Summary
- Star Trek on Paramount+ thrives with Discovery spinoffs like Strange New Worlds, Starfleet Academy, and Section 31.
- Animated Star Trek faces an uncertain future as Lower Decks and Prodigy conclude their runs, leaving fans hoping for more.
- Discovery's success continues because Paramount+'s next 3 Star Trek shows and movie are Discovery spinoffs.
Star Trek is scaling down on Paramount+, but all three scheduled live-action TV series and movies are spinoffs of Star Trek: Discovery. Recently ending after 5 seasons, Star Trek: Discovery reignited the Star Trek TV franchise after 12 years. In 2017 and 2018, Discovery's success served as a cornerstone of the fledgling CBS All-Access streaming service, which later became Paramount+. Thanks to Discovery, a new era of Star Trek streaming series began.
Star Trek on Paramount+ overseen by Alex Kurtzman achieved an amazing apex in 2022, with a new episode of 5 different Star Trek series streaming almost every Thursday of the year on Paramount+. Patrick Stewart was coaxed back to the franchise to headline 3 seasons of Star Trek: Picard. Star Trek also embraced animation for the first time since the 1970s, with Star Trek: Lower Decks, the franchise's first half-hour comedy, and Star Trek: Prodigy, a CGI all-ages animated series designed to bring new young viewers to Star Trek. Arguably the most popular current Star Trek series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, also launched in 2022. In the next two years, the live-action Star Trek shows and movie on Paramount+ will carry on Star Trek: Discovery's legacy.
Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are all Nielsen Top 10 streaming series.
Star Trek’s Next Live-Action Shows & Movies Are Discovery Spinoffs
Strange New Worlds, Section 31, and Starfleet Academy all come out of Discovery
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Section 31, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy are all live-action spinoffs of Star Trek: Discovery.Star Trek's first feature film made for streaming on Paramount+, Star Trek: Section 31 was originally planned as an ongoing series starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh reprising her Star Trek: Discovery antiheroine, Emperor Philippa Georgiou. The COVID-19 pandemic and other factors shifted Section 31 from a series to a movie, which premieres in 2025 on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy scored Academy Award caliber headliner actors Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti.
The popularity of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 directly led to a spinoff, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Now considered Paramount+'s flagship Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds season 3 will premiere in 2025 on Paramount+, with season 4 already in preproduction. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which has executive producer Alex Kurtzman as co-showrunner, is also a direct spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery seasons 4 and 5, continuing Disco's 32nd-century era.
A new Star Trek live-action half-hour comedy created by Tawny Newsome and Justin Simien is in development, but it's not clear if it's a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery.
What Happens To Animated Star Trek After Lower Decks Ends?
This is why Netflix needs to give Star Trek: Prodigy season 3
The changing nature of streaming and the pending sale of Paramount has made casualties of Star Trek's animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy. Paramount+ abruptly canceled Star Trek: Prodigy in 2023, purging the show from its service. But Star Trek: Prodigy's rabid fan base responded and helped secure Netflix as Star Trek: Prodigy's new streaming home. Following the premiere of Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, however, Netflix has yet to exercise its option to order more Prodigy.
2024 marks the end of animated Star Trek for the foreseeable future.
Star Trek: Lower Decks also ends its run on Paramount+ with season 5. However, there are hopes Lower Decks can continue on another streaming service, like Star Trek: Prodigy. Unfortunately, without new Lower Decks or Prodigy ordered, 2024 marks the end of animated Star Trek for the foreseeable future. This is especially disappointing considering Lower Decks and Prodigy have delivered some of the most insightful, innovative, and crowd-pleasing Star Trek of the modern era. Unfortunately, neither Lower Decks nor Prodigy are live-action or direct spinoffs of Star Trek: Discovery, which is what Paramount+ is banking Star Trek's next few years on.
