‘Star Trek’ feels stuck in a holding pattern. The fourth season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is currently airing, with a fifth and final season en route next year. The second season of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” is also coming in 2027, but that show has already been canceled, so it’s more of a burn-off than a send-off. After that, it’s blank space for the first time in a decade. No shows in active production, or even announced. Yet another effort is being made to bring the IP back to the big screen, but after so many stops and starts on the movie side, it’s difficult to say whether the writers of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Dungeons & Dragons: Among Thieves” will be the ones to pull it off.
All of this is to say, we’re long past the days when Paramount+ heralded Trek as its big-league entertainment, releasing multiple seasons of multiple shows every year. The future has felt increasingly doubtful, as even the ongoing 60th-anniversary celebrations have been completely mum on any new series. But suddenly, there’s hope — courtesy of a brand-new interview with Paramount+ Head of Originals Jane Wiseman, who has reaffirmed a commitment to boldly going, and even provided a few details on how that mission is coming along.
‘We’re The Home of Star Trek’
As part of a wide-ranging interview in line with Jane Wiseman’s first anniversary at her post-Netflix position, Deadline spoke with the woman at the top of Paramount+ about what’s next for “Star Trek.”
“We’re the home of Star Trek, and we have series coming back. We’re going to have more,” Wiseman said, and while there’s room for interpretation on that last bit — is she officially saying there will be new shows, or is she simply backing up the fact that ‘Strange New Worlds’ and ‘Starfleet Academy’ have a bit more dilithium in their respective warp cores? — further comments helped to solidify that she really does mean new fare is on the way.
ViacomCBSWiseman’s first big hire following her arrival at Paramount+ was none other than former Apple TV+ creative producer Chris Parnell, who is well-known in the industry for his love of genre entertainment. During his time with Apple, Parnell helped to shepherd such sci-fi as “Neuromancer,” “The Last Frontier” and “Pluribus.” He’s a long-time ‘Star Trek’ fan, too; so that connection was seen as good news by Trekkies far and wide. Now, Wiseman confirms Parnell’s attachment to Gene Roddenberry’s legendary creation is front-and-center for what comes next.
“Well,” Wiseman explained, “it’s one of the reasons why Chris is here as the resident fan of the Star Trek franchise. And there’s so many people in this building, by the way, that are. It is our goal and it is our job to figure out what the next bounce of Star Trek is.” While that alone is somewhat reassuring, there’s more here that should do well to genuinely excite the fans.
The Search is Underway for The Next Generation
Paramount“We’re talking to a lot of writers, we are leaning on CBS Studios, and it is imperative that we figure out what the next iteration is in this franchise because it’s just too important,” Wiseman continued. “We also are in touch with Paramount Pictures, they have a Star Trek movie that’s in development.”
A couple of things stand out here. First, Jane Wiseman is separating Paramount Pictures’ ongoing effort to return “Star Trek” to cinema from her team’s streaming-focused mission for more. Many fans have speculated that Paramount Skydance would prioritize the movie side to the point that nothing would show up on the television front until after that’s all said and done, but it seems Wiseman and Parnell fully intend to carry on with their own content in the interim.
YouTube/Getty ImagesMore importantly, Wiseman expressly states that the folks at the top of Paramount+ are in active talks with writers. Presumably, that means they’re taking pitches. We’ve known about pitches like “Star Trek: Picard” season three showrunner Terry Matalas’ idea for a continuation series focused on Seven of Nine for years, as well as ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ scribe Mike Sussman’s hopes of carrying on the adventures of Scott Bakula’s Captain Jonathan Archer in a new politically focused show.
Whether either of these years-old ideas actually factor into these talks is impossible to say, but this is essentially the first time Wiseman (or anyone else at the top) has outright said that writers are being courted to keep TV ‘Star Trek’ going in the near future. Hollywood has no shortage of good ideas waiting in the wings, so here’s hoping something cool is right around the corner.
