNW. But right now, it seems that Skydance, Paramount’s new owners, are in no rush to make any big announcements about Star Trek’s TV future. We can only hope that hailing frequencies won’t stay closed for too long.