CBS All Access today announced a series order for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will feature fan favorites from season two of Star Trek: Discovery, Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the decade before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
The series premiere was written by Akiva Goldsman with the story by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. Goldsman, Kurtzman and Lumet will serve as executive producers in addition to Henry Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth. Aaron Baiers, Akela Cooper and Davy Perez will serve as co-executive producers. Akiva Goldsman will remain an executive producer and a key part of the creative team on Star Trek: Picard as well. The series will be produced by CBS Television Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
“Fans fell in love with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck’s portrayals of these iconic characters when they were first introduced on Star Trek: Discovery last season,” said Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming, CBS All Access. “This new series will be a perfect complement to the franchise, bringing a whole new perspective and series of adventures to Star Trek.”
Both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard share a highly serialized format, however, the new series set on Captain Pike’s U.S.S. Enterprise promises a return to classic Trek storytelling. In the announcement video from yesterday, Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount (Captain Pike) described the new series as a “classic Star Trek show that deals with optimism and the future.” Speaking to Variety executive producer Akiva Goldsman provided more details on the approach the show is taking:
We’re going to try to harken back to some classical ‘Trek’ values, to be optimistic, and to be more episodic. Obviously, we will take advantage of the serialized nature of character and story building. But I think our plots will be more closed-ended than you’ve seen in either ‘Discovery’ or ‘Picard.’ I imagine it to be closer to the original series than even ‘DS9. We can really tell closed-ended stories. We can find ourselves in episodes that are tonally of a piece.”
However, when it comes to the characters, Goldsman said indicated Strange New Worlds will not be hitting the reset button every week, saying: I think what we would want to do is keep the characters having moved through and recognizing the experiences they’ve had in previous episodes, but to be able to tell contained, episodic stories.
As for when the show will begin production, Goldsman tells Variety he had “no idea,” due to the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ethan Peck is ready for the challenge…and pon farr
Strange New Worlds reunites Anson Mount with Rebecca Romijn (Number One) and Ethan Peck (Spock). All three are reprising the roles they played during the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, as well as the second season of Star Trek: Short Treks. Peck also spoke to Variety, revealing that he has been campaigning for this spinoff since last year. He also talked about where the show will find Spock: It’ll be a whole new challenge for me as an actor portraying Spock because you’ve had this transformation. I can’t wait to see what we explore.
When asked if Strange New Worlds might show us Spock going through the pon farr, the instinctive Vulcan ritual of mating that takes place every seven years, Peck seemed ready to take on that challenge as well, saying “I really have no idea, but I would think it’s a strong possibility.”
Strange New Worlds writer/producers introduce themselves to Star Trek world
Once CBS finally made it official yesterday morning, many of those involved with the show jumped on social media to share the announcement, with some adding short messages. This included the three new writer/producers announced as part of the creative team. Henry Alonso Myers (The Magicians, Covert Affairs, Chuck) joins Akiva Goldsman as executive producer for the show and shared a link to the announcement adding “A little news about what I’m working on next…” along with a Vulcan salute. New writer and co-executive producer Davy Perez (Supernatural, American Crime) simply added: “To seek out…” with his retweet of the announcement. Another new co-executive producer Akela Cooper (Luke Cage, American Horror Story, The 100) got a bit more personal, explaining what a “profound moment” it is for her to be joining Star Trek.
New and old designs coming to Strange New Worlds
Prop designer Mario Moreira, who works on Star Trek: Discovery, picked up on executive producer and co-creator Alex Kurtzman’s announcement on Twitter, adding some detail on how he was actively “prepping, and getting new and old prop designs together” for Strange New Worlds.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2020-05-18 01:24am
by Grand Moff Yenchin
I kind of feel mixed on this. Anson Mount as Pike and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Number One were the reasons I liked S2 of DISCO. However, the quality of both DISCO seasons make me feel that there might be a lot of WTF potential. It would be interesting to see what they could pull off, though. Orville showed that not every series needs some big storyline to happen, so...
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2020-05-18 01:42am
by mr friendly guy
I am most probably going to have an unpopular opinion here, but how many people actually are interested in prequels, or interested in the pre Kirk era? I am interested in the post Nemesis era, which was why I was interested in checking out Picard when it came out, but I really have no interest in the pre Kirk era since watching ENT.
Is there a reason the creators of Trek are interested in exploring such an era?
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2020-05-18 04:36am
by bilateralrope
mr friendly guy wrote: ↑2020-05-18 01:42am
I am most probably going to have an unpopular opinion here, but how many people actually are interested in prequels, or interested in the pre Kirk era? I am interested in the post Nemesis era, which was why I was interested in checking out Picard when it came out, but I really have no interest in the pre Kirk era since watching ENT.
Is there a reason the creators of Trek are interested in exploring such an era?
