Paramount are developing a new Star Trek series, Starfleet Academy.

Other than being set where you'd expect from the title, there are no details at this early stage, but their hope is to begin work on it this year.

They also revealed that we might expect news about the ever delayed Section 31 soon.

Most importantly, Paramount+'s President of Original Scripted Series, Nicole Clemens has hinted at where they're planning to take Star Trek.

I think we have some fantastic offerings in our slate and I think you may see a few more very curated editions coming.

Our guess had been that Discovery had been shuffled off into the future under a veil of total secrecy so that it could essentially quietly fall off the books, that Section 31 would be canned and that Strange New Worlds would be a return to form for Star Trek.

It seems rather that they'll push ahead with potentially very different styles of show for different audiences.

That approach may work to increase the total number of people who watch any Star Trek content but how will it affect the fan base and the broader franchise?

There have always been official and canon but lesser consumed entries in this and like franchises, eg. books and comics, and the fanbase has survived, though those would typically adhere to the style and values of the more mainstream audience offerings so not be divisive.

Star Trek could be doing something completely different. Our inner Spock is curious to see where it ends up.

Perhaps Discovery has already fractured the fanbase so badly that Paramount see no way to repair it and they're just going to forge ahead in every which direction.

Maybe we'll watch Strange New Worlds and Prodigy - which so far seems both good and Star Trek - and that will be the limit of our engagement with the property.

Putting it in the same bubblegum chew and dispose category as DC films and TV series which sometimes entertain but reboot every other minute so can't be taken too seriously.

[ Main Image: Star Trek Universe. Credit: StarTrek.com. ]

References

White, P., Patten, D. and Andreeva, N. (February 1, 2022). ‘Starfleet Academy’ Series In Works As Paramount+ Looks To Further Expand ‘Star Trek’ Universe. Deadline.