Star Trek Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is an American television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet for the streaming service Paramount+. It is the 11th Star Trek series and was launched in 2022 as part of Kurtzman’s expanded Star Trek Universe. A spin-off from Star Trek: Discovery, it follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy during the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series.

Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn respectively star as Pike, Spock, and Number One, all characters from The Original Series. These actors were cast in the roles in 2019 for the second season of Discovery, and, after a positive fan response, Kurtzman expressed interest in bringing them back for a spin-off series. Development began by March 2020 and it was officially ordered in May. The lead cast, title, and creative team were confirmed, with Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers as showrunners. Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, and Bruce Horak also star. Some of those actors also play younger versions of Original Series characters. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, H M R X Productions, and Roddenberry Entertainment. Filming took place at CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga, Ontario. The showrunners chose to return to the episodic storytelling of The Original Series rather than Discovery’s more serialized approach.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered on Paramount+ on May 5, 2022, and its 10-episode first season ran through July 7. A second season is in production and is expected to premiere in 2023. The series has received positive reviews for its episodic storytelling and cast. It is nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and several other awards.

Star Trek Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy is an American animated television series created by Kevin and Dan Hageman for the streaming service Paramount+ and the cable channel Nickelodeon. It is the tenth Star Trek series and was launched in 2021 as part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s expanded Star Trek Universe. Prodigy is the first Star Trek series to target younger audiences and is also the franchise’s first animated series to solely use 3D animation. It follows a group of young aliens who find the USS Protostar, an abandoned starship.

Brett Gray, Ella Purnell, Jason Mantzoukas, Angus Imrie, Rylee Alazraqui, and Dee Bradley Baker voice the young crew of the USS Protostar, with Jimmi Simpson, John Noble, and Kate Mulgrew also providing voices for the series, the latter reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. Kurtzman first mentioned the series in January 2019, and it was confirmed a month later. The Hageman brothers were set as creators and showrunners, and Nickelodeon ordered two seasons of Prodigy that April. Ben Hibon was announced as director and creative lead in August 2020, and it was revealed in February 2021 that the series would debut on Paramount+ before airing on Nickelodeon. It is produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions and Nickelodeon Animation Studio in association with Secret Hideout, Roddenberry Entertainment, and Brothers Hageman Productions.

Star Trek: Prodigy premiered on Paramount+ on October 28, 2021, and began airing on Nickelodeon on December 17. The first season of 20 episodes will run into 2022, and a second season is in production.

Star Trek Lower Decks

Star Trek: Lower Decks is an American adult animated television series created by Mike McMahan for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+). It is the ninth Star Trek series and was launched in 2020 as part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s expanded Star Trek Universe. Lower Decks is the franchise’s first animated series since the 1970s series Star Trek: The Animated Series, and its first comedic series. It follows the low-ranking support crew of the starship Cerritos beginning in the year 2380.

Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero voice “lower decks” crew members of the Cerritos, with Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman providing voices for the ship’s senior officers. Work on an animated Star Trek series began in June 2018. McMahan joined as creator and showrunner by that October, when Lower Decks was ordered for two seasons by All Access. The series is produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions in association with Secret Hideout, Important Science, Roddenberry Entertainment, and animation studio Titmouse who began work by February 2019. The main cast was announced that July. Production on the first two seasons take place in March 2020. The series features many connections and references to past Star Trek series.

Star Trek: Lower Decks premiered on CBS All Access on August 6, 2020, and its 10-episode first season ran until October 2020. A second season was released on Paramount+ from August to October 2021, and a third season is scheduled for August 2022. A fourth season was ordered in January 2022 and is expected to be released in 2023. The series has received mixed reviews from critics, as well as several accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Star Trek Picard

Star Trek: Picard is an American television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+). It is the eighth Star Trek series, and was launched in 2020 as part of Kurtzman’s expanded Star Trek Universe. The series features the retired Starfleet Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, with each season exploring different aspects of the character and covering issues that come up in the last stage of a person’s life.

Patrick Stewart stars as Picard, reprising his role from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as other Star Trek media. Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Harry Treadaway, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, and Evan Evagora also star in the first season, with Jeri Ryan, Orla Brady, and Brent Spiner joining for the second. The third season stars Stewart, Hurd, Ryan, Spiner, and other returning Next Generation cast members LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, and Marina Sirtis.

The series was first rumored in June 2018, and was officially announced that August. It is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, and Roddenberry Entertainment, and was designed to be slower and more character-focused than previous series in the franchise. Filming took place in California, which granted the series large tax credits. Chabon served as showrunner for the first season, with Goldsman and Terry Matalas taking over for the second which was filmed back-to-back with the third. Matalas was sole showrunner for the third season, which was designed to be a conclusion to the stories of Picard and the other Next Generation cast members.