It's not the era that interests me here. It's that they say they are trying to return to the feel of TOS. One of optimism and exploration. Sure, they could do that in any era. The only reason that Strange New Worlds gives me more hope than setting it in another era would is that they have already shown that Pike lives up to Starfleet idealism, while another era would require a captain that they haven't shown onscreen.
Even a series with an existing TNG/DS9/Voyager character as captain leaves the question of how the current Trek production team would interpert them.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2020-05-18 11:26am
by houser2112
I feel that pre-TOS is more interesting than post-Nemesis, but I don't particularly care for returning to the episodic format.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2020-05-19 04:45pm
by bilateralrope
Which episodes of Trek are your favourites ?
How many of them could be easily tied into a season long plot ?
Because I can't see something like The Measure of a Man coming out of a season long plot.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2020-05-19 06:32pm
by FaxModem1
I think going the trilogy route from Enterprise season 4 would be best. Things have a status quo, but you delve into the characters and things develop through each story. It also helps spread costs for sets and effects.
A trilogy of Pike and crew dealing with the Orions, for instance, followed by a trilogy of them exploring an interesting anomaly, a trilogy of dealing with Klingons, a trilogy of helping rebuild a Federation settlement, etc.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2020-05-20 05:26pm
by Formless
mr friendly guy wrote: ↑2020-05-18 01:42am
I am most probably going to have an unpopular opinion here, but how many people actually are interested in prequels, or interested in the pre Kirk era? I am interested in the post Nemesis era, which was why I was interested in checking out Picard when it came out, but I really have no interest in the pre Kirk era since watching ENT.
Is there a reason the creators of Trek are interested in exploring such an era?
There is one part of the pre-Kirk era that Sorchus and I have wanted to see for a while, but that period predates even Discovery: the Romulan-Federation war. The thing is that the Romulans have always been overshadowed by the Klingons as villains, but because of the 2009 plot point that the Romulan sun went supernova its pretty obvious why they wanted to save the Romulans for a show set after that event. As for why they went with the Pre-Krik era, I don't know for sure but I have my theories. It may be trying to apologize for Enterprise; or perhaps hanging off the coattails of the JJ films; or recognizing that they couldn't do a post-Nemesis show without getting the 90's era actors onboard, even if they are getting up there in years; or perhaps it was simply to appeal to nostalgia for where the franchise began. Frankly, I bet you it was that they saw the post-Nemesis period as risky precisely because it was what so many fans wanted-- there were so many expectations on such a series they probably thought it would hurt their creative flow. That plus the desire of fans to see old actors reprise their roles, the trend starting in DS9 to deconstruct Roddenberry's Utopianism, and Nemesis's own failings as a film probably made them look at the pre-Kirk era as a real wealth of untapped potential that didn't have that baggage to deal with. Only the baggage of continuity, of course, but you deal with that in any franchise entry. And they did finally give us a show set in that era, but Discovery was something they could make without getting Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Jeri Ryan to sign their names off on. It meant having a Star Trek show ready for the public right now, rather than having one in development two years from now. And setting it even farther in the future locks down the continuity options for a show set during Picard's lifetime. So that was probably the reason we didn't get an adaptation of the MMO story, either.
Think about it. Picard was a show that had to deal with, among other things, making Data's death in Nemesis actually mean something, tell a story about how the Romulan supernova effected the galaxy and the political situation, the aftermath of Voyager's attack on the Borg, and Picard's vision of the future from All Good Things. That's a tall order, and at the moment its not clear to me that the fandom is satisfied with what they came up with. So you can see why it was more risky than Discovery and Strange New Worlds. These shows can be about whatever the writers want them to be about. The fans only expectation is what they always expect: quality television story writing, and special effects worthy of previous TV entries in the franchise (which is the easy part).
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2021-09-10 01:23am
by Grand Moff Yenchin
Necroing since its just new information in. Besides the three main characters that showed up in DISCO Season 2, they're adding the following:
Jess Bush is Nurse Christine Chapel
Christina Chong is La’an Noonien-Singh
Celia Rose Gooding is Cadet Nyota Uhura
Melissa Navia is Lt. Erica Ortegas
Babs Olusanmokun is Dr. M’Benga
Bruce Horak is Hemmer
Chapel and Uhura are well known in TOS and M'Benga was in a couple episodes
Based on the surname(?) "Noonien-Singh" I guess I'm looking forward for someone in the show to yell "Laaaaaaaan!"
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2021-09-10 01:07pm
by EnterpriseSovereign
The Federation-Romulan war was supposed to happen somewhere in seasons 5-7 of Enterprise had the series gone the full distance of TNG/DS9/VOY and is a real case of What Could Have Been Despite Growing The Beard in season 3 we got the truncated mess that was TATV.
SNW can at least do first contact with the Cardassians, something that would have happened during Enterprise had it lasted.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2021-09-10 01:32pm
by Crazedwraith
Noonien-singh is an unexpected name. I'm not sure about the need for returning TOS characters either.
