skydance paramount – Trekking with Dennis

Skydance and Star Trek: A New Era?

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the following Star Trek productions: Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, and Starfleet Academy.

Well, folks, it’s official: Skydance – which already owns Star Trek’s parent company, Paramount – has completed its takeover of Warner Bros.-Discovery. The newly-merged company will trade under the name Skydance, though senior figures have promised that both the Paramount and Warner Bros. brands (as well as other brands, too) will be retained in some form, at least in the short-term. Today, I wanted to discuss the merger a little from the point of view of a Trekkie, and consider what – if anything – it might mean for the future of Star Trek on the big screen, the small screen, and beyond.

Before we go any further, I have a couple of caveats! Firstly, I’m not a businessperson, I’m not an entertainment industry insider, and I don’t have any information on the merger beyond what’s publicly available. I’m approaching the subject from the perspective of a fan of one of the (many) brands now under Skydance’s ownership, drawing on news reports and other info that’s in the public domain. Secondly, everything we’re going to get into is the *subjective, not objective* opinion of just one fan. If you disagree with me, if you hate my take on what the merger could mean for Star Trek, or you think I’ve completely misunderstood something important… *that’s okay!* There’s room in the fan community for differences of opinion, and I share mine with you in that spirit.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the latest change on the corporate side of things for Star Trek.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek SFA S1 showing a camera and the AR wall — On the set of *Starfleet Academy*.

On the one hand, very little has actually changed for Star Trek specifically as a result of this merger. Skydance already owned Paramount – Star Trek’s parent company – and had done since last year. Star Trek is not really “under new ownership” as a result of this latest acquisition; rather, Star Trek’s existing owner has expanded and is now even larger.

But I don’t think that technicality really covers how big of a deal this *could* be for Star Trek’s future prospects.

I don’t think it’s unfair to say that, for CBS, then ViacomCBS, and finally Paramount Global, Star Trek was one of the biggest and most well-known brands. There were others, of course: the CSI franchise, for example, or The Vampire Diaries. But there’s a reason why Star Trek was tapped to be the flagship series when CBS All Access launched, and why the former Paramount corporation leaned so heavily on Star Trek when pushing Paramount+. Simply put, Star Trek was a big fish in a relatively small pond.

Remember CBS All Access?

That has now changed… massively.

Star Trek had already fallen way behind the likes of Yellowstone and its spin-offs to lose the Paramount+ crown. But now, Star Trek finds itself under the same corporate umbrella as the likes of HBO, with shows like Game of Thrones and its spin-offs, Harry Potter (for better or worse), the cinematic Lord of the Rings trilogy, the entirety of DC Comics, which includes Superman, Batman, and other heroes, and so many more.

Star Trek is no longer a tentpole franchise for a corporate entity that can call on Harry Potter, Batman, the world of Westeros, and more. And that simple fact could set the stage for a fallow period – perhaps lasting just a few years, or perhaps lasting… a lot longer.

Still from Batman and Robin showing the titular heroes — Star Trek and Batman now share a corporate overlord.

In the short-to-medium term, we know that Skydance has a couple of Star Trek ideas in mind. There’s a new video game – one of the first to be published under the new Paramount Games brand – and a film that seems to still be in the “ideas” stage. But beyond that… there have been no announcements other than the cancellations of every show that had been in production at the time Skydance assumed control. I don’t see this merger making Skydance *more* likely to greenlight a new Star Trek show or film. If anything… it seems like it’ll make that less likely.

I’m increasingly iffy on the film that was announced last year, too. Maybe that’s a hangover from how poorly the previous incarnation of Paramount handled its film announcements for Star Trek… but at the same time, it’s been almost a full calendar year since we learned that Skydance wanted to commission a new film, which was to be spearheaded by the filmmaking duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. But since then, Goldstein and Daley have continued to work on Mayday, which released just last month, and there’s been very little by way of news about the project, which must still be at a very, very early stage. On past form, you have to acknowledge that it’s possible that this film just won’t make it off the drawing board… and I really don’t know what Skydance’s leaders would make of that. With so many other brands under their umbrella, would they care… or even notice?

The site of Warner Bros. studios in Hollywood.

Skydance clearly had no confidence in the Star Trek streaming shows that it inherited – cancelling all of them. I’m also of the opinion, by the way, that Starfleet Academy had been what I’ve called “de facto cancelled” before a single episode had even aired – such was Skydance’s dislike of streaming Trek.

Skydance CEO David Ellison seems much more interested in feature films than TV shows, but he now sits atop a media empire that relies heavily on both broadcast television and streaming. New spin-offs to Game of Thrones and Yellowstone are airing or will soon air, and none of those has been cancelled as a result of this merger. So there’s clearly still gonna be a place for TV and streaming in this new corporation.

And that matters to me because, as I’ve said countless times before, Star Trek has always felt more at home on the small screen – at least to me. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some great cinematic adventures, too! But I just feel that a franchise like Star Trek works best on television, where the Enterprise can warp away to a new planet, a new alien, and a new adventure pretty much every week. If the franchise goes back to the cinema, we could get some fun sci-fi or action/sci-fi stories, for sure. But we’d also be missing a key part of what makes Star Trek feel like Star Trek.

However… I’ve also stated before that Star Trek quickly became oversaturated in the first half of the 2020s. And partly that’s because the former Paramount corporation wanted the franchise to almost single-handedly carry a loss-making streaming platform over the finish line. That was never gonna happen, and some truly epic mismanagement on the corporate side also saw such stupidity as two brand-new episodes airing at the exact same time, down to the minute, as Star Trek shows tripped over one another on Paramount+.

Maybe a break… isn’t a bad thing.

Still frame from Star Trek SNW 4x05 showing Spock and T'Pring at the "but it was all just a dream" ending — Yup. A break isn’t a bad thing at all.

When Enterprise went off the air in 2005, I was left stunned. I scoured the internet for any rumours of a new Star Trek show to replace it, but obviously found nothing. Enterprise’s cancellation was the first time since I became a Trekkie almost fifteen years earlier that there was no new Star Trek in production. And what happened next… well, it led me to double-down on Star Trek, to re-evaluate parts of the franchise I’d overlooked, and discover my passion for it all over again.

After some missteps in recent Star Trek productions, I’m firmly of the opinion that a clear-out at the top is not only a good idea, but *necessary*. Many of the same creatives have been working on Star Trek for ten-plus years already; some have even been with the franchise since the Kelvin timeline films. It’s absolutely worth introducing new folks with new ideas and letting new leaders take the reins – and that’s something that shouldn’t be rushed. If Skydance wants to appoint a new head of streaming, it’ll take a while for that person (or team) to get a handle on where things sit and decide what they want to do. And it’ll take new creative folks time to figure out where they might want to take Star Trek next, put together a pitch, and get it approved. Rushing that process won’t lead anywhere good, I’m certain of that!

Promo graphic for Star Trek Section 31 showing Georgiou with a sword — Several recent Star Trek projects have flopped or underperformed.

It seems increasingly likely that, sooner or later, Paramount+ and HBO Max will unify as one singular streaming platform. That just makes sense; I can’t imagine Skydance keeping them separate for very long. And with streaming still dominant in the industry, that platform will be Star Trek’s new home. I can’t see Skydance being as shockingly incompetent as the former Paramount corporation, either, losing the rights to its own films and shows – so the days of the Star Trek films disappearing from Paramount+ for months should be over! So that’s a positive, I guess.

But when it comes to *new* creations, I still think we’ve got a while to wait.

The only thing I could see that might possibly change that is the amount of debt that Skydance is now in. Long story short, Skydance (which was already in debt from the Paramount acquisition) basically had to borrow *all* of the money it needed to fund the Warner Bros.-Discovery acquisition – and, on top of that, Skydance arguably paid over the odds for Warner Bros.-Discovery in order to muscle in on Netflix’s attempted takeover. So Skydance is in – what’s the technical term? – a metric fuckton of debt.

