The life of a Star Trek fan has long been a life of taking happiness where one can find it. For years, there was little beyond a new series each decade with a scattering of films for seasoning. But for Star Trek fans in 2020, it seems their collective cup runneth over thanks to a multitude of series now running concurrent with several more on the way. The franchise is enjoying a renaissance of fresh interest and its bright future was recently summarized during a virtual panel from Comic Con at Home.
The intro to the panel featured a discussion with executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin who, among others, oversee most of what Star Trek does these days. Quick mentions were made of upcoming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Prodigy. Strange New Worlds had previously been revealed as a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery focusing on Captain Christopher Pike and his crew, known by long-time fans as the original crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, even before Captain James T. Kirk. No substantial new info on the show was given, but Kurtzman confirmed that writing for the series is currently going full steam.
Star Trek: Prodigy had been introduced as a work in progress last year, sans title. But now, executive producer Heather Kadin was able to officially announce the series, title and all. Discussion of the series ended there, but from the show's original announcement, it's known that it will be primarily targeted at younger audiences and will debut on Nickelodeon in 2021.
At this point, the panel kicked off at full throttle with a live table reading from the Star Trek: Discovery cast of a section from the show's season 2 finale. After this lengthy yet still gripping sequence, the panel itself began proper with a cast Q&A featuring pre-submitted questions. Little of note occurred during the rest of the Discovery section, at least in terms of new information, but it was still a treat for fans.
After this, focus shifted to discussing the new kids on the block in the Star Trek universe. The upcoming comedy-focused animated show Star Trek: Lower Decks made an appearance via series creator Mike McMahan. McMahan introduced a preview clip from the show which was an extended look at the "captain's log" segment shown in the recently revealed debut trailer for the series. The clip itself revealed that the mission of the show's ship, the Cerritos, is "second contact," essentially a less flashy follow-up to the often depicted "first contact" with more paperwork. For those interested in continuity, Lower Decks is confirmed to be set in 2380, shortly after the events of the film Star Trek: Nemesis.
Star Trek: Lower Decks is set to release on CBS All Access on August 6th.
This concluded the "new information" portions of the panel. A substantial discussion featuring the cast of Star Trek: Picard followed, and it was likely the highlight for many viewers. But in terms of upcoming shows, the virtual panel still had plenty for fans to chew on. There's always more that could be revealed, but hopefully most Trekkies in the audience got what they came for.
Source: Slashfilm