CBS All Access is going all out when it comes to Star Trek. That’s right, CBS’s plans for the Star Trek franchise doesn’t end with Discovery. As we reported, CBS announced a Captain Jean-Luc Picard series, but there are some other shows that are being considered as well. And what it looks like is all Star Trek, all the time. Can you imagine? I mean, anyone who is remotely a fan of Star Trek will be elated to hear this news. CBS TV Studios president David Stapf said, “my goal is that there should be a Star Trek something on all the time on All Access”. And we agree, David.
This was revealed during an interview with Deadline. The intent of the interview was to talk about future projects for the streaming network, and of course, original content. However, most of the questions were aimed at these new Star Trek shows. Which kind of makes sense given the popularity of Star Trek: Discovery and the announcement of the Captain Picard series. But they also plan to launch Star Trek: Short Treks, which is Discovery “shorts” that will air before the next season. But they also have plans for other shows down the road.
Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President of Original Content had this to say:
“We’re looking at limited series for some Trek shows, and we are looking at ongoing series for some other Trek shows. We’ve obviously announced the one that’s coming next with Sir Patrick Stewart, but we have more in development there.”
As of right now, there aren’t any details about what these shows would look like, or who would star in them. Regardless, though, this is incredible news. But what might be even more incredible is that almost every Discovery character has been considered for their own show, including a series about Emperor Georgiou. While there are some great possibilities within that show, I think too many spin-offs would be overload for the fans.
The Patrick Stewart series will take place 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the final film in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series. I’m happy to hear that they’re bringing him back in an age-appropriate way. This is just a personal bias, but I don’t like to see characters who don’t look authentic. How did CBS get Stewart to agree? Stewart had previously said he wasn’t going to return to play the character unless it was for a Quentin Tarantino-led Star Trek project:
“It came to us, as do all things Trek now, through Alex Kurtzman, with the idea of, wouldn’t it be cool to do something Next Gen-oriented, [or] get Patrick Stewart [or] any of those iconic Next Gen characters. As Patrick himself has said, he was of the opinion that ‘I’ve done that character,’ but he got a meeting with Alex and some of the other guys and they won him over. The deal didn’t take that long once he decided to do it.”
And we are all elated that Alex Kurtzman was able to win him over. Star Trek: Discovery is set to return in 2019, with Star Trek: Short Treks coming out later this year. There is no word on when the new series, starring Patrick Stewart will begin developing, but we’re hoping soon. Will CBS be able to deliver beyond these two series? Our fingers are crossed!