Stock photo of a briefcase full of US dollar bills. — Skydance is in *a lot* of debt.

How do media companies pay down debt? Well, selling tickets at the cinema for blockbusters is one way, sure. But in the 2020s, recruiting and retaining subscribers to a streaming platform is another. This is Netflix’s entire business model, and it’s phenomenally profitable when done right. A merged HBO Max-Paramount+ would have a lot of existing content from some of the brands and franchises discussed above, but it will also need new shows all the time to lock in subscribers and convince folks that it’s a must-have subscription.

If there’s a reprieve for Star Trek on streaming, I think that’s where it lies.

I could see this new Skydance corporation taking a bit of time to consider pitches and ideas, and to allow its new streaming folks a chance to get their feet under the table. And then, maybe in 2029 or 2030 – a scant three or four years from now – going ahead and commissioning a brand-new Star Trek series. Maybe, if their new film has been a hit, it’ll be a continuation or spin-off. Or maybe it’ll be its own distinct thing. But to be realistic, I think we’re looking at 2031-32 before any new Star Trek could hit the small screen.

Concept art of the USS Enterprise created for Phase II/The Motion Picture — Concept art of the USS Enterprise.

If both Starfleet Academy Season 2 and Strange New Worlds Season 5 air next year, as we’re all assuming… that still means a break of five-ish years (at minimum) before there could be any new televised/streaming Trek. But that timeframe, to me, doesn’t feel unreasonable.

There are other possibilities, of course.

If Skydance struggles to manage this epic debt mountain, a “fire sale” of brands and IP could be on the cards in the years ahead. And where would a corporation want to start? With dormant brands that have good name recognition! Star Trek could, under those circumstances, potentially be sold to another media conglomerate. That’s much more of a hypothetical, but if Star Trek has been quiet for a few years and Skydance has struggled to make good on its debts… that’s the kind of thing that could happen. Though where Star Trek might end up, at that point, is anyone’s guess! I’ve heard some fans suggest that Apple TV, with its sci-fi programming, could be a good fit, and I don’t disagree. But whether Apple would really want to spend a lot of money on the rights to Star Trek is… questionable. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is a known Star Trek fan, though, so maybe Star Trek would find its way over there. Amazon Prime Video did, once upon a time, pay for the international distribution rights to Star Trek: Picard, so it wouldn’t be totally unprecedented.

I could see someone like Amazon being interested in Star Trek if it were ever put up for sale.

But okay, those are much more speculative ideas on my part.

What I think seems more likely, at least in the short term, is Star Trek winding down. There will be books, comics, and the occasional video game if we’re lucky. And, if the stars align, either the previously-announced feature film or a different cinematic project could hit theatres in, say, 2029. The success or failure of that picture could determine whether there are sequels, spin-offs… or whether it’s back to the drawing-board again!

One thing that this merger has solidified for me is that Skydance doesn’t see Star Trek as either one of its biggest brands or a priority. Star Trek is now one property among dozens, some of which have much higher name recognition with casual audiences – and much greater profitability potential. If budgets are tight, Skydance won’t be able to commission every project that comes across the CEO’s desk. If it’s a choice between Batman and Star Trek, a Game of Thrones project and Star Trek, Harry Potter and Star Trek, or Yellowstone and Star Trek – to give a few examples – well, I don’t see Star Trek winning *any* of those quarrels as things stand.

Promo still for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms S1 — I don’t see Skydance prioritising Star Trek over many of its other big brands.

For reasons that are unclear – and which, given the Ellison family’s ties, may be more political than anything else – production seems to be leaving Canada, which has been where most live-action Trek (except for Picard) has been produced for the last decade. A return to Hollywood could mean that Star Trek – and Skydance’s other big brands, too – are doubling-down on the cinema as opposed to the small screen, but I wouldn’t read too much into that, to be honest.

All of the sets that the previous CBS, ViacomCBS, and Paramount corporations had built have now been torn down in Canada, with many items being sold off at auction earlier this year. One thing I haven’t heard about, though, is the AR wall; the fancy screen that – to be honest with you – Paramount never seemed to properly figure out how to use! Maybe the AR wall will remain in use for other shows, and maybe we’ll even see something like it make a return in a future Star Trek production! But right now, a return to the United States, and to Hollywood, California in particular, seems to be where Skydance is going.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek SNW S3 showing the AR Wall — Filming *Strange New Worlds* on the AR Wall stage.

In terms of storylines and characters, I’m also of the opinion that most of the streaming Trek era won’t be revisited or returned to anytime soon. The only *possible* exception to that could be Lower Decks; for financial reasons, an animated series would be cheaper to produce than live-action, and most of the Lower Decks team have indicated that they’d be willing to return. Something like that could be a way for Skydance to test the waters and see how new Star Trek performs on its merged streaming platform without having to make the commitment to live-action.

However, that’s very much a hypothetical, and if I had to speculate, I’d say it won’t happen.

I really don’t see Skydance (or any future Star Trek owner/producer, come to that) wanting to revisit Discovery and Starfleet Academy’s 32nd Century. That timeline seems to have been completely shut down with Starfleet Academy’s cancellation, and of all the possible eras and settings to revisit, it’s rock bottom. I’d place it even below Enterprise’s 22nd Century – at least right now.

Crop from Star Trek Starfleet Academy (comic) Lost Contact showing the USS Athena — I don’t see the 32nd Century being revisited anytime soon.

While it’s *possible* we could see a Picard-type of series, picking up the story of a main character from The Next Generation era, I’m not sure that that’s especially likely right now, either. Firstly, you have the question of which character could even carry a series like that; Janeway is pretty much the only option, and she’s already had a major role in Prodigy. And secondly, even if you could find a character to follow, any such project naturally becomes a sequel – with the result being a more limited appeal primarily to existing Star Trek fans.

What seems more likely right now is a “reset.” Don’t call it a “reboot;” I don’t think we’re going to get another J.J.-verse alternate timeline thing! But some kind of attempt to reset the Star Trek franchise, to take this increasingly convoluted brand with a fractured timeline and simplify it, seems like it’s on the agenda. The best way to do that would be to set a new Star Trek series in the 25th Century, somewhere beyond the era glimpsed in Picard. Such a series could have a cameo or two from legacy characters, if handled well, but would basically be its own standalone thing.

Wire-frame schematic of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek SNW — Just don’t call it a “reboot!”

I just don’t see Skydance being interested in picking up any of the franchise’s dangling story threads right now – and given modern Star Trek’s failure to expand the fan community in a big way, that probably isn’t the wrong decision from a business point of view. A new series, functionally disconnected from anything that came before, would have the best chance of opening the door for new fans – fans who could then explore the rest of the Star Trek universe at their own pace. That’s what The Next Generation and the other shows of that era did, for the most part… and that’s what modern Star Trek has struggled with.

As the entertainment industry coalesces around a shrinking number of giant brands – Marvel, Star Wars, Westeros, and so on – I think there’s at least the *possibility* that Star Trek could join (or rejoin) that group. The brand name is still well-known, even amongst a casual audience; folks who’ve never seen a single episode have at least *heard* of Star Trek. But how Skydance turns that name recognition into interest, then excitement, then actual, ongoing viewership is an open question.

It’s the question that CBS, ViacomCBS, and Paramount all failed to answer convincingly.

Still frame from Star Trek TOS The Trouble with Tribbles showing Kirk in a pile of tribbles — Star Trek is still a well-known and iconic sci-fi franchise.

One thing that I think is possible, though, as the 2020s roll on and streaming begins to settle into its routines, is that audiences will begin to ask for something different. Ten-episode, eight-episode, and even six-episode fully-serialised stories have become streaming’s bread-and-butter, but we’ve seen the limitations and dangers of telling stories like that. Game of Thrones – one of Skydance’s new properties – basically disappeared on account of how poorly its ending landed, and there are other examples of serialised stories that just didn’t work or failed to stick the landing. Long breaks of two-plus years in between short, serialised seasons hasn’t helped, either.

