Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is nearing the end of Season 4 on the 2026 TV schedule, but the series wrapped its final season in late 2025. While there was hope we'd get a spinoff chronicling Captain Kirk's first days on the Enterprise, EP and one of its biggest cheerleaders, Akiva Goldsman, has some bad news.
The co-showrunner of the series has long been banging the drum, saying a Paul Wesley-led spinoff of SNW would be easy to pull off. Sadly, he's changed his tune in a recent interview with Radio Times. He was prompted for an update on the pitch and explained that it doesn't seem likely to happen:
Nobody's called, the sets are gone. Everybody else has started to take other jobs. It's never been officially yes, and it's never been officially no. But I don't see it happening. I don't know. It's above my pay grade. Maybe somebody calls and says, 'Hey, do a two-hour movie,' or, 'We want the show.' Great! But there was a moment where it would have been the most expeditious, creatively and economically, to just continue because we had a lot of assets which are now no longer.
Akiva Goldsman has worked in Hollywood for a long time, so when he says he doesn't see something happening, I believe him. I'm crushed because I agree that the Year One pitch was an easy sell to Paramount+ fresh off of Strange New Worlds ending and the sets still being in place, but with them gone and actors taking jobs elsewhere, we might as well kiss it goodbye.
If that weren't bad enough, it sounds like Goldsman has also made his exit from whatever the future holds for Star Trek. While there is a movie in development and a promise that the franchise will continue in television form, he's made it clear he doesn't think he'll be around to help shape it:
But I do think that, at least for me, my time with Star Trek is over now. I was really lucky – Strange New Worlds was everything I imagined when I couldn't even imagine it, as a little boy playing Star Trek. Now I got to be a bigger boy playing Star Trek with somebody else's toys...As much as I'd like to still keep playing, because it's fun, I also understand the value of renewal and whether it renews itself perfectly the first or the second or the third iteration of whatever the next – dare I say – generation of these shows are, it'll find its way. It always does.
I appreciate his optimism that the franchise will continue, but it's a shame to lose a talent like Akiva Goldsman. He was an instrumental player in the development of Star Trek: Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds, and he also wrote the TNG movie Nemesis. I can't say there was anyone more qualified to take the reins on the franchise as it prepared for the next reboot, but maybe there's another out there.
Honestly, it's a story that feels all too familiar when it comes to Star Trek as of late. Fans were excited about the possibility of Picard getting a follow-up spinoff after it ended, and the creators and cast were behind a pitch to get it off the ground. Paramount balked, however, and after some time passed, showrunner Terry Matalas left for Marvel, and the cast looked for jobs elsewhere.
Unfortunately, there's been a lot of bad news to report this year on Star Trek, which isn't ideal considering it's the 60th anniversary. At the same time, any franchise that's been around for over half a century has to find a way to evolve, especially if the company that owns it wants to survive to see the end of said century.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is about to wrap up Season 4, but all previous episodes are available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription. This season has been a thrill to watch, as sad as I am that we're now closer than ever to the end of the show.
