Spoiler Warning: Beware of spoilers for the following Star Trek productions: Deep Space Nine Season 6, Enterprise Season 3, Discovery Seasons 1-5, Picard Seasons 1-3, Prodigy Season 1, Strange New Worlds Seasons 1-2, and Starfleet Academy.
Eight years ago, Star Trek returned to its small-screen home after over a decade in the wilderness. However, in 2025, thanks to a corporate merger, an under-performing, loss-making streaming platform, and some laughably idiotic decision-making by morons in suits, it feels like Star Trek might, once again, be coming to the end of the road. The cancellations of all but one series, failures to get a new feature film off the ground, and Paramount+ continuing to flail around in a competitive market all indicate to me that Paramount and Skydance are at the very least considering bringing production to a halt.
There will be time in the months and years ahead to talk about who’s to blame and what precisely went wrong. But that isn’t the purpose of today’s article. Instead, I want to take a look ahead. Beginning with the assumption that Skydance/Paramount aren’t interested in producing more Star Trek after the second half of the 2020s, what stories should the franchise’s writers and producers aim to tell over the next three or four years? Is there room to resolve dangling story threads, throw in a bit of fan service, and perhaps revisit characters and factions we haven’t seen in a while? Or… should Star Trek’s corporate overlords roll the dice again and chase trends in the hope of bringing in new viewers?
Photo Credit: TrekCore
2016 doesn’t feel like a particularly long time ago. But it’s been nine years since we got those early teases of what would go on to be Star Trek: Discovery, and since then, production has ramped up only to tail off again far more quickly than I’d expected. To go from the excitement of Star Trek’s return to the very real prospect of its total cancellation in the span of less than a decade is making my head spin! But realistically, after the cancellation of most of the main shows and with the corporate merger seeming to have put a stop to any new announcements… that’s where we’re at. If Star Trek isn’t bringing in viewers and helping Paramount+ on its long road to profitability… what did we expect? Corporations aren’t going to piss away money forever on something that isn’t making a profit… even if the reason why Star Trek, in its current incarnation, has struggled is, I would very strongly argue, entirely the fault of executive fuckwits making appalling decisions!
The cancellation announcement of Strange New Worlds kind of embodies that for me. Season 3 is literally days away, the cast and crew are about to start making the rounds on the interview circuit, hype for the new season is beginning to build… and that’s the moment that Paramount’s executives decide to announce that the show’s cancellation. This coming just a couple of years after they had to rapidly un-announce a new Star Trek film when it emerged that none of the cast had actually signed onto the project. After the merger is complete and these morons are all laid off… I hope not one of them ever works in the entertainment industry again.
But as I said, that’s not what we’re here to talk about on this occasion!
I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the Star Trek stories that I’d most like to see. If Star Trek does get fully cancelled later in the decade, and remains off the air for a good number of years as happened in the ’70s and the 2000s/2010s… this could be it for me. This could be the last new Star Trek I’m gonna see. Because of my health, sticking it out to the 2040s or beyond for a possible, hypothetical revival seems… well, it seems unlikely, to be blunt about it! So the next few years could bring me the final batch of Star Trek stories that I’m going to be able to watch. It’s with that mindset that I approach this piece.
So let’s clear a few things up before we go any further. These story ideas are pure fantasy, meaning I have no “insider information,” I’m not claiming any of them will actually be made, and it’s very likely that nothing we’re about to discuss will ever actually be seen on screen! This is a wishlist from a Trekkie, and should be taken in that spirit. Secondly, all of this is the wholly subjective take of just one person. If you hate all of my story concepts, or if I don’t mention a favourite of yours… that’s okay. There should be enough room in the Star Trek fan community for different ideas and the kind of polite discussion that doesn’t descend into argument and toxicity.
With all of that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of my story ideas.
Story #1:
Bring back the Xindi.
The Xindi have technically appeared in Discovery – albeit in a non-speaking, background role. And Xindi-Reptillians were also seen in a slightly bigger capacity in Prodigy’s first season. But we haven’t gotten a proper Xindi story since Enterprise – not one that examines the Federation’s relationship to the faction, at any rate. I’d love to see the Xindi revisited in a big way, catching up with them after the events of Enterprise and perhaps finding out a little more about what became of them after the disappearance of the Sphere-Builders.
Starfleet Academy could, for instance, introduce a Xindi cadet – perhaps one of the first Xindi to be a Starfleet officer in some time. Or Captain Pike could be sent on a diplomatic mission to the Xindi homeworld barely a century after the attempted attack on Earth. Either of these shows could incorporate a Xindi storyline, and it would be a lot of fun to either lay the groundwork for a future Federation-Xindi alliance or see what became of that in the far future.
