The Star Trek population on Paramount Plus has grown exponentially over a very short period. Not unlike the furry pests featured in the original series episode: “The Trouble With Tribbles,” the number of offerings from the fledgling streaming network continues to grow.
Star Trek Section 31
The streaming network currently features five different “Star Trek Universe” TV series—Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy. However, Paramount’s programming chiefs obviously don’t worry too much about oversaturation, with the Michelle Yeoh-led Section 31 series in the works and potentially other projects.
Nicole Clemens, “original scripted series president” at Paramount Plus, confirmed to reporters that Section 31 is still in development and there would be more news regarding that series soon.
Star Trek Critical Mass?
Last Tuesday, Clemens spoke to reporters during an executive session at the Television Critics Association’s (TCA) press tour. Alongside her was Tanya Giles, Paramount Plus’s chief programming officer. With questions swirling about “critical mass,” Clemens added that she thought the production company had “some fantastic offerings” on the slate— likely in reference to the new Star Trek Paramount shows lined up for back-to-back scheduling. She also hinted there would be “a few more very curated additions” coming soon.
As far back as last February, “Star Trek Universe” chief Alex Kurtzman and executive Julie McNamara told reporters there was talk about creating a new series around Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou character and the clandestine “Section 31.”
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It was also mentioned that other shows were in development that hadn’t been previously announced. However, they also emphasized the current five-series model would likely not expand any further until at least one of the shows had ended its run.
Star Trek Discovery
The current flagship of the Paramount fleet is Star Trek: Discovery. The streaming series was announced on StarTrek.com on November 2nd, 2015 and will release the midseason premiere of its fourth season this week.
The series stars Walking Dead alum Sonequa Martin-Green along with Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, and Anthony Rapp. Discovery was originally set approximately a decade before the original Star Trek series, primarily aboard the starship USS Discovery.
That series is produced by CBS Studios and Secret Hideout with executive producers Bryan Fuller, Alex Kurtzman, and Heather Kadin.
On a virtual TCA panel for Strange New Worlds, Kurtzman explained how they had to plan out these projects for several years in advance. Especially for shows, he elaborated, with highly technical effects, an eager viewing audience, and a large cast to wrangle, it’s not unusual to plan for shows that might be good offerings two and three years in the future.
He added that there were “a bunch of things in development,” that they were “starting to take shape,” and that everyone was “super excited about it.”