Star Trek: Picard premiered on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020, and its first season ran for 10 episodes until March 26. The second season was released on Paramount+ from March 3 to May 5, 2022, with the third and final season expected to premiere in early 2023. The series was met with generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Stewart’s performance and the focus on character over action, though some criticized the slow pacing. It has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award for its prosthetic makeup. Several tie-in projects have been created based on the series, including an episode of the companion series Star Trek: Short Treks.

Star Trek Short Treks

Star Trek: Short Treks is an American anthology television series created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+). Originating as a companion series to Star Trek: Discovery, it consists of several shorts that use settings and characters from Discovery and other Star Trek series. The shorts are around 10 to 20 minutes long.

After signing a deal to expand the Star Trek franchise on television, Kurtzman announced Short Treks as the first such project in July 2018. The first four episodes aired from October 2018 to January 2019, between the first and second seasons of Discovery. The shorts were mostly produced by cast and crew members from Discovery, including composer Jeff Russo who provided an updated main title theme and original underscore for the series. Filming took place in Toronto, Canada, on the set of Discovery.

In January 2019, two new animated shorts were revealed, with four additional live action episodes announced in June 2019. The second season of shorts aired from October 2019 to January 2020, between the second season of Discovery and the first season of Star Trek: Picard, with the last short serving as a teaser for the latter series. The animated shorts were created by visual effects house Pixomondo, while a roster of new composers supervised by Michael Giacchino provided the music for the second set of shorts.

The series has received positive reviews, and has been nominated for several awards including a Primetime Emmy Award. Kurtzman has expressed interest in continuing the series, but the producers chose not to begin work on any new shorts.

Star Trek Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is an American television series created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+). Premiering in 2017, it is the seventh Star Trek series and was the first since Star Trek: Enterprise concluded in 2005. It follows the crew of the starship Discovery, beginning a decade before Star Trek: The Original Series in the 23rd century. At the end of the second season, Discovery travels to the 32nd century, which is the setting for subsequent seasons.

Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, a science specialist on Discovery who eventually becomes captain. Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Jason Isaacs, Wilson Cruz, Anson Mount, David Ajala, Rachael Ancheril, Blu del Barrio, and Tig Notaro also star. The series was announced in November 2015, with Fuller set as showrunner. He left due to creative differences with CBS and was replaced by Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, with producing support from Akiva Goldsman for the first season. Berg and Harberts were fired by CBS during production on the second, and Kurtzman took over as showrunner. He was joined by Michelle Paradise beginning with the third season.

Star Trek: Discovery is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. It is filmed at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Canada, as well as on location around the world. Designs from the Star Trek franchise were reinvented for the series to take advantage of modern techniques and visual effects. It premiered on September 24, 2017, on CBS and CBS All Access. The rest of the 15-episode first season was streamed weekly on All Access, ending in February 2018. The 14-episode second season was released on All Access from January to April 2019, and the 13-episode third season ran from October 2020 to January 2021. The 13-episode fourth season was released on Paramount+ from November 2021 to March 2022. A 10-episode fifth season was ordered in January 2022 and is expected to be released in 2023.

The series’ release led to record subscriptions for CBS All Access, and it became the most viewed original series on both All Access and Paramount+. It has received positive reviews from critics, who have highlighted Martin-Green’s performance and the time-jump to the 32nd century, as well as numerous accolades, including Primetime Emmy Awards for its prosthetic makeup and visual effects. The series began an expansion of the Star Trek franchise, leading to multiple new series including the companion shorts series Star Trek: Short Treks and the spin-off Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Various tie-in media and two official aftershows have also been produced based on the series.

Star Trek Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise, titled simply Enterprise for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on UPN. The sixth series in the Star Trek franchise, it is a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 22nd century, a hundred years before the events of The Original Series, it follows the adventures of the Enterprise, Earth’s first starship capable of traveling at warp five, as it explores the galaxy and encounters various alien species.

Following the culmination of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and with Star Trek: Voyager scheduled to end, UPN asked Braga and Berman to create a new series to continue the franchise. Rather than setting it in the 24th century alongside Deep Space Nine and Voyager, they decided to set it in an earlier period, allowing them to explore new parts of the Star Trek fictional universe. Wanting a more basic, relatable, character-driven series, Berman and Braga concentrated on a core trio: Captain Jonathan Archer (played by Scott Bakula), Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer), and Sub-commander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock).

The show broke with Star Trek convention in several respects. In addition to dropping the Star Trek prefix, Enterprise used the pop-influenced song “Where My Heart Will Take Me” a reworked version of “Faith of the Heart” (performed by English tenor Russell Watson) as its theme. It was filmed on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles, California, on the same stages that housed the Star Trek series and films since the abandoned Star Trek: Phase II in the late 1970s.

