Paramount Is "Talking to a Lot of Writers" as STAR TREK Searches for Its Next Series
The future of Star Trek on television is looking surprisingly wide open. With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds approaching its finish line and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy also nearing the end of its run, Paramount+ has reached a point where it needs to decide what comes next for one of its biggest franchises.
The good news for Star Trek fans is that Paramount+ knows it can’t simply leave the franchise sitting in spacedock. The streamer is actively looking for its next series and is already meeting with writers about possible ideas.
Speaking with Deadline, Jane Wiseman, EVP and Head of Originals for Paramount+, explained that finding the next version of Star Trek is a major priority for the company.
She also pointed to Chris Parnell, who joined Paramount+ last year as EVP for Paramount+ Originals after previously working at Apple TV+ and serving as co-president of Sony Pictures Television Studios.
"Well, it’s one of the reasons why Chris is here as the resident number one fan of the Star Trek franchise," Wiseman said.
Part of Parnell's job at Paramount+ is helping expand the studio's Star Trek original programming, and apparently he's far from the only Trek fan working there.
"And there’s so many people in this building, by the way, that are," Wiseman continued. "It is our goal and it is our job to figure out what the next bounce of Star Trek is."
That process has already started, although Paramount+ isn't ready to announce a specific project. Wiseman revealed:
"We’re talking to a lot of writers, we are leaning on CBS Studios, and it is imperative that we figure out what the next iteration is in this franchise because it’s just too important. We also are in touch with Paramount Pictures, they have a Star Trek movie that’s in development."
That's an interesting place for Star Trek to be. For most of the past decade, fans have known that another series was coming even as existing shows wrapped up.
Right now, there isn't a new Star Trek television series publicly in active development, making this the first time in nearly a decade that the franchise hasn't had another show waiting in the pipeline.
There are several possible reasons for that situation. Paramount has gone through a major corporate reset following the Skydance merger, while questions remain about franchise fatigue and how strongly some of the more recent Star Trek shows have performed with broader audiences.
There's also uncertainty surrounding Alex Kurtzman, who has been the primary creative architect of the modern Star Trek television universe, and the studio appears to be reconsidering what the next era of the franchise should actually be.
That's probably not a bad conversation to have. Star Trek has expanded in a lot of different directions over the past several years, and rather than immediately ordering another series simply to keep the machine running, Paramount has an opportunity to figure out what kind of Trek audiences actually want next.
Meanwhile, the current era still has some life left in it. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is airing its fourth season and will return for a fifth and final season, which has already been filmed. That last season will be shorter than usual.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy also has a second season on the way, although the series struggled to break through with mainstream audiences. Once those shows finish, Paramount+ currently has no publicly announced successor ready to take their place.
The movie side of the franchise is moving forward as well. Paramount CEO David Ellison confirmed in April that a new Star Trek movie is in development, though the studio is keeping most of the details under wraps.
Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the filmmaking duo behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, are writing, directing, and producing the new movie.
During San Diego Comic-Con in July, they offered one intriguing clue about where they're taking the franchise, revealing that the story will be set "a little further into the future than we've been before."
How that movie fits into Paramount's larger plans for Star Trek, if it connects at all, remains unknown. Wiseman's comments do make it clear that the television and film sides of Paramount are communicating while figuring out where Trek goes from here.
The bigger question is what kind of show should replace Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy. Paramount could continue building within the current television universe, jump to another unexplored period of the Star Trek timeline, or use this transition as an opportunity for a more substantial reset.
Whatever direction it chooses, Paramount+ doesn't sound interested in putting Star Trek television on the shelf. It's talking with writers, working with CBS Studios, and treating the search for the next series as something the company needs to get right.
For fans, that means we're currently in the unusual position of knowing more Star Trek is wanted without knowing what that next adventure will be.
With writers now pitching ideas and a new movie also taking shape, the franchise is heading toward another reinvention. Now we get to see who gets the keys to the starship next.