And a franchise like Star Trek is well-suited to challenge that model.

Rather than forcing Star Trek into a modern, serialised streaming mould that – I would argue – is not and never was a good fit, Skydance *could* take the franchise in a more episodic direction once more. If audiences are burning out on serialised shows and ever-shorter seasons, you couldn’t ask for a better franchise than Star Trek to lead a new trend – back towards longer seasons and episodic storytelling. A show set on a moving starship, warping away to a new planet, a new alien, and a new adventure every week? That’s what Star Trek was when it was at its best… and that’s what it could be again one day.

Screenshot of Across The Unknown showing Voyager — Could a new, exploration-focused, episodic Star Trek show be on the agenda one day?

If I was making a pitch to Skydance, it would be for that kind of show.

But all of that is for the future! Right now, today, in October 2026, I would say that the Skydance-Paramount-Warner Bros.-Discovery merger is, on the whole, a net negative for Star Trek’s short-term prospects. Star Trek has gone from being one of the previous corporation’s much-needed and biggest brands to merely one IP among many that could easily be overlooked. Skydance’s decision to cancel every extant Star Trek series shows that the new leaders had no faith in what they were seeing when they took over, and a CEO who clearly prefers film over TV and streaming indicates that Star Trek’s short-term future lies at the cinema. If that film should flop – like the last one did – well… then we could be in a very bad situation.

Longer-term, though, I still don’t believe we’ve seen the last of Star Trek. Skydance’s debts could lead to a new streaming series being commissioned to give a boost to Para-Max-Plus-HBO-Mount (or whatever the merged streamer will end up being called). Or, alternatively, the Star Trek franchise could be put up for sale, and there are several big players elsewhere in the entertainment space who might be interested in a brand with a built-in fanbase and near-universal name recognition. So it’s not *all* doom and gloom!

Promo poster for Star Trek '09 showing the cast — Star Trek will be back.

I hope this has been interesting. I wanted to consider the possible ramifications of the Skydance merger now that it’s official. Star Trek has survived corporate changes and shenanigans before, and I daresay that the brand isn’t going to completely disappear. But we are set to enter another fallow period – perhaps one that’ll feel closer to the 2010s than the 1970s, though, with at least one feature film (allegedly) in early pre-production. Whether Star Trek will remain an occasional cinematic franchise, though, or whether a return to the small screen could happen in the first part of the next decade… I think that’s still to be determined!

One thing I can promise is that I’ll do my best to be supportive of whatever moves Star Trek makes next. The upcoming video game, Shadow Frontier, genuinely has me interested, as it’s being developed by a studio with a solid track record. And despite my scepticism, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that the film which was announced last year will actually make it to the big screen this time! None of that means Star Trek gets a free pass or should escape criticism – I can be very critical when it comes to missteps, mistakes, and poor decisions. But I don’t want Star Trek to just… disappear. So I think, as Trekkies, we have an opportunity to show Skydance how much this franchise means to us and how far we’re willing to go to support it. I’ll do my best – including writing about the franchise here on the website!

Thanks for joining me this time. I hope my read on the situation has been, if nothing else, interesting! Time will tell what Skydance plans to do with Star Trek, and I will be watching and waiting to see if any big announcements are coming. If something major does get announced, or if we get news about the new film or another upcoming project, I hope you’ll join me once again for my thoughts and analysis. Until next time… and Live Long and Prosper, friends!

The Star Trek franchise (except for Prodigy) is available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the platform is available, and is also available on DVD/Blu-ray. The Star Trek franchise – including all properties discussed above – is the copyright of The Skydance Corporation. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Shadow Frontier: A New Star Trek Horror Game!

Sun 07.06.26Dennis

Spoiler Warning: Beware minor spoilers for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard.

I wasn’t planning to cover anything that came out of “Summer Games Fest” this year; none of the rumours about updates, reveals, and announcements prior to the broadcast really leapt out at me – and I still have a backlog of games from the past few years that I need to get through! But I was pleasantly surprised to see that Star Trek: Shadow Frontier has been announced – a new single-player, third-person, horror-focused adventure game from Bloober Team… a development studio that I’ve actually heard of!

Skydance-Paramount is doing some *weird* things with the Star Trek franchise at the moment, eh? After cancelling every single TV series that had been in production at the time of the corporate merger, we’ve since had three new video games announced: the VR-only Infection, the absolutely brilliant Across The Unknown (which I reviewed earlier this year), and now Shadow Frontier. Just as Star Trek seems to be winding down on the small screen, at least for the foreseeable future, in the interactive space, we’ve hardly ever seen this many titles in production at once!

Promotional screenshot for Star Trek: Shadow Frontier (2027) — A new Star Trek game is coming next year!

Paramount Games is Skydance-Paramount’s newly-formed publishing arm, and in addition to Shadow Frontier, it’s also going to be taking the reins of other big franchises and properties that now fall under this growing corporate umbrella. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin was also announced at “Summer Games Fest,” and there’s a fighting game based on the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, as well as a few other titles. Paramount Games is also taking over the publishing rights for the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise, which has several video game adaptations under its belt, and even (weirdly) the upcoming title Marvel 1943: The Rise of Hydra.

I think it’s interesting, in the aftermath of the corporate merger, to see Skydance-Paramount making a big push in the video games space. Interactive media is a growing and lucrative business, so it makes a lot of sense – and for a big corporation with successful and beloved IP, it’s a no-brainer to develop video games using those familiar names. As a Trekkie, I kinda hope that this means we’ll see more Star Trek games going forward, and I want to support Shadow Frontier as best as I can with that goal in mind. If Star Trek is disappearing from streaming/TV in the years ahead, and perhaps only popping up as an occasional cinematic franchise, video games could be a new frontier for the franchise, keeping the lights on and throwing a bone to the fan community.

Screenshot of Paramount Games' lineup in June 2026 — Paramount Games’ lineup.

Very few Star Trek games have ever really taken the gaming landscape by storm, which is such a shame. If you think about it, there should be a huge overlap between Trekkies and gamers, yet most Star Trek games have tended to be relatively low-budget titles that really only appealed to the existing fanbase. The only real exception that I can recall was 2000’s Elite Force, which, for a time, became a darling of LAN parties and the burgeoning online shooter scene.

Bloober Team, though, is a good developer – their Silent Hill 2 remake a couple of years ago was wildly successful and highly-praised. You could hardly have picked a better studio to develop a single-player horror title, and I’m genuinely optimistic and even enthusiastic for Shadow Frontier based on little more than the development studio’s pedigree.

Promo screenshot for the Silent Hill 2 remake — Bloober Team’s remake of *Silent Hill 2* won several big awards.

A horror game wouldn’t necessarily have been my first choice – it isn’t my personal favourite genre for video games, films, or TV. But there are two great reasons to be hopeful about Shadow Frontier. The first, as mentioned, is Bloober Team’s track record. Their two most recent horror titles: Silent Hill 2 and Cronos: The New Dawn were both well-received upon release. And the second, to be honest, is that Star Trek can do horror really well.

Recent episodes of Strange New Worlds, Picard, and Discovery have all leaned into horror and horror-adjacent ideas in recent years, and going further back, episodes like DS9′s Empok Nor are rightly heralded as classics. Star Trek may not be the first name audiences think of when considering sci-fi horror, but after telling almost 1,000 stories across six decades, it’s fair to say that the franchise has tangled with the genre on more than one occasion! There are some truly unsettling aliens and monsters in Star Trek’s galaxy, and even if none of them are going to be the main antagonist in Shadow Frontier, I think it’s fair to say that space has all kinds of terrifying monsters and mysteries to explore.

I got the impression, just based on the teaser trailer that Paramount Games released, that players are going to be wrangling with a new alien or monster on this occasion, not a familiar faction like the Borg or Klingons. So my dream “Borg Invasion” idea will have to wait a bit longer! It’s hard to judge from a very short teaser, which was mostly cinematic and seemed to show only the barest teases of gameplay, but I got a kind of Dead Space or Prey vibe from the weird-looking tendrils or “corruption” that seemed to be afflicting parts of the starship.

