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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.”
Additional news regarding show direction.
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Self-contained stories, but with character growth
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.
