Saturday’s Star Trek Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con had some big reveals for three (out of five) of the current Star Trek series. While the event was mostly focused on those three shows, the man in charge of the Star Trek universe for Paramount+ dropped a few hints about what’s next for the TV franchise.
Expect two more shows, possibly with female leads.
The Star Trek Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 was made up of three sub-panels to Picard, lower coversY strange new worlds, with executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Rod Roddenberry remaining for each. During show-specific discussions, Kurtzman mentioned other things in development on a couple of different occasions, though each time it was a response during fan Q&As and questions about further representation in Star Trek.
A deaf fan (through an interpreter) mentioned how inspiring it was to have Bruce Horak (Hemmer) represent the blind community in strange new worlds, proposing to Kurtzman to do “the next thing” and bring in a cast member who is deaf. Kurtzman replied:
It’s a fabulous idea and it’s definitely something we’ll be taking up in the next [pauses for dramatic effect] two Star Trek shows that we are currently developing.
The next hint at what might be to come came in response to another fan who mentioned how impressed she was with the “robust female characters in recent shows” and asked if there could be a spin-off with a female captain, possibly leading the way. by Jeri Ryan or Gates McFadden. Kurtzman replied:
First of all, I would say that anything is possible. And I will say, without giving too much away, that you can certainly look forward to seeing more Star Trek shows with female leads.
And for the record, McFadden’s response was “Sweet. I know how to steer a boat, remember that,” before moving on to talk about Picard season three.
Rod Roddenberry and Alex Kurtzman at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 (Photo: TrekMovie)
What could they be…and when?
The latest new Star Trek series announced by CBS Studios and Paramount+ was strange new worlds in the spring of 2020, but even earlier, they had already announced the development in a Discovery spin-off starring Michelle Yeoh centered on Section 31. Since then, there has also been confirmation that a Starfleet Academy show is in the works. As for more spin-offs with female leads, Jeri Ryan has made it clear that she would welcome the opportunity for one. Picard spin-off with Seven and Raffi. and more recently Star Trek: Traveler‘sand of prodigy) Kate Mulgrew has been dropping some hints about a return to live action.
Earlier this year, Paramount+ executives they were suggesting the next show to receive an official series order would be that long-gestating Yeoh/Section 31 project. An announcement was supposed to come this year, and with Picard By the end of next year, Paramount would have to develop another schedule fairly soon to sustain the current amount of new original Trek content (especially live-action content) into 2024 and beyond.
Is Georgiou next?
How much does Paramount+ want from Trek?
Maintaining the current level of Star Trek content with five series delivering a total of around 50 episodes a year may not be a given. Pressure from Wall Street is forcing a re-evaluation in some of the big spending seen in recent years as major studios struggled to establish a presence with their own streaming services. Paramount has already recognized some strategy changechanging its previous promise of a new movie every week on Paramount+, to one every two weeks.
Kurtzman appears to be optimistic, counting TrekMovie in May:: “I think Paramount+ is committed to having as many programs as makes sense. I don’t think they put a number on it… They just said, ‘Let’s do great shows.’ So as many as we can give them that excite them, I think that’s what we’ll get away with.”
And based on his new Comic-Con comments, it looks like Kurtzman is still moving forward with creating more Star Trek content for Paramount+.
More to come from SDCC 2022
There’s still more to come with our Comic-Con coverage, including more details from Saturday’s Star Trek Universe panel. So keep an eye on TrekMovie.com for more news from San Diego. And check out the rest of our San Diego Comic-Con 2022 Coverage.
You should also keep track of @TrekMovie on Twitter for ongoing updates, panel highlights, and more from San Diego Comic-Con.
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