But there will clearly be room for connections to familiar characters and factions, even if the entity or alien monster itself is new to Star Trek, and I’d really love to see how this new story will fit in with what we already know of this part of the 24th Century. I don’t want to speculate too much, but I think it’s gotta be at least possible that a bigger link to someone like the Borg, the Dominion, or the Romulans will be part of the game’s narrative.

And then we have Ro Laren! Ro, who will be voiced by original actress Michelle Forbes, is going to be the main playable character! That just sounds like a really fun idea, and I can see Shadow Frontier potentially filling in some of the gaps in Ro’s story in between The Next Generation and her return in Picard a couple of years ago. Despite the TNG-era combadge, which featured prominently in the trailer, I’m not convinced that this game will take place during or just after The Next Generation, but rather a few years later, perhaps, somewhere in the final couple of decades of the 24th Century.

Ro’s role in Starfleet, which was explained in Picard, makes her a great choice of character for a game like this. If we assume that this alien monster (or whatever it is) will be something that Starfleet needs to send a covert agent to tackle… I mean, the stage is pretty much set for someone like Ro, isn’t it? Above all, I just think it’s so nice, all these years later, to be getting new stories with this wonderful character. Ro was one of the first major recurring characters in the Star Trek franchise, and her arrival also began Star Trek’s expansion, with the Bajorans and Cardassians taking on an important role in Deep Space Nine. I was thrilled to welcome Ro back to Star Trek a couple of years ago, and to get a new chapter of her story in this interactive form… it just sounds really fantastic!

I’m also thrilled to see Skydance-Paramount greenlighting a *single-player* title for Star Trek, instead of trying to cram the franchise into a live service or online multiplayer mould. There are too many games like that already, and even massive, well-established brands have faltered when trying to launch that kind of game. You need only look to Marvel’s Avengers or Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for examples of that. There must’ve been a temptation to say, “hey, let’s try to make a Star Trek Fortnite clone,” with the ambition of raking in stupid levels of cash. That was never realistic, of course… but when has that stopped a corporate executive from drooling all over their shirt at the chance of making that kind of money?

I’ve always preferred single-player games, and I think I always will! So, speaking for myself, I’m really glad to see this kind of game being created in the Star Trek franchise. I’m sure there’ll be a “special edition” with character costumes and that kind of thing, and perhaps even DLC if Shadow Frontier sells well; such things are par for the course in the modern video games industry. But at its core, Shadow Frontier will be a single-player adventure with a story to follow… and I just like that kind of game much more than the open-ended, story-less titles that have become more common in recent years.

There are, I should point out, reasons to be cautious with a new Star Trek game. The franchise doesn’t have a great track record in the video games space more generally, even if some recent titles have done very well. 2013’s Kelvin timeline game is one of the worst games of its decade, being released in a broken, unplayable state. And some other titles, despite seeming to have potential, never really took off in the way I’d have hoped.

The current video games industry also has its unpleasant trends. “Release now, fix later” has screwed over so many titles in recent years, as games are launched too soon, needing a lot of work in order to meet what I’d consider the bare minimum acceptable standards. And there are monetisation problems, not only with titles being overpriced, but also coming with expensive “special editions,” paid “early” access periods, and more. I hope that Shadow Frontier will be priced fairly, and that if there is to be DLC, it’ll be good value for what it is. Above all, I hope that the game will launch in a decent state, and won’t be forced out too soon to meet an arbitrary deadline.

So that’s all for today.

I’m genuinely looking forward to Shadow Frontier, and I think the game has a ton of potential. It’s the first Star Trek game from the newly-established Paramount Games, and of this new Skydance-Paramount era, so I hope the corporation is planning to go all-out and make it special. Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown did really well earlier this year; I think it’s fair to say that that game exceeded expectations. If Shadow Frontier can do something similar… we could be seeing a Star Trek resurgence in the interactive space. And that would be fantastic.

In the 60th anniversary year, things have felt pretty quiet… or even disappointing. Starfleet Academy’s cancellation may have been expected, but it was still a bitter blow to learn that Star Trek on streaming seems to be winding down in its entirety. This announcement may not be as big or bold as a new TV show, but I’m still pleased to see it. And there are reasons for positivity. I’ll do what I can to support Shadow Frontier, and when it’s ready I’ll try to review it here on the website. Thanks for reading, and as always… Live Long and Prosper, friends!

Star Trek: Shadow Frontier is currently scheduled to be released in 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2. Star Trek: Shadow Frontier is the copyright of Bloober Team and Paramount Games. The Star Trek franchise is the copyright of the Skydance-Paramount corporation. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Starfleet Academy Has Been Cancelled!

Tue 24.03.26Dennis

Spoiler Warning: Beware of minor spoilers for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1.

Mere days after the finale of Season 1, and with Season 2 still in post-production, news has leaked that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has been cancelled. I won’t lie: this was something I expected we’d hear either this year or next year at the very latest, but there’s something about the timing that feels… well, pretty brutal.

The newly-formed Skydance/Paramount corporation seems to be making it clear that a line is being drawn under Star Trek’s current streaming era. That was pretty obvious, I argued, when Discovery and Strange New Worlds were cancelled – the latter coming before the show had even aired a single episode of its *third* season, with two more still to come after that. Star Trek’s new corporate overlords clearly intend to take the franchise in a very different direction, and Starfleet Academy was the last vestige of the old regime. That final pillar of “streaming Trek” has now fallen.

Screenshot of Variety showing Starfleet Academy's cancellation — *Variety* broke the news.
*Image: Variety.com*

I’m still assuming, at this stage, that Season 2 will actually be completed and broadcast. Filming wrapped last month, and while there’s still a lot of work to do in the editing suite, it would be foolish to scrap the entire project. So Starfleet Academy fans can, at least, take solace in the fact that we’re only halfway through the show; ten more episodes should air sometime next year or in 2028.

I don’t really wanna keep repeating the phrase “end of an era;” it was something I said last year when Strange New Worlds got the axe, and when Discovery and Lower Decks wrapped up, too. But with Starfleet Academy being treated so brutally by Paramount, it’s hard to know what else to say. This is definitely calling to mind Enterprise’s 2005 cancellation – with the only difference, really, being that a new feature film is allegedly in the works, a consolation prize we didn’t have back then.

Still frame from Star Trek Enterprise S4 showing Riker — Does anyone else feel echoes of 2005?

If you’re a regular reader, you may recall that Starfleet Academy’s cancellation was something I predicted for 2026 back in January. I’m not taking a victory lap – the show may not have been “my thing,” but I went into it with an open mind, and I truly hoped it would find a way to connect with its intended target audience. Low streaming numbers throughout Season 1, however, seem to confirm that that simply didn’t happen. I said back in January that it would take a real miracle to convince this new incarnation of Paramount to stick with the show beyond Season 2 – going viral and becoming a must-watch sensation, like Stranger Things or Wednesday, perhaps, might’ve been enough to guarantee a renewal. But even doing reasonably well probably wouldn’t have been enough. I just got that impression from Paramount’s new ownership.

But, regrettably, Starfleet Academy didn’t even manage “good but not great” streaming numbers. It never cracked the top ten in the United States or here in the UK, even in a relatively easy TV window where there wasn’t a ton of big-budget competition. Shows like Fallout, The Pitt, and even preschool cartoon Bluey were performing well ahead of Starfleet Academy during its first season. Cancellation seemed inevitable, I’m sorry to say.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Starfleet Academy S1 showing two extras in alien makeup — A pair of cadets in happier times.

But the timing… it feels brutal, as I said, but also a little insulting to the cast and crew. Paramount will still expect Holly Hunter and her co-stars to go out on the interview circuit, promoting Season 2 next year or the year after. And we’re barely ten days out from the end of Season 1. I get why the decision was made – if a show isn’t performing very well, and a new corporate team wants to reorganise the studio’s big brands and franchises, it makes sense. But even so, you’d think a bit of a grace period could’ve been given, timing-wise. There’s now practically no chance of the show picking up any extra attention from fans who missed it over the past couple of months. What would be the point, after all, in getting invested in a series which has already been cancelled?

