As the Star Trek franchise undergoes a major transitional period, there’s a new update about another potential prequel to The Original Series.
The TV side of the Star Trek universe faces an uncertain future in the aftermath of the Paramount/Skydance merger. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will end with season 2 sometime in 2027, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will conclude with season 5 during a yet-to-be-revealed release window. However, there have been talks of continuing the latter show’s narrative with the proposed spinoff Star Trek: Year One, and Strange New Worlds executive producer Henry Alonso Myers has revealed where things stand with that.
In an interview with TrekMovie, Myers shared that he and fellow Strange New Worlds co-creator Akiva Goldsman are still interested in making Star Trek: Year One, which would focus on Paul Wesley’s James T. Kirk captaining the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). Alas, neither of them have heard anything from Paramount’s new management about the possibility of Year One moving forward, with Myers saying:
We haven’t been told anything. It’s not up to us. It’s up to Paramount. We stand by and are ready to work at their discretion. We love the show. We think it’s great. I think they have — in many ways — a bigger, challenging job — because trying to think about the larger direction of Star Trek for the world… We stand by. We love Star Trek. We’d be happy to do it again. It is out of our hands.
Wesley has recurred as Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ever since playing an alternate timeline version of the character in the season 1 finale. Within the Prime Timeline, Strange New Worlds takes place when Kirk is serving aboard the USS Farragut, and Christoper Pike is still sitting in the Enterprise’s captain’s chair. However, Strange New Worlds season 5 will see Kirk succeeding Pike on the Enterprise, though it’s unclear if that will happen in the middle of the season or be saved for the series finale.
In any case, Star Trek: Year One would follow the Enterprise’s earliest voyages under Kirk’s command, years before “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” Star Trek: The Original Series’ second pilot after NBC passed on “The Cage.” Per Myers’ update, while Year One hasn’t been rejected, it apparently isn’t factoring into Paramount’s plans on where to take Star Trek as a whole following the merger. The only post-merger project in this franchise that’s been officially announced is the Star Trek movie that Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley will write and direct.
If Star Trek: Year One does move forward, then Wesley’s Kirk would likely be accompanied by some familiar Strange New Worlds faces given the makeup of the Enterprise’s crew in The Original Series. That lineup includes Ethan Peck’s Spock, Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura, Martin Quinn’s Scotty, and Jess Bush’s Nurse Chapel. It’s also been announced that Thomas Jane and Kai Murakami will appear in the Strange New Worlds series finale as Dr. McCoy and Sulu, respectively. Since they’re two other key Original Series characters, that would make them Year One candidates as well.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 will consist of just six episodes rather than 10, and filming wrapped last December. New episodes of season 4 continue to be released Thursdays on Paramount+, where nearly all the other Star Trek TV shows and movies can also be accessed.
- Created by
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Gene Roddenberry
- First Film
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Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- First TV Show
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Star Trek: The Original Series
- First Episode Air Date
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September 8, 1966
- Cast
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William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Wil Wheaton, Avery Brooks, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig, Cirroc Lofton, Armin Shimerman, Colm Meaney, Terry Farrell, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Jeri Ryan, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Garrett Wang, Jolene Blalock, Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Scott Bakula, Linda Park, John Billingsley, Anthony Montgomery, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sonequa Martin-Green, Mary Wiseman, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, Oyin Oladejo, Emily Coutts, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Rebecca Romijn, Michelle Yeoh
- TV Show(s)
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Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Short Treks, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Star Trek is one of pop culture’s biggest multimedia franchises, spanning multiple movies, TV shows, books, comics, video games, and various other media. The franchise was created by Gene Roddenberry and started with the 1960s TV series starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Over the decades, several equally popular series have come out since as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Discovery.