A story set in the far future could also reference the Sphere Builders and perhaps expand upon something Discovery never really explained: the ban on time travel. It always struck me as an impossible thing to enforce, especially given the shattered state of the Federation, but perhaps a Xindi character in Starfleet Academy could lecture the cadets on the dangers of trying to interfere with the past.
If Pike and the Enterprise visit the Delphic Expanse, we could get a story about the Xindi’s first attempt to reconcile with Earth. They might’ve retreated back to their homeworld after their defeat, and this could be the first time they’ve reached out to the Federation in decades. There could even be a resurrection of the plot to attack Earth, perhaps some disaffected Xindi faction feels that it’s the only way to restore their world to greatness. If so, Captain Pike could have to follow in Archer’s footsteps and stop them!
Story #2:
A sequel to In The Pale Moonlight.
Have you ever wondered what might’ve happened if the Romulans ever figured out what Garak and Sisko did during the Dominion War? I have! And it’s one of my all-time favourite fantasy storylines. I don’t think this would even need to include Sisko or Garak necessarily – though I’d love to bring back both Avery Brooks and Andrew Robinson to reprise their roles. But a story set sometime after the Dominion War could revisit this absolute cracker of an episode and address some of the lingering questions that it posed.
Though this could be another far future story, I guess, where I think it would work best would be in the Picard era. Perhaps the Romulans discover, in some of the documents and data that they saved from the supernova, the fake recording that Sisko and Garak created and revisit it, finally realising that it was fake. That could have massive implications for Romulan-Federation relations… or maybe the new Romulan government, relying on the Federation for aid and supplies after the cataclysm, would choose to cover it up. If Legacy had gotten off the ground, this would absolutely be a story I’d have wanted to see in that show.
I can picture it already: Starfleet contacts the Enterprise, ordering Seven, Raffi, Jack, and the rest of the crew to parley with the Romulans. Seven’s Romulan connections from Picard Season 1 could come into play here, justifying Starfleet tapping the Enterprise for the mission. Upon arriving at the new Romulan homeworld, several angry Romulans – leaders of the Senate and Tal Shiar, perhaps – confront her over the deception. Seven and the crew genuinely have no idea what’s going on; Sisko and Garak told no one. In desperation, Seven contacts DS9, potentially being received by a familiar face.
At this point, the story could go in lots of different directions – all with plenty of those shades of grey which made In The Pale Moonlight so compelling. There could be genuinely uncomfortable real-world parallels – the lies told in order to start wars, threats of aid being withheld from desperate survivors of the supernova, and good people forced into impossible situations by the actions of others a generation ago.
Story #3:
A 60th Anniversary Special.
In 1996, two episodes were produced that really aimed to celebrate Star Trek’s thirtieth anniversary: Trials and Tribble-ations and Flashback. Both were, in my humble opinion, excellent – though fans have a clear preference for Trials and Tribble-ations! It’s been a frankly astonishing twenty-nine years since then… meaning Star Trek’s 60th is just around the corner.
A decade ago, Star Trek Beyond was the only production released during the 50th anniversary year, but Discovery was already filming. This time, I’d really love to see Paramount go all-out, using all of the resources at their disposal, to really celebrate all things Star Trek. Obviously this idea felt more likely before the recent cancellation announcements, and I would note that we’ve already had an excellent crossover between Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds that kind of occupies a similar space! But that wasn’t an anniversary special… so I think Star Trek and Paramount can do something, at least, to mark the occasion.
There are two shows in production that could – somehow – cross over. The best idea I can come up with at this stage would be the Starfleet Academy cadets running a simulation of Kirk’s Enterprise… which I realise sounds a lot like the maligned These Are The Voyages, but I think that same concept could’ve worked if it had been handled better and wasn’t intended to serve as Enterprise’s finale! So let’s say that, under the direction of Tilly and Vance, the cadets are aboard Kirk’s Enterprise, using the sets built for Strange New Worlds. What next?
Well, Strange New Worlds already has Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and Scotty – so we could use those characters and revisit a classic episode from The Original Series! Perhaps something like The Doomsday Machine, with the cadets observing Kirk’s actions for their assignment. This could mutate into a “the holodeck done goofed” type of story, perhaps, with the cadets having to genuinely fight for their lives alongside Captain Kirk and Spock. It wouldn’t be a pure crossover in the sense that Pike and some of the other Strange New Worlds characters would be missing… but I think it could be a huge amount of fun.