With Starfleet Academy’s cancellation, there’s now officially no new Star Trek in production on the small screen. Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy’s second season remain in post-production, so there’ll be new Star Trek on our screens later in 2026 and into 2027. But then, after that? All we have to focus on, barring any shocking announcements, is Skydance’s new feature film. Although this was expected, and despite Starfleet Academy not really being “my thing,” I gotta be honest: this news still stings.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek SFA S1 showing Kurtzman directing — Showrunner and director Alex Kurtzman on set.

However, as I said a couple of weeks ago, there are some potential benefits for a long-running franchise like Star Trek taking a break or going on hiatus for a while. The previous incarnation of ViacomCBS and Paramount threw *a lot* of Star Trek at us over the past few years… in a pretty incoherent and poorly-managed way a lot of the time. There’s something to be said for a new team coming in, wiping the slate clean, and taking a moment so we can all catch our breath. And if the current creative/production team has taken Star Trek as far as it reasonably could, there’s also a lot to be said for new folks taking the reins. Most of the Star Trek shows since Discovery have shared writers, directors, producers, and more behind-the-scenes folks, so giving new people an opportunity to work on the franchise should – in my opinion, naturally – be a positive thing.

No serious Trekkie sat down to watch Starfleet Academy hoping they’d hate it or wanting it to fail. But I think a lot of us recognised that the show was probably coming along a little too late, after the previous Paramount corporation hadn’t handled Star Trek especially well. It would’ve taken something exceptionally special for Starfleet Academy to rise above all of that, and to do something that no project in the franchise’s streaming era *truly* managed to do to any great extent: connect with a new audience. It was a tall order, for sure, but making a show intentionally aimed at teens and young adults was far from the worst idea in the world. It’s just a shame, really, that Starfleet Academy launched when it did, and didn’t really get a chance to connect with potential new viewers.

(Cropped) still frame from Come Lets Away showing the USS Miyazaki — Surely it’s not some kind of visual metaphor…

Many folks argue that Star Trek shows don’t really “get good” until their second seasons or beyond, so cancelling Starfleet Academy after just one season might seem like a poor decision in that sense. And I kind of see that point, at least to an extent. But if Season 1 just wasn’t finding much of an audience in the first place, not with older Star Trek fans nor with its intended new audience of younger folks, would sticking with it for a third or fourth season have really changed that? I guess we’ll never know, eh?

It’s a shame, and despite the fact that Starfleet Academy wasn’t really for me, I don’t celebrate its cancellation by any stretch. In fact, I lament it. I think it’s a real shame, barely nine years on from Star Trek’s triumphal return to the small screen, to be back here all over again. And despite the way things look right now, it’s my hope that, behind the scenes, there are folks at the new Skydance/Paramount corporation who are seriously considering where to take the franchise in the future. Films are great, and some of Star Trek’s most highly-regarded stories came at the cinema. But for this old Trekkie, Star Trek has always been a television show; a franchise best-suited for the small screen, where crews of explorers can warp away to a new planet, a new alien race, and a new adventure every week. Maybe one day… that kind of Star Trek will be back.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Starfleet Academy S1 showing four main cast members — Four main cast members in a behind-the-scenes snap.

If you’re a huge Starfleet Academy fan, you have my sympathies today. This news may have seemed inevitable for a while, but it’s not something any of us wanted to see. And as for what it means for the future? I really don’t know, to be honest. I want to say I feel optimistic that, one day soon, Star Trek will be back! But today… doesn’t really feel like that kind of day, to tell the truth.

I’m not sure how you’ll feel reading a mixed-to-negative review, today of all days, but if you want to check out my thoughts on Starfleet Academy’s first season, you can find my review by clicking or tapping here. I also have reviews of the two-part premiere, and episodes three through ten. Click or tap those links to check those out. And finally, I have two more pieces: one covers a storyline involving Deep Space Nine, which you can find by clicking or tapping here, and finally, my thoughts on the Doctor’s major storyline, which you can find by clicking or tapping here.

Thanks for reading. And, as always: Live Long and Prosper, friends.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the service is available. The Star Trek franchise – including Starfleet Academy and everything else discussed above – remains the copyright of Paramount/Skydance. This review contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

A New Star Trek Film Has Been Announced (Again!)

Sat 15.11.25Dennis

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the following Star Trek productions: The Wrath of Khan, The Next Generation, First Contact, Into Darkness, Beyond, Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Section 31.

Just the other day, we covered a rumour/leak from Skydance that the next Star Trek film would “move on” from the Kelvin timeline, and I shared my thoughts on that. Following on from that news is the announcement from Skydance/Paramount that the film they hinted at is officially going ahead. I thought we could get into the details today, as well as talk about what this announcement might mean for the Star Trek franchise overall.

If you want to check out my piece on the apparent end of the Kelvin timeline, you can find it by clicking or tapping here.

So first of all, this is not the first time in recent years that Star Trek’s corporate overlords have announced a new film. It’s not the first time that a writer/director has been attached to a new film, either. There was a film supposedly on the schedule for 2023 penned by Short Treks and Discovery writer Kalinda Vazquez. There was Noah Hawley’s film. There was an absolute mess surrounding the Beyond sequel, which had to be rapidly un-announced after it became clear that Paramount didn’t have everything in place. There was an “origin story” which may have been connected to the Kelvin timeline. There have been other rumours and pitches, too, including from famed director Quentin Tarantino. Sir Patrick Stewart even teased that a Picard movie could be in the offing after that show wrapped up.

Still frame from Star Trek: The Motion Picture showing Kirk addressing the crew of the Enterprise. — Look, it’s everyone who’s officially announced a Star Trek movie over the last few years.

I mention all of these for one simple reason: for almost a decade now, Viacom, Paramount, and the re-forged Paramount Global tried and *repeatedly* failed to get a new Star Trek film out of development hell for all manner of reasons. And just because new owners Skydance have announced this project and attached the filmmaking duo of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley to it… that doesn’t mean we’ll ever even hear about it again, let alone see the finished product in cinemas in the years ahead. Maybe you’ll say it’s unfair now that the Star Trek brand is under new management, but Skydance/Paramount have a lot to do to convince me that they have even the most basic filmmaking competence, at this point!

If you know me, you’ll know Marvel and comic book films aren’t really my thing, so I’m not familiar with Daley and Goldstein’s work on Spider-Man: Homecoming. I also haven’t seen their Dungeons and Dragons film, though I think it’s worth noting that both pictures got solid reviews, even if Honor Among Thieves was considered a bit of a disappointment in terms of the money it made at the box office. As far as I can tell, neither Daley nor Goldstein has worked with the Star Trek franchise before – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s worth being aware of.

Posters for Spider-Man Homecoming (left) and Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (right). — Daley and Goldstein previously worked on *Spider-Man: Homecoming* and *Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves*.

As we discussed when the Skydance merger had gone through, this announcement seems to embody Skydance CEO David Ellison’s preference for film over TV. With a swath of cancellation announcements for every Star Trek series save Starfleet Academy, and now this new film getting an official announcement, I think we’re catching the first glimpse at what a new era for Star Trek is going to look like. Star Trek is being reimagined as a cinematic franchise first, and while I haven’t given up on the prospect of Star Trek remaining on the small screen… that looks less likely in the medium term, once the current crop of shows come to the end of their runs.

And I have to be honest: I’m pretty disappointed about that.

Look, I’ll be the first to concede that not every modern Star Trek project has gone well. Picard’s awful second season, Discovery’s increasingly repetitive storytelling, Prodigy struggling to find an audience… there have been many mistakes made by the former Paramount corporation and the folks in charge of creating new Star Trek stories. But for me, Star Trek’s home is and always will be on television, not at the cinema. That’s where Star Trek has the freedom to dip its toes into different genres and storytelling ideas, and it’s really the only way it can “seek out new life and new civilisations.” Being constrained to the cinema in the years ahead restricts the kinds of stories Star Trek will be able to tell.

