On today’s episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, we talk with Variety’s Joe Otterson about the Star Trek series and its future. He broke the news that Paramount+’s Starfleet Academy will end after just two seasons, with showrunner and executive producer Alex Kurtzman likely passing the baton as creative steward of the TV series. Otterson unravels what’s next for the popular space opera in television and film.
“Paramount had high hopes for Starfleet Academy because Star Trek fans tend to be older on average, and this was a huge attempt for Paramount to try to get a younger audience more involved in the series. Unfortunately, it just didn’t connect with the audience,” Otterson says. “We just didn’t get the ratings that we needed to justify continuing. They had already renewed it for a second season before the first season aired, so that season had just finished filming in the last few weeks. And they made the decision, ‘We’re going to air this season because we’ve already finished filming, but ultimately this just doesn’t work for us anymore.'” So, unfortunately, it’s going to be the end of the larger series. ”
Since the launch of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, CBS and Paramount+ have poured significant resources into the Star Trek series. Alex Kurtzman, an experienced TV and film writer and showrunner, has served as the show’s creative steward since “Discovery,” but that’s likely to change. Season 2 of Starfleet Academy is scheduled to end next year. Two more seasons of the Star Trek prequel series, Strange New Worlds, starring Anson Mount and Ethan Peck, are also in the works.
“This doesn’t bode well for the future of Star Trek on television in the Alex Kurtzman era,” Otterson says. “There are rumors about other things, like other types of spin-offs for these shows, but it looks like this could be the end of the current iteration of Star Trek on television. It hasn’t had the success they had hoped for. This is invaluable knowledge for Paramount. These are very visual effects-heavy productions that take a long time to produce.”
(Photo: “Starfleet Academy”)
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