CBS All Access is really going all in on Star Trek, and the platform will soon have tons of new and varied content for fans to swoon over...or to argue amongst themselves about. So when might viewers expect to see all the new shows, along with Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery? Co-showrunner and EP Alex Kurtzman shared a production update on Trek's live-action shows, and revealed where they all are in terms of the development process.
Picard is in the middle of shooting; we’ve broken the season and I am so happy with the scripts. We are on Episode 5 of Season 3 of Discovery. We’re far along. Picard is [filming] here in Los Angeles and Discovery is in Toronto, and future Trek shows I believe will be in Toronto. Erika [Lippoldt] and Boey [Kim], who are two of our writers on Discovery, are breaking story on [Section 31] right now, and the plan is to shoot that the second we’re done with Season 3.
That's right, Patrick Stewart's return to the franchise, Picard, is in the middle of shooting its first season, which is great, because that means CBS All Access is still good to uphold its promise of the premiere airing before the end of 2019. The faster, the better, while keeping quality control intact.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, meanwhile, is still in the writing stages, which are likely quite different than those of previous seasons, considering the gigantic time jump. But as Alex Kurtzman pointed out to TrekCore.com, things are moving a lot faster now than things went Season 2 last year. Production for Season 3 is believed to be launching a month or two from now.
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Once things get wrapped up on the time-travel heavy Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, the plan is to then really get the ball rolling on the mysterious Section 31, even though the story is at least already being constructed. That's a bit of a wait for anyone hoping we'd see Michelle Yeoh kicking ass on-screen in the immediate future, but at least it appears Alex Kurtzman and crew are working to churn things out as fast as they can.
Of course, Star Trek has even more shows than those in the works, specifically CBS All Access' adult animation comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks and Nickelodeon's CGI-driven Trek series. Alex Kurtzman didn't really give a timetable on when to expect either show, but did provide some background into what each show will be like when they debut. First up is Lower Decks.
What I love so much about the way Mike [McMahon] is doing is planning things. What you would typically be the ‘A’ story on any [normal] Star Trek episode is happening in the background — like huge, crazy, crazy shit is going on in the background [on Lower Decks], and that’s super peripheral to the story that you’re actually focusing on. No [Trek] show has ever really done that before.
They may be the animated adventures, but the way Alex Kurtzman talked about them, Lower Decks and the CGI Nickelodeon show sound just as must-watch as the live-action stuff. That the animation quality is arguably on par with Love, Death, and Robots is particularly interesting to hear, although Nickelodeon does have a history of committing to high quality animation like it did with Avatar: The Last Airbender, so it's not entirely surprising.
And now for Kurtzman's thoughts about the Nickelodeon show, which is apparently keeping its title under wraps for a reason.
The Hageman brothers are doing [an animated] show for Nickelodeon, and that will be entirely different from Lower Decks… I won’t announce the name of the Nickelodeon show, but that’s a really different show. It’s going to be incredibly cinematic. We just started seeing [storyboards] this week. It looks like, wow. It’s on par with Love, Death, and Robots in terms of beauty and lighting and cinema, so it’s a a really different feel, and Nickelodeon has been wildly supportive and I think very excited to bring a new energy to TV, you know, in animation.
One other fascinating bit of information is that the animated shows may feature voices and/or characters that Star Trek fans may recognize. Alex Kurtzman wasn't forthcoming with details, but did reveal that while the main characters will be "mostly new" to Star Trek, there could be a voice or character loyal fans may recognize. Fingers crossed for Worf in animation, let's get Michael Dorn in on another Trek series!
There's lots of Star Trek coming to television, but it appears as though Picard will arrive before everything else on CBS All Access sometime before the end of 2019. Stick with CinemaBlend for details on the franchise in the meantime, and to stay in the loop on other things headed to television and theaters.