The new film will be the first original Star Trek project for the new Skydance/Paramount corporate entity.

Additionally, it means we’re going to be seeing a lot less Star Trek! Now, I’ve taken Paramount to task in recent years for oversaturating the brand and for allowing the dreaded franchise fatigue to set in. But there’s a balance somewhere between broadcasting more than fifty new episodes in a single calendar year and releasing one film every few years. Even if we just had one Star Trek series at a time, running for truncated ten-episode seasons, that would be preferable – in my opinion – to Star Trek doing what it did in the Kelvin timeline era.

It makes sense to me, as I wrote last time, for Star Trek to move on from the Kelvin timeline, though, and I think that’s a net positive as we look at this announcement. The Kelvin films were fun for what they were, and the 2009 reboot in particular was arguably just what the franchise needed at that moment to avoid slipping away altogether. But almost a decade on from Beyond, and with so much else having been on our screens in that time, I think a new approach is warranted – and I’m happy to see Skydance going in a different direction.

Still frame from the final moments of Star Trek: Beyond showing the new Enterprise-A. — The Enterprise-A at the end of *Beyond*.

It also makes a lot of sense from the new corporation’s perspective. Why go back to something that someone else made when you could tell your own story? The Star Trek universe is vast, and there are so many different time periods, alien factions, and planets to explore… being restricted to the same handful of re-cast characters over and over again begins to feel small and repetitive after a while. As we look ahead and try to be optimistic about Star Trek’s future prospects, building a new foundation instead of trying to revive one from almost twenty years ago is the smart move.

I just hope it pays off… because after what has been a clearly underwhelming performance (in financial terms) on streaming over the past few years, and with an ageing fan community that hasn’t significantly expanded in a long time, Star Trek doesn’t feel like it’s in a great place, to be honest with you. Not when considering the future, at any rate. If this film doesn’t impress Skydance’s leadership and investors… I could absolutely see Star Trek as a whole going on hiatus, if not being permanently brought to an end.

So no pressure, eh?

Behind-the-scenes photo from the set of Star Trek: The Motion Picture showing William Shatner (Kirk) and Leonary Nimoy (Spock) having a chat on set. — William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy during the production of *The Motion Picture*.

Next, I’d like to briefly talk about what I think this new film might look like… as well as what I’d *like* it to look like if I were in charge!

Firstly, if you’re hoping for some kind of in-depth TOS-style “morality play,” or something a bit more esoteric and weird, you’re going to be bang out of luck. We’re almost certainly going to get a picture which lands a lot closer to the “action” side of “action/sci-fi.” But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Ask most Trekkies – and a general audience – which Star Trek films are the best, and you’re almost certain to hear The Wrath of Khan and First Contact ahead of the likes of The Motion Picture or Insurrection. But just based on the writers/directors attached to the project, and their previous works, I’m almost certain this new Star Trek film will be going down that route.

Secondly, it sounds as if we’re going to get an all-new cast of characters this time, which could also mean we’re going to get a new setting and even a new time period. Unless the new film does something silly like trying to re-cast Picard and the TNG characters, it really sounds like it’ll be going in a totally new and fresh direction, which I think is a hugely positive thing. Think about it: basically everything we’ve gotten in this era of streaming Trek is either a direct prequel or sequel, and many characters have either been re-cast or simply brought back to the franchise. Getting something genuinely *new* is going to feel like a treat after so much recycling!

Still frame from Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 showing the Enterprise-D at warp. — The Enterprise-D.

Finally, I expect this project will be somewhat comparable in terms of tone and audience appeal to Star Trek ’09. After a decade on streaming, this is Skydance brushing all of that aside and saying: “here’s a reboot.” Perhaps it won’t be as blatant as Star Trek ’09’s “alternate reality,” but make no mistake about it: this is another attempt to streamline and simplify Star Trek, and to reach out to a much wider audience. As a Trekkie, that might feel somewhat alarming; after all, don’t we all want Star Trek to be “made for the fans?” But I’m kind of taking the same approach as I did in the late 2000s, seeing this film – and any potential sequels – as a stepping-stone to something bigger and better. As I said in the run-up to Section 31′s launch at the start of the year: it doesn’t matter if the film isn’t for me if it succeeds in its objectives of expanding the fan community and shoring up the brand.

To me, that’s what this new film should be attempting to do. It needs to reach out to folks who may have watched First Contact and Into Darkness, but who haven’t subscribed to Paramount+, don’t know who Captain Pike is, and prefer to watch things like Spider-Man. And it needs to convince them that this weird, convoluted, nerdy franchise is something worth getting invested in. Section 31 was meant to do that, too, by the way, but I think the verdict there is that it failed.

Promo image for Star Trek: Section 31 showing Empress Georgiou holding a sword. — This new film needs to succeed where *Section 31* failed.

If I were in charge, I think I’d want a film set sometime after the Picard era – in a new, fresh, unexplored time period, but still within the prime timeline. There’d be scope, perhaps, for one familiar character to have a cameo, something akin to Leonard Nimoy’s role in Into Darkness, perhaps, just to tie things together but without overwhelming the story. And then? I’d set the new characters a challenge that might be connected to previous iterations of Star Trek, but which doesn’t depend on any pre-existing knowledge.

The Borg arguably fit the bill!

We want the new film to have a distinctly “Star Trek” identity, meaning it can be a gateway for new fans that isn’t totally disconnected from everything else that the franchise has done. But it mustn’t be *too* closely tied up with what came before, because that risks putting off the very casual audience that we’re trying to attract. It needs to be explosive and exciting while still being true to Star Trek. And I really can’t think of a better fit than the Borg, to be honest with you.

Still frame from Star Trek: First Contact showing a Borg drone in their alcove. — Should this new film feature the Borg as a major antagonist?

I know the Borg have been back a little too often in modern Star Trek, appearing in all three seasons of Picard as well as in Prodigy and Lower Decks. But the last time the Borg were seen *at the cinema* was in 1996 – and that came in what is still, to this day, one of the best-remembered and highest-rated Star Trek films. So… why not bring back the Borg for another round? Have a new cast of characters facing off against a familiar foe, but one that’s easy for non-fans to understand? You don’t need a lot of background about the Borg to realise they’re a horrible danger!

Furthermore, despite what I said about this new film not being a “morality play” type of story, we’re right in the middle of a potential A.I.-led transformation of at least some parts of society. What could be more timely than a film about the Borg: cybernetic beings, all hooked up to one hive mind? The Borg, since their inception, have been a warning of a reliance on technology gone awry, and I think there’s even more potential in that idea in 2025 than there was thirty-five years ago when the Borg debuted.

Promo photo for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine showing Sisko with Picard. — Picard and Sisko.

So that’s what I’d argue for if I were in the room!

But in any case, a new Star Trek film has been announced and seems to be going ahead. Skydance is now in full control, and it’s my hope that the new leadership team will be more competent than the previous crop of executive idiots who’ve mismanaged Star Trek over the past few years. Though I’m still disappointed to lose Strange New Worlds – and to see Star Trek potentially disappearing from the small screen in the years ahead – it does at least give me some room for optimism that Skydance has faith in the franchise. A new film wouldn’t have been my choice; I’d have commissioned a new TV show if I had the opportunity. But it’s better than nothing, and I will do my very best to support it as it develops.

If and when we get more news on this film, like story details, casting announcements, or a trailer, I hope you’ll join me as I daresay I’ll have plenty to add! And when it’s finally ready for release – perhaps in 2028, 2029, or 2030 – I’ll definitely check it out and write a review! Until then, though, there are still two more seasons of Strange New Worlds to come, as well as Starfleet Academy, and more. I’ll be talking about all of that in the weeks and months ahead, but until then… Live Long and Prosper!