The first two seasons were characterized by stand-alone episodes that explored topics like humanity’s early relations with the Vulcans, and first encounters with the Klingons and Andorians, aliens already familiar to franchise viewers. Seeking to attract a wider audience, UPN called for changes for Enterprise’s third season. It was renamed Star Trek: Enterprise, and was changed to focus on action-driven plots and a single, serialized storyline: the crew’s mission to prevent the Earth being destroyed by a newly introduced alien species, the Xindi. In 2005, UPN cancelled the series after its fourth season, despite a fan-led campaign to continue it. It marked the first time in 18 years that no new Star Trek episodes would be produced, the beginning of a hiatus that lasted until the launch of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017.

Star Trek Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor. It originally aired from January 16, 1995, to May 23, 2001, on UPN, lasting for 172 episodes over seven seasons. It is the fifth series in the Star Trek franchise. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager as it attempts to return home to the Alpha Quadrant after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.

Paramount Pictures commissioned the series following the termination of Star Trek: The Next Generation to accompany the ongoing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. They wanted it to help launch UPN, their newly established network. Berman, Piller, and Taylor devised the series to chronologically overlap with Deep Space Nine and to maintain thematic continuity with elements that had been introduced in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. The complex relationship between Starfleet and ex-Federation colonists known as the Maquis was one such element and a persistent central theme. Voyager was the first Star Trek series to feature a female commanding officer, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), as the lead character. Berman served as head executive producer in charge of the overall production, assisted by a series of executive producers: Piller, Taylor, Brannon Braga, and Kenneth Biller.

Set in a different part of the galaxy from preceding Star Trek shows, Voyager gave the series’ writers space to introduce new alien species as recurring characters, namely the Kazon, Vidiians, Hirogen, and Species 8472. During the later seasons, the Borg—a species created for The Next Generation—were introduced as the main antagonists. During Voyager’s run, various episode novelisations and tie-in video games were produced; after it ended, various novels continued the series narrative.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (abbreviated DS9) is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the Star Trek media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from January 3, 1993 to June 2, 1999, spanning 176 episodes over seven seasons. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, its narrative is centered on the eponymous space station Deep Space Nine, located adjacent to a wormhole connecting Federation territory to the Gamma Quadrant on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.

Following the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Paramount Pictures commissioned a new series set in the Star Trek fictional universe. In creating Deep Space Nine, Berman and Piller drew upon plot elements introduced in The Next Generation, namely the conflict between two alien species, the Cardassians and the Bajorans. Deep Space Nine was the first Star Trek series to be created without the direct involvement of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry, the first set on a space station rather than a traveling starship and the first to have an African American as its central character: Starfleet Commander, and then Captain, Benjamin Sisko (played by Avery Brooks).

Changes were made to the series over the course of its seven-year run. In the third season, the starship USS Defiant was introduced to enable more stories away from the space station, and the fourth added Worf (Michael Dorn), a character who originated on The Next Generation, to the main cast. The final three seasons deal with a story arc, that of the war between the Federation and an invading Gamma Quadrant power, the Dominion. Although not as popular as The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine was critically well-received. Following the success of Deep Space Nine, Paramount commissioned Berman, Piller and Jeri Taylor to produce Star Trek: Voyager, which began in 1995. During Deep Space Nine’s run, various episode novelizations and tie-in video games were produced. After the show ended, various novels and comics continued the crew’s adventures.

Star Trek The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired from September 28, 1987 to May 23, 1994 in syndication, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, inspired by Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Milky Way galaxy.

In the 1980s, Roddenberry—who was responsible for the original Star Trek, Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1974), and the first of a series of films—was tasked by Paramount Pictures with creating a new series in the franchise. He decided to set it a century after the events of his original series. The Next Generation featured a new crew: Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, Brent Spiner as Data, Michael Dorn as Worf, LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar, Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher, and a new Enterprise.

Roddenberry, Maurice Hurley, Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor served as executive producers at various times throughout its production. The series was broadcast in first-run syndication with dates and times varying among individual television stations. Stewart’s voice-over introduction during each episode’s opening credits stated the starship’s purpose:

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

The show was very popular, reaching almost 12 million viewers in its 5th season, with the series finale in 1994 watched by over 30 million viewers.[3][4] Due to its success, Paramount commissioned Rick Berman and Michael Piller to create a fourth series in the franchise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which launched in 1993. The characters from The Next Generation returned in four films: Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), and in the television series Star Trek: Picard (2020–present). The series is also the setting of numerous novels, comic books, and video games. It received many accolades, including 19 Emmy Awards, two Hugo Awards, five Saturn Awards, and a Peabody Award.