Story #4:
Save Captain Lorca!
This has been a theory/fantasy of mine going all the way back to the announcement of Section 31 in 2019! In short, the prime timeline version of Captain Gabriel Lorca, from Discovery’s first season, switched places with his Mirror Universe counterpart before the events of the show. Mirror Lorca is dead – but we never learned what became of our universe’s version of the character. Admiral Cornwell just assumed that he’s dead… but Lorca always struck me as a resilient, resourceful man. So maybe there’s a way that he managed to survive.
Section 31 obviously went on to be a completely different thing, but we still have a show set in the 23rd Century where this kind of rescue mission might be possible: Strange New Worlds! Captain Pike confirmed back in Discovery that he knows about the existence of the Mirror Universe, and while any crossover story would have to keep characters like Spock, Uhura, and Scotty out of it, I think it could be made to work. Furthermore, we could get a glimpse of Pike’s past; perhaps he served with Lorca before either of them assumed their commands, or maybe they became friends while working together as starship captains.
In my fantasy version of the story, Admiral April would contact Captain Pike with a top-secret assignment. Starfleet has received a brief message from across the divide between universes, confirming that Captain Lorca is still alive. Based on what Starfleet learned from the USS Discovery’s time in the Mirror Universe, they’ve found a way to send a small ship through the looking-glass – and Pike, as one of the few officers aware of the Mirror Universe and because of his connection to Lorca, has been chosen to lead the mission. Pike would select Ortegas to be the shuttle’s pilot and another character – perhaps La’an for security or Pelia to keep the shuttle flying and maintain its systems – for a clandestine mission akin to the one Picard undertook in Chain of Command.
Once in the Mirror Universe, Pike and the others would have to trace the source of Lorca’s signal – it’s coming from a Terran Empire prison camp. They’d come up with a plan, break him out, engage in a shootout with a few Terrans, and possibly catch a glimpse of Mirror Spock before making it home safe and sound. I think this could be a really fun story – and a great way to bring Star Trek’s current crop of shows full-circle by returning to the events of Discovery’s first season.
Story #5:
Captain Pike vs. the Borg Collective!
Okay, now we’re getting silly. But I still think that a Borg Strange New Worlds episode isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds! Let me explain why. Firstly, just like the Captain Lorca episode above, this one would have to take place in an alternate timeline. Somehow, someway, thanks to some technobabble interstellar phenomenon, the Enterprise is thrust into a parallel universe – one in which the Borg have come to dominate the entire galaxy. Pike and the crew would have to face off against a horde of cybernetic adversaries while struggling to make it home.
Characters like Spock and Una could suggest that this cybernetic race – the Borg – might not exist in the prime timeline, potentially explaining how Pike’s run-in with the Borg was never mentioned by anyone else! I think that clears up that particular issue much better than Enterprise did with its Borg episode! But I also like the idea of leaving just a little bit of ambiguity right at the end – perhaps Pike submits his report, and the camera hangs on Admiral April as he looks pensive and concerned.
After Picard arguably overdid it with the Borg, I can appreciate why bringing them back so soon might not be to everyone’s taste. And when there are so many factions and races from past iterations of Star Trek still waiting to be revisited, I can entertain the argument that doing another Borg story might not be the way to go. But when I think about the most iconic villains in Star Trek, the toughest enemies to beat, and the most frightening… the Borg are absolutely up there in all three categories, and I think they’d pose a massive challenge for Pike and the crew.
The most important thing for me is setting a story like this in an alternate universe, not the prime timeline. There’d be enough wiggle-room to have an encounter like this without treading on the toes of fantastic episodes like Q Who and The Best of Both Worlds that way.
Story #6:
Push the Burn into an alternate timeline.
As a parting gift to potential future Star Trek storytellers, I can’t think of anything this current crop of shows could do that would be better than pushing the Burn and the far-future setting into an alternate reality. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t want to see Discovery and Starfleet Academy decreed to be “non-canon,” and the far-future setting had some interesting ideas that led to some genuinely great episodes. But… as the ultimate destination for the entire Star Trek galaxy, the Burn and the post-apocalyptic hellscape it created are incredibly depressing. Not only that, they risk constraining future stories, making them feel meaningless or unimportant.