The Star Trek franchise – including all films, TV programmes, and other properties discussed above – is the copyright of Skydance/Paramount. Most of the Star Trek franchise is available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the platform is available, and is also available on DVD, Blu-ray, and video-on-demand platforms. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

The End of the Kelvin Timeline?

Mon 10.11.25Dennis

Spoiler Warning: Beware of minor spoilers for the Kelvine timeline films and Strange New Worlds.

In a little over six months from now, it’ll be ten years – an entire decade – since Star Trek Beyond hit cinemas. Beyond is the most recent film in the Kelvin timeline – the Star Trek spin-off films set in an alternate reality. There have been multiple attempts in the nine-plus years since its release to get a sequel off the ground, including a couple of years ago when Paramount announced – and then had to rapidly un-announce – a film that wasn’t ready. That was a clusterfuck, eh?

Every so often, if you follow some of the big Star Trek fansites and social media pages, an interview will pop up with a member of the Kelvin cast, and they always make the right noises, sounding positive and hopeful about one day returning and making another film. But if recent reports are to be believed, the newly-merged Skydance/Paramount corporation is ready to “move on” from the Kelvin timeline. While a new Star Trek film is supposedly being planned, it won’t involve the Kelvin timeline or the cast of the rebooted series. I thought we could discuss that today.

Still frame from Star Trek 2009 showing the main viewscreen on the bridge. — The bridge in *Star Trek ’09*.

I know the Kelvin films weren’t every Trekkie’s favourite part of the franchise – to put it mildly! Heck, I *still* know people who refuse to even watch them because of how upset they were at both the recasting of classic characters and the more action-heavy storytelling. But we should all be able to acknowledge what the films – and the 2009 reboot in particular – did for Star Trek at a time when the franchise had been cancelled after more than fifteen years on the small screen.

We wouldn’t have seen Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds or really any of the Star Trek productions we’ve enjoyed over the last decade were it not for the success of the Kelvin timeline films. Star Trek ’09 demonstrated to investors that, despite declining viewership on TV in the 2000s, there was still life in the Star Trek franchise, and still new stories to be told. These films carried the torch for Star Trek during what could’ve been its darkest hour, and they set the stage for the franchise’s revival.

Behind-the-scenes photo from the set of Star Trek Into Darkness showing director JJ Abrams. — Director J.J. Abrams on the set of *Star Trek Into Darkness*.

With all that being said, regular readers will undoubtedly remember me saying that I don’t believe there’s a place for a new Kelvin timeline film. I wrote about this in 2020 and 2021, and while my original reasons for saying that have now shifted in light of the spate of cancellations this year… I stand by the original point. I know Beyond seemed to tease a sequel in its closing moments, and there will always be a part of me that wants to see reboot Kirk’s adventures aboard the Enterprise-A. But given the changes not just to Star Trek over the past ten years, but the entertainment landscape as a whole… I’m not sure a 2009-style film is the right fit any more. After almost a decade, audiences have moved on and expectations have changed.

Then there’s Strange New Worlds. What was the original idea behind Star Trek ’09? It was to show “young Kirk” and “young Spock” at Starfleet Academy, then undertaking their first missions together. Well… we’ve seen that. And thanks to Strange New Worlds, we’ve also seen the prime timeline version of that, too. Strange New Worlds has introduced several other legacy characters, and thanks to being able to develop those characters a lot more because of the extended runtime a television show permits, I’d argue it’s done a lot more with some of those characters than the entire Kelvin trilogy did.

Two still frames from Star Trek 2009 stitched together, with Cadet Kirk on the left and Commander Spock on the right. — Kirk and Spock at the Academy in *Star Trek ’09*.

At this point, if we returned to the Kelvin timeline a decade after Beyond, we wouldn’t be seeing “young Kirk” and “young Spock” on one of their first missions. We’d be seeing Kirk and Spock on their five-year mission – or perhaps even *after* that, in the latter part of the 23rd Century. There are things that the Kelvin timeline could do with that idea, sure… but we’ve already seen plenty of Kirk and Spock at this point, haven’t we? Between TOS, the Kelvin films, Strange New Worlds, and the rest of Star Trek, we’ve spent a lot of time with these characters already. So… what could a new Kelvin film do that we haven’t already seen?

This leads me to my most fundamental point: Star Trek needs to move on. Not just from the Kelvin timeline, but from the 23rd and 24th Centuries in general. Since the turn of the millennium, we’ve had Enterprise, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and the Kelvin timeline – all of which were prequels. Then we had Prodigy and Picard, which were direct sequels to Voyager and The Next Generation. The closest Star Trek came to originality was Lower Decks, ironically enough! And that show called back to The Next Generation era over and over again, and brought in numerous guest-stars.

Still frame from Star Trek: Picard Season 3 showing the Titan/Enterprise-G in orbit of a star. — What *new* adventures might lie ahead for the Star Trek franchise?

A new film at this point should have the freedom to go in a totally different direction, and shouldn’t be too tied up with what came before. That doesn’t mean it can go breaking all of the rules of canon, of course, but after so many sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, it’ll be nice to get something truly original for once. Won’t it?

If Star Trek continues to look backwards at its own history, and keeps trying to bring back characters from the past, that limits the franchise’s potential to grow and expand. I became a Trekkie in the early 1990s not because of Kirk, Spock, and Dr McCoy, but because of Picard, Riker, and Data. If Star Trek, in the ’80s, had doubled-down on The Original Series and those classic characters, we’d have missed out on so much – not only The Next Generation, but Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and more. After such a long time, and with so much having happened since Beyond was in cinemas… a new film taking a new approach just feels like the best option.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek Beyond showing Simon Pegg, Justin Lin, and others. — Simon Pegg (Scotty) and director Justin Lin on the set of *Star Trek Beyond*.

There are risks, of course. Into Darkness remains the cinematic Star Trek franchise’s high-water mark in terms of financial success, and all three of the Kelvin films turned a profit. Creating something brand-new, with a new director and a new cast of characters, might not achieve the same level of success as a Beyond sequel. Figuring out how to attract audiences who turned out for Into Darkness – but who may have skipped *everything* Star Trek has done since – will be the biggest challenge Skydance faces when it comes to pitching the new film.

And there’s kind of limited room for manoeuvre here. In 2009, a lot of people who hadn’t watched the likes of DS9 and Enterprise showed up specifically because Star Trek was billed as a reboot. The universe was going to be reset, you didn’t have to have followed any of the increasingly convoluted storylines from the previous fifteen-plus years… this film was its own thing. But can you re-reboot a franchise and achieve the same level of success a couple of decades later? Does the name “Star Trek” carry the same weight it did in 2009, after not really managing to reach out to a big new audience on streaming? I think those are valid questions as this new film may be getting underway.

Cropped promo image for Star Trek 2009 showing the USS Enterprise in sillhouette. — A silhouette of the Enterprise was one of the first teaser images released for *Star Trek ’09*.

I don’t lament the demise of the Kelvin timeline. It laid the groundwork for Star Trek’s return to its small screen home in 2017, which I truly appreciate, but then it kind of lost its place – at least for me as a Trekkie. By the time Pike and Spock joined Discovery a couple of years later, and we were getting news of new projects featuring Picard, Section 31, and a new animated series, it really seemed like Star Trek was back. Strange New Worlds, with its focus on many of the same characters as those in the Kelvin films, occupies a very similar space, and I’m just struggling to see what a new Kelvin film could really have to say after five seasons of Strange New Worlds and everything else Star Trek has done over the past nine-plus years.

At the same time, there’s a sense that Star Trek’s executives never took *full* advantage of the alternate reality that the Kelvin films presented. We could’ve seen, just as one example, Captain Kirk taking on the Borg – something that would be impossible to do in the prime timeline. Or we could’ve done more with the idea of a crossover from the prime timeline, bringing in William Shatner and George Takei alongside Leonard Nimoy. That can’t happen now.

Cropped promo poster for Star Trek Into Darkness showing the USS Enterprise crashing into the atmosphere of a planet. — The Enterprise.

