If Star Trek: Discovery had stuck with its original plan, the Star Trek franchise could be in a very different position in 2026. Thanks to the unexpected cancellation of Star Trek: Starlet Academy, the franchise has hit a creative lull for the first time since 2005. As of March 2026, there are no new Star Trek shows in production.

This could come as something of a shock, since there have been a flurry of new projects on the go in recent years. In the nine years since Discovery started, Short Treks, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds, and Starfleet Academy all came and went. Wildly, if Discovery had stuck with its original anthology setup, none of these shows may have even happened.

The Star Trek Franchise Would Look Very Different If Discovery Hadn’t Changed Its Premise

As hard as it might be to imagine, 2017’s Star Trek: Discovery was originally conceived as an anthology with each season set in a separate era. Creator Bryan Fuller first pitched the show as American Horror Story for Star Trek, with each season having a standalone serialized story that explored different time periods in the show’s universe.

This plan would have seen Star Trek: Discovery start with a prequel series before moving on to stories set during The Original Series, stories set during The Next Generation, and eventually, stories set in the future of the fictional universe. With this approach, viewers would likely never have gotten Strange New Worlds, the short-lived Starfleet Academy, and possibly not even any far-future timeline at all.

It is tempting to say that, after the mixed reception of the new era, this would have been an unadulterated positive development for the franchise. However, that’s not quite true, and does a disservice to both the impact Discovery had on the franchise and the ripple effects of its critical success.

Star Trek: Discovery Did More For The Franchise Than An Anthology Series Would Have

Some of Star Trek’s more recent projects proved divisive, such as Starfleet Academy and the infamously bad 2025 TV movie Section 31. However, both Discovery and Strange New Worlds were widely beloved, and Netflix’s animated spinoff, Star Trek: Prodigy, was an unexpected delight that relied heavily on the franchise’s far-future timeline for its alien-centric storyline to make sense.

As such, it is unfairly simplistic to say that Discovery’s original proposed anthology format would have fixed the myriad issues that the franchise has faced over the last nine years. However, it is still interesting to imagine whether Star Trek’s critical missteps in this era can be traced back to the decision to change the very premise of Star Trek: Discovery.

Release Date

2017 – 2024-00-00

Showrunner

Alex Kurtzman

Writers

Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller