One of Star Trek's top brass recently spoke out about the future of the franchise, and I can't say I love what I heard. Trevor Roth, COO of Roddenberry Entertainment, spoke about the company's vision for the future of the sci-fi series, and it's what he didn't say that has me most concerned.
Trek is done on the 2026 TV schedule, and while we can expect Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds to wrap up in 2027, we don't know much about the future outside of an in-development movie. Variety reports Roth was at Rome's MIA Market and confirmed there is a vision for what the future of the franchise will look like.
We have very specific designs in our minds as to what Star Trek will be in its next incarnations. I think that Star Trek’s ability to move forward the way it has through television, where it went from the original series to The Next Generation to Deep Space Nine and Voyager and Enterprise, really shows its ability to evolve.
It's very interesting that Roth would mention so many Star Trek shows and fail to name any of the ones that have aired in the past decade. Discovery, Picard, Prodigy, Lower Decks, and the aforementioned Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy were all left out of the comment, which has me asking: why?
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Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds all had episodes chart on Nielsen's streaming ratings, despite far fewer consumers having a Paramount+ subscription compared to competitors. It's also worth noting that very few Trek shows in general were ratings juggernauts, with many of those shows struggling to find an audience when they were on television.
I'm confused by what Trevor Roth is trying to imply, and I do think there's an implication. He could've easily said "all the Star Trek shows," but instead he specifically pointed to the original series and Rick Berman era. I'd have the same reaction if he praised the Kelvin films, all whilst leaving out all the other great Star Trek movies.
To me, it feels as though there's a growing number of fans who believe rolling back to the Berman era will lead to more success for Star Trek. Those shows struggled back then as well, and its audience struggled to embrace some of its less novel concepts today. Star Trek was created to push forward and challenge the ideas we hold in the modern day, not rehash the stories and lessons we learned three decades ago.
I understand the need for Star Trek to pull in more audiences, but I don't think pandering to an older audience who enjoyed TNG will result in any more fans than it currently has. As we've reported on in the past, the core fandom is dying, and without a young core to keep it going, it's hard to imagine we see Trek reach its 75th anniversary, let alone 100th.
The people with the keys to the kingdom have some big decisions to make, and while I think getting a movie back in theaters is a great first step, I'm not feeling great about what I'm hearing from the television side. I hope as these final shows wrap up, there are some big discussions about the best path forward for television rather than continuing to lean on nostalgia.