Any new Star Trek project set prior to the 32nd Century becomes, by default, a Discovery prequel. And when we know how awful Discovery’s far future was for pretty much everyone… that’s not great. It completely changes how we view stories like Picard’s third season; we knew, even subconsciously in the backs of our minds, that even if Picard managed to save the day and defeat the Borg, the Burn was still going to happen. No other Star Trek project has done more to restrict and reframe subsequent productions than Discovery’s third season.
And I think, all things considered, “post-apocalyptic Star Trek” didn’t work as intended – at least not in Discovery with the kinds of stories the production team wanted to tell. So let’s assume Starfleet Academy will get two seasons before a cancellation in 2027 or 2028. The absolute best thing that show could do in its final episode is find some way to push this version of the future into a pocket universe or alternate timeline. You’d have to come up with some kind of technobabble and a reason why; maybe the Burn will have knock-on effects that ultimately lead to some additional disaster, and the only way to prevent it will be to travel back in time and stop the Burn from ever happening. I don’t know. But there’s gotta be someone who could write a story like that!
What this story would have to do is thread the needle. Discovery and Starfleet Academy could continue to exist for folks who enjoyed them – and I certainly hope to be among the people who enjoy Starfleet Academy! But the main storyline of the Burn could push those shows into some kind of parallel universe – paving the way for Star Trek projects in the future to not have that massively depressing destination.
Story #7:
Star Trek: Legacy.
This one isn’t a single “story” so much as an entire TV movie! In short, I’d love to see Terry Matalas’ Legacy pitch revisited, somehow. If we stick with our assumption that cancellation is coming, then it seems beyond unlikely that a brand-new big-budget series is going to get out of the starting gate. But maybe, just maybe, there’s room to turn Legacy into a Section 31-style TV movie. If it does well in that format, then who knows? Maybe Skydance/Paramount will want a continuation.
I really hope that the negative reception Section 31 received earlier in the year won’t dissuade Star Trek’s corporate overlords from revisiting the TV movie idea. There are so many stories that could work in that format – even if they couldn’t carry an entire series on their own. While I’d absolutely love to see Legacy in its originally-envisioned form as a full-blown series, a TV movie could be the next best thing… and a way to test the waters to see if the 25th Century could be Star Trek’s saviour.
I’ve argued repeatedly that the Star Trek franchise can’t just coast on nostalgia and past successes, and needs to do more to bring new, younger fans on board. That’s something I hoped Section 31 could’ve done… but that doesn’t seem to have happened, unfortunately. A restructured Legacy, with just enough of a connection to Star Trek’s past without going overboard, could be the gateway into the franchise for new fans – connecting back to characters from The Next Generation era while setting the stage for new adventures in the 25th Century.
I’ll caveat all of this by saying that no one knows what was in the original Legacy pitch – it might’ve been absolute dog shite that we would’ve all despised! And there’s clearly a reason why Paramount didn’t go for it in 2022/23. But as with other missed opportunities in recent years – like Quentin Tarantino’s film idea – I can’t help but feel the decision not to move forward was the wrong one. Perhaps Legacy can still be revived, even if it has to be a one-off TV movie instead of a full series.
Story #8:
“Cardassia Prime.”
If you’re a regular reader, you might remember my fantasy “episode pitch” for Strange New Worlds from a few months back. I titled the story Cardassia Prime, and it would tell the story of first contact between the Federation and the Cardassians. But wait, there’s more! I’d also bring an elderly T’Pol into the story, serving as an ambassador and diplomat for the Federation in her later years.
The episode would start with Captain Pike receiving new orders – a Federation colony ship has been attacked by an unknown faction, and a special ambassador is coming aboard the Enterprise to help defuse the situation. The ambassador will be revealed as T’Pol – now well over a hundred years old, but still working for the Federation. I’d love to see some interaction between an elderly T’Pol and a younger Spock; perhaps she’d have some advice for him on working closely with humans and discovering personal connections with them that could foreshadow Spock’s deep bond with Kirk.
We’ll also discover that the aggressive, territorial power T’Pol has been sent to negotiate with is the nascent Cardassian Empire – and they’ve laid claim to a system that a Federation colony ship inadvertently ventured into. This kind of hostile first contact, with an emphasis on competing claims for star systems along a shared border, could set be the precursor to the Carsassian Border Wars of the 24th Century, foreshadowing events referenced in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. I like the idea of a non-violent resolution; Captain Pike shouldn’t have to fire his phaser even once, despite Cardassian intransigence!