Pike impresses on Disco though so I remain cautiously optimistic. Hope it's not on amazon prime though.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2021-09-12 05:58am
by AniThyng
Crazedwraith wrote: ↑2021-09-10 01:32pm
Noonien-singh is an unexpected name. I'm not sure about the need for returning TOS characters either.
Pike impresses on Disco though so I remain cautiously optimistic. Hope it's not on amazon prime though.
I assume you mean instead on Amazon it's on Netflix internationally because it infuriates me that to watch lower decks I had to get Amazon prime and now that I have it it damn well better have everything else too and not force me to get yet another streamer ( I kept my Netflix so either is fine as long as it's not neither)
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Crazedwraith wrote: ↑2021-09-10 01:32pm
Noonien-singh is an unexpected name. I'm not sure about the need for returning TOS characters either.
Pike impresses on Disco though so I remain cautiously optimistic. Hope it's not on amazon prime though.
I assume you mean instead on Amazon it's on Netflix internationally because it infuriates me that to watch lower decks I had to get Amazon prime and now that I have it it damn well better have everything else too and not force me to get yet another streamer ( I kept my Netflix so either is fine as long as it's not neither)
Yes, I hope it's on Netflix along with Disco. Rather than on Amazon Prime like Picard and Lower Decks. Splitting them is infuriating and means afaik the second series of Short Treks (which had some Disco related eps and 1 Picard related one) ended up on neither platform here in the UK.
I got Amazon while Picard was going but didn't keep it.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Crazedwraith wrote: ↑2021-09-10 01:32pm
Noonien-singh is an unexpected name. I'm not sure about the need for returning TOS characters either.
Pike impresses on Disco though so I remain cautiously optimistic. Hope it's not on amazon prime though.
I assume you mean instead on Amazon it's on Netflix internationally because it infuriates me that to watch lower decks I had to get Amazon prime and now that I have it it damn well better have everything else too and not force me to get yet another streamer ( I kept my Netflix so either is fine as long as it's not neither)
Yes, I hope it's on Netflix along with Disco. Rather than on Amazon Prime like Picard and Lower Decks. Splitting them is infuriating and means afaik the second series of Short Treks (which had some Disco related eps and 1 Picard related one) ended up on neither platform here in the UK.
I got Amazon while Picard was going but didn't keep it.
That was how I saw Picard too. I also used the opportunity to watch Clarkson's Farm, Grand Tour, Lower Decks, and the first season of Arrow. Which helped me enjoy a certain episode of Batwoman when one of the characters showed up there
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2022-03-15 09:26pm
by Grand Moff Yenchin
Necroing again due to all the hype and news today.
According to the timeline on Memory Alpha it seems that Kirk has just finished his USS Farragut tour around DISCO S2. And not much is mentioned before TOS. However, based on dialogue from "The Menagerie" Kirk and Pike seemed to have only met when Pike was getting promoted to Fleet Captain. But I guess the writers will wiggle something and since SNW season 1 hasn't even released it's like far to early to judge.
Edit: added "announced prematurely" to my speculation
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2022-07-22 10:44pm
by Spice Runner
mr friendly guy wrote: ↑2020-05-18 01:42am
I am most probably going to have an unpopular opinion here, but how many people actually are interested in prequels, or interested in the pre Kirk era? I am interested in the post Nemesis era, which was why I was interested in checking out Picard when it came out, but I really have no interest in the pre Kirk era since watching ENT.
Is there a reason the creators of Trek are interested in exploring such an era?
Hope this not a necro. I agree with you. I would rather see a Star Trek series post nemesis rather than these prequels.
There is a lot of interesting ideas to explore in the universe after the setup of DS9, Voyager and the Star Trek movies.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2023-04-22 12:25pm
by Crazedwraith
a palate cleanser after the Picard finale.
Noticeably a reversion in Klingon make up from Disco. (Though iirc Disco s2 already changed them up a bit)
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2023-04-22 01:33pm
by Batman
No Jim, you're NOT from space. You merely work there. You're from Iowa.
Re: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Coming to CBS All Access
Posted: 2023-06-19 12:25pm
by Evilchumlee
I wasn't a huge fan of the S2 opener, but I do like the general aesthetics of the show. This is doing a MUCH better of job of being "updated TOS". I still wish it were a BIT closer to TOS... maybe alittle less greeblies here and there, I want Enterprise to have the straight nacelle struts, use some more SHAPES from TOS while giving them more detail. Go more with they did with the Phasers and Tricorders and stuff. They look straight out of TOS... but... not.
Still, this is by far the best "updated TOS" we've gotten. Kelvin Timeline was Apple Store for some reason, DSC was... generic sci-fi.
Klingons looked great. Very happy to see them look like Klingons again. Sure, the makeup is "updated" but those are very clearly, recognizable, Klingons.
The "Crossfield-Class" raised an eyebrow, but that's easily enough explained. I'm going with that is how "regular" Crossfields look... Discovery and Glenn were heavily modified for their specific role and technology.