But the Kelvin films – or perhaps we should start saying “the Kelvin trilogy” – have a place in the history of Star Trek. They carried a torch for the franchise at a time when total cancellation and annihilation seemed not only likely, but were actively happening, and they set the stage for several great streaming shows that expanded the franchise in new ways. That isn’t a bad legacy by any means.

And as we look to the future? Star Trek seems set to enter a fallow period as the 2020s come to a close. After Strange New Worlds finishes its run, all we know for sure is that Starfleet Academy is getting a second season – and then there’s this potential new film. Star Trek XV – or whatever we’re going to end up calling it – has a lot to live up to in some ways, as it may have to pick up the mantle from the Kelvin timeline and keep Star Trek alive at a time when there might not be anything else going on. But this new film, thanks to being its own thing, has almost limitless storytelling possibilities, and won’t be constrained by what came before. That worked well in 2009, and it set the stage for bigger and better things. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that this new film, in whatever form it ultimately takes, will be much more like Star Trek ’09 and less like the unfortunate Section 31.

So I hope this has been interesting. Part of me wonders if, in another ten or fifteen years, we may yet get a belated Kelvin timeline revival. Who knows! But nostalgia can be a big deal in entertainment, and if there are enough Kelvin fans clamouring for it… never say never, right? I will keep my ear to the ground and if there’s any news about a new Star Trek film in the weeks and months ahead, I daresay I’ll have more to add, so be sure to check back from time to time. And if you want to see what else I’ve had to say about the Kelvin timeline over the years, you can check out my dedicated Kelvin timeline page by clicking or tapping here. Until next time, friends!

Star Trek ’09, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond are available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the platform is available. All three films are also available on DVD and Blu-ray. The Star Trek franchise – including all films and other properties discussed above – is the copyright of Skydance/Paramount. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Star Trek: Scouts

Tue 09.09.25Dennis

It’s not every day that a brand-new Star Trek series premieres… let alone two! But to mark Star Trek Day yesterday (the 8th of September), Skydance/Paramount dropped the first episode of the Khan audio drama… and still had one more surprise in store.

Star Trek: Scouts is a series aimed at preschoolers. The first two episodes were released on YouTube yesterday, and I’m actually pleased to see Paramount doing something like this. As we’ll get into, I’m not sure the way Scouts has been launched is perfect, but as a concept, as a principle… this is the kind of move I think we need to see more of if Skydance and Paramount are serious about establishing Star Trek as a brand with longevity, and that can continue to exist well into the future.

Still frame from Star Trek: Scouts showing Roo, with Sprocket and JR in the background. — A Star Trek series for kids is a good idea.

This is categorically not a “review” of Star Trek: Scouts, by the way. I’m not in the two-to-five demographic (believe it or not), so my thoughts about the actual content of this kind of show really wouldn’t be worth much! That’s not to say I don’t find joy in some cartoons or films aimed at a younger audience… but there’s young and then there’s young, if you take my point. These sub-four-minute episodes, with very basic storylines, are cut from the same cloth as something like Cocomelon, and for their intended audience, I’m sure they’ll be perfectly enjoyable.

What I’m interested in, as a Star Trek fan, is the potential for the franchise to belatedly break out of its demographic prison cell and finally attract a new audience. The tl;dr is that Star Trek is ageing… and if that continues unchecked, the fan community will die out. Shows like Prodigy and films like Section 31 were supposed to change that, attracting a younger audience and an audience raised on Marvel movies, respectively. I don’t think either project really met the moment and achieved those objectives… but there’s a chance, at least, for Scouts to appeal to a very young crowd, some of whom will go on to explore the Star Trek universe in more depth as they grow up. That can only be a good thing.

Still frame from Star Trek: Scouts showing the main character trio. — The three main characters.

I am disappointed, though, that Scouts is currently hosted on the YouTube channel of a different Nickelodeon series. That confused branding and mixed messaging won’t help. And, as I said several years ago when discussing Prodigy: where are the toys and tie-in products? None have been created in time for the show’s launch… and that’s still not good enough from Paramount. Kids – especially younger kids in the age range Scouts is pitched at – engage with their favourite worlds through play. Toys, dolls, dress-up costumes… all of these things should have been ready for eager kids and parents to coincide with the launch. It’s pretty stupid that they weren’t – and it’s going to hold back Scouts’ potential unless and until these kinds of toys are ready to go.

Some cartoons only exist to serve as glorified toy commercials. But despite owning the Nickelodeon brand – and knowing what it takes to market to kids successfully – Paramount is, for the second time, refusing to make kid-friendly Star Trek merchandise for its kid-friendly Star Trek series. I can’t be the only one to think that’s a mistake, can I? Or that it’s undermining the very idea behind creating a series like this?

Still frame from Star Trek: Scouts showing Roo and a tricorder. — Roo using a tricorder.

It’s not my intention to be overly negative, and this criticism is intended to be constructive. I’d love to think a show like Star Trek: Scouts will succeed, and will bring in younger fans to the Star Trek community at just the right moment. Star Trek needs that. And with Prodigy and Starfleey Academy, too, there’ll be no shortage of shows for younger viewers to sink their teeth into when they graduate from this kind of preschool cartoon and want something a bit more grown-up. Those are all great things, and Star Trek could – with the right management and leadership – really synergise these younger-focused series to give kids, tweens, and teens a route into the Star Trek fandom.

But so far, I don’t see a lot of effort on that side. I didn’t see it from the old Paramount at all, and I don’t see it from the new Skydance-owned Paramount, either. The launch of Scouts – with no fanfare, no tie-in products, and on a YouTube channel branded after a different show (not even the main Nickelodeon channel) – just smacks of a lack of care, a lack of attention, and a lack of effort or interest. And if that’s the case… why bother? Why commit money to a project like this only to not follow through and give it the best chance of success? It’s just… wasteful.

Still frame from Star Trek: Scouts showing HQ. — The kids’ HQ… complete with giant phaser beam.

I’m also a little disappointed with some – thankfully a minority, as far as I can tell – of the reactions to Scouts online. Some folks are completely unable to grasp the idea that not every single media project or piece of content is made specifically for them, and I’ve seen people saying Scouts is “childish,” “basic,” and “a joke,” as if it was somehow meant to be something a grown adult would enjoy. So let’s say it loud and clear for the people getting upset about Scouts not being as deep and complex as episodes like The Drumhead:

It’s a show for two-year-olds.

We all get it now, yeah? It’s gonna have basic plots, child characters, and not a lot of world-building or complexity. That’s by design! Not every show – and not every Star Trek show – is made for everyone. Scouts, more so even than Prodigy before it, is targeting a very specific audience, and a very young audience. It’s not for me – but it’s not supposed to be. I’m glad that there’s some effort being made to make some of the basic trappings and aesthetic elements of Star Trek appeal to a new, younger audience – even though I wish some of the execution was being handled a bit more professionally.

Still frame from Star Trek: Scouts showing the three main characters jumping. — To boldly go…

This is probably gonna be the last time I touch base with Scouts… though with my niece being born earlier this year, maybe if it’s still around in a couple of years’ time, I’ll recommend it for her! I think the idea of creating a project like this – a potential easy way into Star Trek for even the youngest viewers – is no bad thing, and I will be rooting for its success, even though Skydance and Paramount don’t seem to be all that bothered one way or another.

So that’s all for today, I guess. Star Trek: Scouts exists. If you have young kids (or you’re a child at heart; no judgment), you can find the first two episodes on YouTube, with a promise of some eighteen more to come. I think there are plans to broadcast episodes on Nickelodeon or Nick Jr., too, in regions where those channels are available, so keep an eye out for that, too.

And if Scouts isn’t for you… that’s okay. There are almost 950 episodes and films in the Star Trek franchise that you might like instead.

Star Trek: Scouts is out now and can be streamed via the Blaze and the Monster Machines YouTube channel at time of writing. The Star Trek franchise – including Scouts – is the copyright of Skydance/Paramount and Nickelodeon. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.