Star Trek at a Crossroads: The Bold Move It Needs Now

Well, it finally happened: for the first time since Star Trek: Discovery showed up back in 2017, there aren’t any new Trek shows actually shooting. If you’re a fan or even just Trek-adjacent, that feels weird. The long run of Star Trek being a constant presence in TV production is officially on pause, thanks to Starfleet Academy getting the axe. Now we're actually back to that old franchise question: what comes next?

So Here’s the Current Landscape

Behind the scenes, the franchise is kind of in limbo. Alex Kurtzman—who’s basically been the guy steering the Star Trek ship on TV—is seeing his Paramount contract expire soon. New boss David Ellison is running the show now, but nobody knows if he's keeping Kurtzman on, or if Star Trek is getting a totally new vision. They're talking, but your guess is as good as mine.

Kurtzman put it this way in a recent interview with TrekMovie (and yes, that site is as Trek-pilled as it sounds):

'I've had conversations with them about the future of Star Trek. We've gotten nothing but support. There have been specific shows discussed. And we'll see. I'm truly at the beginning of the conversation now... I don't have anything to report yet. But I can report that the conversations are happening.'

Translation: Meetings are happening, but there’s nothing real to announce yet.

What’s Left in the Pipeline?

• Starfleet Academy—Filmed, second season coming, but no life beyond that.
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds—About a season and a half left before the series is done. That’s it. No other shows are being made right now or even greenlit.
• Movies? There is allegedly a new Trek film brewing, with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley tapped to write, direct, and produce. But given Trek’s track record—zero movies successfully launched since 2016—is anyone really holding their breath for this?

That’s the big list. Trek’s universe is, for the moment, not expanding.

The Franchise that Couldn’t (and Wouldn’t?)

It’s almost more telling to look at what’s not happening. Star Trek: Picard (season three anyway) actually managed to please fans—reuniting pretty much the whole Next Generation cast. Plenty of people wanted more of that, and a new spin-off called Star Trek: Legacy was kind of the obvious next move. But that train is long gone:

Terry Matalas (the showrunner) has bounced to Marvel. Cast members are blunt about it, too. Marina Sirtis didn’t sugarcoat the odds:

'There is not a single studio in America that is going to make a series where most of the leading actors are over 70 years old. I'm sorry, but that's just the truth. It's just Hollywood.'

It’s harsh but also, well, reality. The Trek baton isn’t getting handed back to the old crew.

So… Where Does Trek Even Go From Here?

OK, so Paramount and whoever’s calling the shots need to make a big choice. Do they double down on the current approach (i.e., Kurtzman and crew), or is it time for a full-on hard reset?

I’ll give the streaming Trek era some credit—it has tried a lot of things. We’ve seen everything from animated comedy to serialized prestige darkness to old-school episodic stuff (at least with Strange New Worlds). The scale and polish have maybe never been higher. But, let’s be real, the recent shows have gone all-in on bleak vibes and universe-ending stakes. That’s fun sometimes, but it’s a long way from the classic, thinky Trek of old—and I know I’m not the only one who misses that.

What I Want From New Trek (And What The Franchise Needs)

Maybe it’s time to steal a page from the ‘90s playbook—starships trekking the unknown, episodic adventures, and a little less everything-is-at-stake. And honestly, modern 10-episode seasons just feel rushed. Characters don’t get room to grow. You’re never gonna get another Miles O'Brien (a guy who went from made-up background extra to Trek all-star) in this system. The Next Generation had 40+ episodes by their second season. Strange New Worlds will barely top that across its entire run.

I’m not saying go back to the grind of 24 episodes every year, but 15 per season? That feels right. Let side characters have moments. Let bottle episodes happen. Budget be damned, not every installment needs to be a mini blockbuster. Give us more variety, not just bigger battles.

But most of all, let’s get something fresh. New ship, new crew, new frontier—no endless callbacks, please. There’s room for a real leap forward if someone set a new show after Picard in the 25th century. It could hit a balance: familiar but genuinely exploratory, not just recycling old glories. Trek should be pushing into the future, not living in a nostalgia bubble.

Right now the franchise feels stuck—everyone’s waiting for someone else to make the next move. If it’s gonna survive, it has to pick a direction and go boldly, not just hang out in rerun mode.

So what would get you on board for a new Trek show? More deep dives, more oddball species, or just an actual sense of exploration again? At this point, wishing really is the final frontier.