Summary
Star Trekhas become a mainstay in the science fiction space and has given fans of the shows and films all sorts of different takes on the future, but the franchise’s latest announced installment might be its most unique yet.
Star Trekhas been going on for decades, starting with the retroactively titledStar Trek: The Original Seriesin the 1960s, which told an optimistic, pensive story of humanity’s future with the prerequisite dramatic flairs that make great TV. From there, the franchise would continue and grow, becoming the science fiction fixture that it is now and boastinga long list of TV shows and movies in the current Paramount era. These installments have explored a vast number of premises, approaches to storytelling, and overall presentation, ranging from the vintage hopeful visuals of the original shows to the dark and cinematic feel of the reboot movies and even a few animated offerings to boot.
WhileStar Trekhas long established its reputation as offeringsome of the best space operas on the small screenand has also given fans a lot of lighthearted moments, one final frontier that has remained uncaptured is a live-action comedy. That was the case until now, as the franchise has announced just that sort of show. As reported by the officialStar Trekwebsite, a newStar Trekshow is now in development for Paramount+. The announcement came during San Diego Comic-Con’sStar Treksegment, withStar Trek: Lower Decksstar Tawny Newsome and filmmaker Justin Simien at the helm as co-creators and Trevor Roth, Aaron Baiers, Rod Roddenberry and popularStar Trekmainstay Alex Kurtzman all set to executive produce the series. Additionally, Newsome, Simien and Kurtzman will be pulling double duty on the show as writers. The series is still unnamed but does have a tagline available to give fans a quick overview of what to expect.
In this live-action comedy, Federation Outsiders serving a gleaming resort planet find out their day-to-day exploits are being broadcast to the entire quadrant.
This announcement is a major one for the long-running franchise and is also a majorly bold step forward for Paramount, especially with the state of the streaming market and the precarious position that Paramount+ and every other platform exist in. An actual comedy series has long been something of a missing feature in the franchise, and this is evident by the fact that at leastone successful show has thatStar Trekcomedy premise, serving as both an homage and a signal that the viewing audience would be open to that sort of programming. While there’s absolutely nothing by way of details just yet other than the tagline, Kurtzman’s involvement is certainly exciting news and a tentative assurance that the show won’t stray too far off the beaten path in search of laughs. His work onStar Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,and more has cemented him as a steady hand on the controls. The rest of the team certainly have their credentials as well, and it will be interesting to see what style of humor the show takes on to gel with the decades of past and ongoing content within the franchise.
The idea is truly a unique one for the franchise, and there’s little anyone can do other than stand by and wait to see what the creative team comes up with. Whether this will be a total bust or fans of the live-action franchise will get to experience someStar Trekhumor more consistently than a passing crossoverremains to be seen.
TheStar Trekfranchise is available to stream on Paramount+.
Star Trek
Star Trek is a space exploration franchise originally created by Gene Roddenberry. The series has spanned shows like The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Voyager. More recently, developer Scopely came out with Star Trek Fleet Command, a mobile title where you get to be captain of your own ship.
