Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment and son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, is optimistic that Paramount understands how special the 60-year-old franchise is.

Star Trek‘s future is cloudy as there is no new TV series or movie in production for the first time in a decade. Paramount Pictures intends to launch a new Star Trek theatrical movie while Paramount+ seems ready to leave Star Trek’s TV franchise idle for an unspecified period after Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds premiere their final seasons in 2027. Meanwhile, fans are bracing for no new Star Trek for the foreseeable future and what Skydance, the new owners of Paramount, will mean for the franchise.

TrekMovie‘s Laurie Ulster spoke to Rod Roddenberry at the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame in New York City, where Star Trek received the Franchise of the Year award. When asked if he has met Chris Parnell, the executive vice president of Paramount+ Originals who is the decision-maker for the Star Trek franchise, Roddenberry spoke positively of the executives he has interacted with in the “new Paramount,” who he says understand “how important” Star Trek is. Read Rod’s quote below:

Rod Roddenberry: I will say that everyone I’ve interacted with in the — I’ll call it the new Paramount — understands what Star Trek is in the sense that they don’t want to mess it up. They understand how important it is. This isn’t just a cash cow to them. This isn’t something where they just need to put laser guns and a spaceship together and get it out there. They understand that this is something special, and so they’re working very hard to make sure that what they do next lives up to that.

The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame took place before CEO David Ellison announced on Friday that Paramount, Paramount+, Warner Brothers, and numerous subsidiaries will all be under the umbrella of his company, Skydance. As Ellison prepares to close Skydance’s purchase of Warner Bros., Cindy Holland, the Paramount chair of direct-to-consumer and Chris Parnell’s boss, exited the company. HBO Chairman Casey Bloys will take over Paramount+ as well as run HBO Max.

Despite all of the changes, Rod Roddenberry is confident that Star Trek will return, although he has no knowledge of “how it will come back” or “what’s going to happen.” The good news is that Chris Parnell is a Star Trek fan who champions the franchise, although it’s unclear if he will remain at Paramount+. Still, Rod feels that Parnell and the other Paramount executives he has spoken with “understand that [Star Trek] needs to be treated with love”:

Rod Roddenberry: Star Trek coming back will definitely happen. I can’t say for sure how it will come back. As much as I believe that people there understand that it needs to be treated with love, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Things are changing almost on a daily basis in this industry, so you never know. I have high hopes.

Roddenberry saying that “things are changing almost on a daily basis” is an understatement. Skydance’s control of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount is going to upend Hollywood. Star Trek is only one piece of a very complex puzzle in this massively complicated corporate merger that will change how Paramount and Warner Bros., two of the oldest movie studios, operate.

There are many moving pieces that could determine Star Trek‘s future, including the expected exit of Alex Kurtzman and who Paramount will tap to be the franchise’s new executive producer. What is clear is that Paramount wants Star Trek to be more accessible to general audiences and intends to create distance from the 60 years of existing Star Trek canon.

It’s extremely premature to make any declarations about Star Trek’s future under Skydance. Paramount+’s immediate focus is promoting and releasing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds’ final seasons in 2027. Anything else about Star Trek‘s next steps at this juncture is just speculation.

Hopefully, news will come sooner rather than later about what’s next for Star Trek that validates Rod Roddenberry’s optimism and positive impression of the Paramount executives deciding Star Trek‘s future.

Star Trek TV series and movies are streaming on Paramount+