The recent restructuring of Viacom and CBS Corp. opened the door to more crossovers between the various parts of the Star Trek franchise and ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish has now added to our excitement for the future of the Trek universe by confirming the company’s future plans for more movies and series.
According to Bakish, two new Star Trek television series are in development, on top of the many ongoing and announced programs being worked on by the corporation, while Star Trek 4 with Noah Hawley is moving forward. Speaking as part of the first earnings call for ViacomCBS since the re-merger of the companies last year, Bakish outlined their ambitious plans, which are to “take the Star Trek franchise and extend it across the house.” Sounds good to us.
The two new series will add to the ongoing Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, as well as Star Trek: Section 31, Star Trek: Lower Decks and a new animated show. What form these new series will take is currently a mystery, although many fans will likely be hoping that the projects will bring back the new versions of Kirk and Spock from Star Trek: Discovery. Another potential option is that these series will be similar to Picard in extending the story of an existing property from the franchise.
Furthermore, Bakish confirmed that ViacomCBS arm Simon & Schuster are working on a new line of tie-in novels, and that more comic book series are on the way. In terms of the latter, current publisher IDW are the best bet for expanding the scope of their ongoing series, including prequels to Star Trek: Picard and titles that link into the classic series and other parts of the broader Trek universe.
We’re also happy that Star Trek 4 with Noah Hawley looks like a done deal, although we still have questions about the apparent second movie in Paramount’s plans, which has been associated with Quentin Tarantino. In any case, Bakish’s announcement is sure to make Star Trek fans happy as they look forward to the franchise continuing to go from strength to strength.
