For decades, Star Trek: The Animated Series was the forgotten child of the franchise, but thanks to the 1970s show being available to stream on Paramount Plus – formerly CBS All Access – along with all the other Trek titles, it’s finally getting its due. And with the animated series now more accessible to fans, the studio is apparently planning to bring some of its characters into live-action for the first time.
Giant Freakin Robot has reported that Paramount wants certain members of the colorful cast of TAS to start appearing in the live-action Trek world going forward. That’s as much info as the outlet got from their sources, but GFR goes on to make a couple of educated guesses that sound logical. They speculate that both M’Ress – a female Caitian – and Arex – a multi-limbed Edosian – could be two characters due for a live-action debut, and that certainly seems likely.
After all, they’re members of Kirk’s crew on the Enterprise in The Animated Series, so it’s easy to guess where they could show up – they could be good candidates to join Pike, Spock and Number One in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Not only that, but their species have returned to the universe of late as well, with the Caitian T’Ana being a regular on Star Trek: Lower Decks – the first Trek animation since TAS – and an Edosian making a cameo in one episode of the same show.
Star Trek: The Animated Series ran for 22 outings across two seasons from 1973-1974. Thanks to William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and nearly all of the cast of The Original Series returning, except Walter Koenig, as well as writers from the live-action show being involved, it largely stands up pretty well. If you haven’t caught it yet, try it on Paramount Plus – which you can get free for a month if you sign up before March 31st.
