‘Star Trek’: Paramount+ Officially Confirms Franchise’s Future After Cancelling New Series!!

The 60th anniversary of Star Trek hasn’t felt like much of a celebration for the franchise’s fans. Both currently running TV series, Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy, are ending after their next seasons, and no other shows have been announced to replace them. For the first time in over a decade, there are no new Trek series in production. However, there is still a glimmer of hope on the long-range scanners, as the franchise is still part of corporate parent Paramount‘s future plans.

Strange New Worlds, which chronicles the adventures of the USS Enterprise and its crew before James T. Kirk assumed its captaincy, is currently airing its fourth season, and will end with a truncated fifth season; the cast and crew were interested in a follow-up series, but no greenlight has been given yet. Meanwhile, Starfleet Academy, which jumps centuries into the future to an all-new generation of spacefarers, was cancelled after airing its first season; a second season, already in the can, is expected to debut next year. The only series that hasn’t been cancelled is the preschool-aimed animated series Star Trek Scouts, which has a second season arriving on YouTube this fall.

In a new interview with Deadline, Paramount+‘s head of original programming, Jane Wiseman, discussed the future of the streaming service’s programming in the aftermath of the company’s merger with Skydance. Says Wiseman, “We’re the home of Star Trek, and we have series coming back. We’re going to have more.” She also describes Paramount+ EVP Chris Parnell (not to be confused with the Saturday Night Live veteran) as “the resident number one fan of the Star Trek franchise.” As far as the future of the franchise goes, she says, “It is our goal and it is our job to figure out what the next bounce of Star Trek is. We’re talking to a lot of writers, we are leaning on CBS Studios, and it is imperative that we figure out what the next iteration is in this franchise because it’s just too important.”

What Do We Know About the New ‘Star Trek’ Movie?

Wiseman also discussed staying in touch with the cinematic arm of the Paramount octopus, which currently has a Star Trek movie in development. After numerous attempts to reunite the cast of J.J. Abrams‘ Trek reboot movies for a fourth film, the company has apparently decided to start afresh. The new film is being developed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the writing-directing duo behind Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. It will reportedly center around an all-new cast of characters in a new time period, eschewing so-called “legacy characters.”