We’ve never seen how first contact between Starfleet and the Cardassians went, and I just adore the idea of an episode bringing together elements from all three of Star Trek’s main eras: the 22nd Century, represented by T’Pol, the 23rd, obviously represented by Pike, Spock, and the Enterprise, and the 24th, represented by the Cardassians, who were first introduced in that era and who were a major antagonist. If you want a longer look at my “Cardassia Prime” story outline, you can find it by clicking or tapping here.
Story #9:
32nd Century Klingons.
After shooting forwards in time far beyond anything we’ve seen in Star Trek before, Discovery disappointed me by showing us remarkably little of the galaxy in this era. With storylines focused on the next “massive galactic threat” and Burnham’s soap opera-like personal relationships, the show just didn’t even try to give us a bigger picture look at some of the factions and races we remember. A few were glimpsed – literally, just glimpsed in the background with a single character, like a Ferengi or Lurian. But we’ve seen hide nor hair of the Klingons.
Of all the races in Star Trek, the Klingons are perhaps the most iconic and narratively important. So it feels odd to have spent three full seasons in Discovery’s far future without so much as glimpsing a single solitary Klingon! There are so many ways this could’ve gone, too – the Klingons could’ve become fully-fledged Federation members by this time, returned to isolationism, or even broken their alliance to become an enemy once again.
And then there’s the Burn. The Burn was, in a roundabout way, caused by a Federation citizen aboard a Federation ship… so what would the Klingons make of that revelation? How did the Burn even impact their empire – or whatever was left of it by the 32nd Century? Is there still an extant Klingon state at all, or did their empire fall apart centuries ago, with surviving Klingons existing as second-class citizens under the jurisdiction of the likes of the Breen or Emerald Chain?
I’d love to see Starfleet Academy begin the process of answering these questions! Even though, as stated above, I think pushing this vision of the far future into a separate timeline would be for the best, I’m still curious to catch up with the Klingons in this era, finding out what happened to them in the centuries after we last saw them.
Story #10:
Tie up Picard’s loose ends… or some of them, at least.
Who are the “alliance of synthetic life,” and what were their goals? Who created the mysterious transwarp anomaly/weapon? Could those two stories, from Seasons 1 and 2 of Picard, be related somehow? I’d love to get some closure on these two apparently-massive storylines that Picard’s writing team dropped without bothering to explain!
This is another storyline that could’ve emerged in Star Trek: Legacy… but I think there’s at least the potential for Starfleet Academy to tie up these loose ends. Even if all we get is a short scene, a few lines of dialogue, and confirmation that the super-synths tried to attack the Federation before being defeated by a renegade Borg ally… that would be something. Maybe we could learn that Starfleet established relations with the “alliance of synthetic life” and they maintain an embassy. If the writers really wanted to lean into this idea, we could even connect it to a synthetic character like the Doctor – who we know is coming back in Starfleet Academy’s first season.
As I’ve said before, Picard was a jumbled, contradictory mess of a show – one that dumped characters and storylines with no explanation, overwrote significant story beats from one episode to the next, and while it managed to pull out a satisfactory ending to its third season… there was a lot left on the cutting-room floor as the credits rolled. Getting some kind of closure to some of these points – even centuries later in a completely different context – would be fantastic.
As Trekkies, we like the world of Star Trek to make sense. And when whole storylines which appear to involve impossibly-powerful enemies and adversaries just disappear without a trace… well, that isn’t very satisfying. Even if Starfleet Academy could find time to include a couple of throwaway lines of dialogue referencing and providing some kind of closure to the super-synths and the mysterious anomaly… I think that would do a lot to improve how I feel about those storylines.
So that’s it… for now.
With Strange New Worlds not even halfway through its four-and-a-half season run, and Starfleet Academy having been announced but not so much as glimpsed yet… it feels strange to be thinking about Star Trek as a whole potentially being shut down in just a few years’ time. However, unless something massive changes – and quickly – that seems to be what we’re headed for. It’s a depressing thought, especially since cancellation in the late 2020s could very well mean that these upcoming episodes and stories will be the last brand-new Star Trek I’ll ever see. But what can you do, eh?
I hope this has been an interesting thought experiment, at least. There are some stories and episode ideas that I’d really love to see brought to the screen over the next few years, and if they’re to be among the last in this current incarnation of Star Trek… well, let’s just hope they’re good ones!
Thanks for tuning in, and as always… Live Long and Prosper!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 are in production and will be broadcast on Paramount+ in the months ahead. Other Star Trek shows and films are already on the platform now, and may also be available on DVD and/or Blu-ray. The Star Trek franchise – including all episodes, films, series, and other properties discussed above – is the copyright of Paramount Global. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 