The Future of Star Trek is Uncertain — What Should Happen Next?
Since the debut of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, there has always been at least one new Star Trek series in active production. But with the cancellation of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, that streak has finally come to an end, leaving Gene Roddenberry’s iconic franchise at a crossroads.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Star Trek’s future on television is uncertain. So, what happens next?
Where Star Trek Stands Now
Franchise steward Alex Kurtzman’s contract with Paramount is set to expire later this year. But with a new regime headed up by David Ellison, it remains to be seen whether they choose to renew his deal or chart a new course entirely.
Kurtzman spoke with TrekMovie earlier this month and confirmed that conversations with the studio are happening. “Yes, I’ve had conversations with them about the future of Star Trek,” he said. “Yes, we’ve gotten nothing but support. Yes, there have been specific shows that have been discussed. And we’ll see. I’m truly at the beginning of the conversation with them now… I don’t have anything to report yet. But I can report that the conversations are happening.“
There are still a few projects left to release, but they’ve already finished shooting. Starfleet Academy will return for a second season, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has roughly a season and a half left before it wraps up its run. Beyond that, the pipeline is empty. No new series has been announced.
On the film side, a new Star Trek movie from Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) is reportedly in development, with the duo set to write, direct, and produce. But given the franchise’s inability to get a feature off the ground over the last decade, it’s hard not to be skeptical. At this point, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Perhaps the most telling sign of where things stand is what isn’t happening.
Following the overwhelmingly positive response to the third season of Star Trek: Picard, which reunited the cast of The Next Generation, there was a clear appetite for a continuation. A proposed follow-up series, Star Trek: Legacy, seemed like a natural next step. But that momentum is gone. Showrunner Terry Matalas has moved on to Marvel’s Vision Quest, and cast member Marina Sirtis has been blunt about the project’s chances.
“You know, you hate hearing the truth,” she said. “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.“
So, what now?
What Star Trek Should Be Next
Should Paramount double down on the current creative direction, or is this the moment for a true reset?
To be fair, the streaming era deserves more credit than it sometimes gets. It expanded the franchise’s scope in meaningful ways, experimenting with tone, format, and genre. It proved that Trek could support animated comedy, serialized drama, and classic episodic storytelling simultaneously. But, if the last decade has proven anything, it’s that the franchise can be as divisive as it is enduring. The streaming era has delivered higher production values than ever before, but it has also leaned heavily into darker tones and galaxy-ending stakes. For some fans, that evolution has been exciting. For others, it’s felt like a departure from what makes Star Trek special in the first place.
Personally, I’d welcome a shift back toward something a little more classic. I miss episodic storytelling. I miss the sense of discovery, of not knowing where the crew will go or who they’ll meet from week to week. That doesn’t mean abandoning serialized arcs entirely. Deep Space Nine proved that Star Trek can tell long-form stories while still delivering great standalone episodes. I know Strange New Worlds has been doing this, but I still want more.
More than anything, though, I miss the breathing room. Modern Trek’s 10-episode seasons often feel compressed, leaving less space for relationships to develop, for quieter character beats, and for side characters to gradually come into focus. Think about someone like Miles O’Brien on The Next Generation. He wasn’t a major player at first, but over time, the audience got to know him, watched his life evolve, and eventually saw him become a core figure on Deep Space Nine. It’s hard to imagine that happening in today’s format.
By the time Strange New Worlds finishes its five-season run, it will have produced just 46 episodes. The Next Generation reached that mark before the end of season two.
I know we’re not going back to 24-episode seasons, and that’s fine, but surely there’s a middle ground. Fifteen episodes per season would be enough to give stories room to breathe without completely blowing up the budget. And honestly, I’d be okay with a smaller-scale production if it meant more storytelling. Not every episode needs to feel like a mini-movie. Some of Star Trek’s best hours have been bottle episodes, stories built around ideas and performances instead of sci-fi spectacle.
Most importantly, I’d like to see something truly new.
A new crew with new characters who don’t need to be connected to ones we already love. And please, I really don’t need to see yet another version of Kirk and Spock. For me, Star Trek has always been at its best when it’s looking forward, not backward.
Setting a new series in the 25th century after the events of Picard would open up a largely unexplored era, while still leaving plenty of distance from the far-future timeline introduced in Discovery. It’s a creative sweet spot: familiar enough to feel like Star Trek, but open enough to do something different. Right now, the franchise just feels like it’s waiting to decide what it wants to be next.
What would you like to see happen with Star Trek? What type of show would get you excited?
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