Akiva Goldsman On How ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Will End With Kirk In Command

“Unfortunately Discovery’s loss was our gain. So they basically said, ‘Look, we think we’re done after four seasons.’ And we said, ‘Hey, what about our whole ‘Let’s get the fans to the TOS era,’ because what happens to all these people, and how does this person will come up?’ And they were like, ‘No, that’s fair. That’s true.’ And they said, ‘What do you need to get there?’ And we said, ‘Six episodes’ and they said okay.”

“The good news was, when I say ‘they,’ really the folks who make this show wanted this to happen too, but there are fiscal constraints that are real. You know what’s going on with Paramount. So to move things forward in that environment was a challenge, but everybody—CBS, Paramount, Strange New Worlds, and [Alex Kurtzman’s production company] Secret Hideout were all pulling in the same direction. And that’s how we ended up getting six episodes. So it was a wasn’t really a negotiation, but it was a heavy lift for pretty much everybody, because everybody wanted not to have another Discovery circumstance where it felt abrogated in a way that wasn’t thorough.”

Surprisingly candid stuff. I'm glad that some of the CBS pencil-pushers are creative-minded enough to make this happen.

I'm okay with a shorter season and that ending as long as it doesn't lead to more Kirk. The man's been dead for 31 years, let him rest.

“Let me put it this way: I certainly wouldn’t say no [to a follow-up show set on the Enterprise]”

I would.

I’m glad to get any kind of 5th season.

If there’s a new show, I would rather that they time skip forever to the end of TOS, after TAS.

A late year 4 and year 5 show would fit with the age of the cast, especially Paul Wesley as Kirk. Even Celia, who was a young Uhura in the first season of SNW is catching up given the slow pace of production and release with the pandemic and strike impacting timelines. Even if they just carried on, a TOS-based SNW spin-off wouldn’t be premiered before late 2027 or early 2028 at best.

Disappointed, but not surprised that SNW was sold as the lead into TOS - the entire show seems to have been based on that pitch to the senior executives obsessed with reboots.

It’s a great show but not what it could have been but likely the only version of it that could have been greenlit in this past decade.

While certainly a weird idea, a TOS continuation series might not be so bad done right. I might love another episode where Uhura takes command, except it isn't just because all the men on the ship are under the influence of space sirens.

Overall, the idea kind of reminds me of when they considered reusing the assets of the cancelled Secret of Vulcan Fury to make a CGI TOS continuation, though it didn't work out for several reasons, I'm guessing in part because of the death of DeForest Kelley.

But honestly, I can see the sentiment of not wanting it - I think we do need a purely new Trek era, something like the mid 25th century or sometime in the 26th century.

“Fake Kirk”.