Now that the first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has wrapped up, questions about the future of the Star Trek franchise are starting to surface. Two more seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are already confirmed, along with at least one additional season of Starfleet Academy. Beyond that, however, the long-term outlook for the franchise is less clear.
As previously reported, there are currently no new Star Trek television series in production or officially greenlit for the first time in more than a decade. That doesn’t necessarily mean plans aren’t quietly taking shape behind the scenes.
Speaking to TrekMovie, Strange New Worlds co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers provided an update on the prospects of Star Trek: Year One, a sequel series that would follow Paul Wesley's James Kirk during his first year as Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Myers confirmed that both he and executive producers Akiva Goldsman are both still "one hundred percent" interested in the series.
“We think it would be a great [show], it’s the next thing for Star Trek, we think, in the story that we’ve been telling," Myers said. "But it’s out of our hands.”
The idea of Star Trek: Year One was first discussed up last July at San Diego Comic-Con. Goldsman explained to the audience the concept of the series, but had no yet pitched it to Paramount Skydance.
“We started having this idea of those great lost years that exist in all of our head canon and ancillary canon, but had never really gotten much of a chance to be on screen. So what we’ve tried to do is try to reach back to Pike’s Enterprise and instill in it the kind of storytelling values we have today, and bring us right up to Kirk’s first day on the job. And that is our hope, and that is our plan. And we plan to get you there… and if you like us enough, you just write ‘Dear Skydance and Paramount, we know you still have the sets. Don’t you want to make Star Trek: Year One?'”
According to the latest update from Myers over the weekend, they've now officially pitched Star Trek: Year One.
“Yeah, we we’ve brought them a lot. We’ve done a lot to give to them. It’s in their hands right now," Myers said. "They’re taking a look at it, trying to decide it. I mean, there’s a lot of love for our show over there, and obviously a lot of love for Star Trek.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has gradually been introducing characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, especially as sthe show moves closer to the timline of Kirk's era. James T. Kirk, played by Paul Wesley, has appeared in several episodes of the series, and in Season 3 we finally saw him step into the captain’s chair by temporarily taking command of the USS Farragut during a crisis. While he’s still far from the confident captain audiences know from The Original Series, the moment offers a glimpse of how the crew’s support helps him begin to grow into the leader he will eventually become.
Would you be interested in watching a series focused on the first year of Captain Kirk and crew aboard the USS Enterprise?