Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Replacement Show About Kirk’s Enterprise Explained

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have made a great deal of noise about wanting to make a spinoff series centering on Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) commanding the Starship Enterprise. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is in the midst of season 3, with filming on season 4 recently wrapped, and production on the fifth and final season set to start later this year.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a direct prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series that began about six years before Captain Kirk takes over the USS Enterprise from Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). From its inception, Strange New Worlds has been seeding TOS, introducing numerous characters like Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck), Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Scotty (Martin Quinn), and Kirk himself.

Even as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds prepares for its final chapter, which Goldsman and Myers have hinted would take the prequel to "kissing distance" of Star Trek: The Original Series and possibly end with Kirk's first day as Captain of the Enterprise, Strange New Worlds' co-showrunners are campaigning to tell new stories about Kirk's voyages, which they have dubbed 'Star Trek: Year One.'

Strange New Worlds’ Executive Producers Want To Make A Star Trek TOS Prequel About Captain Kirk’s Enterprise 

They're Calling It Star Trek: Year One

At San Diego Comic-Con's Star Trek Universe Hall H presentation, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers made their most public pitch yet for their Captain Kirk spinoff idea. Goldsman and Myers told EW that a Kirk spinoff is "100 percent" their dream plan after Strange New Worlds ends. Myers explained:

"Nothing would make us happier than to be able to continue telling the stories of how Pike's crew transitions to Kirk's crew and how Kirk's crew sets off... Obviously, when we come into TOS, it's not the first day of the job.... Fundamentally, there are relationships that already exist. How did they happen? And, obviously, we have the opportunity for Sulu, and we have the opportunity for McCoy in a longer life, and opportunity for Chekov. So it would be awesome to be able to continue."

Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers told ScreenRant that, "We are very interested in telling stories of Kirk's Enterprise that we might not yet know about yet." This confirms that Star Trek: Year One would not recreate existing episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series (the way Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale told an alternate version of "Balance of Terror"), but would instead reveal untold stories about Kirk's Enterprise voyages.

Star Trek: Year One would also center on Captain Kirk's first steps commanding the Starship Enterprise, taking place before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series' second pilot episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before." So, Star Trek: Year One would still be a prequel to TOS, and be about Paul Wesley's Captain Kirk and Ethan Peck's Mr. Spock developing their friendship as they lead the USS Enterprise.

Why A Star Trek Prequel Show About Captain Kirk’s Enterprise Just Might Work

It's A Way For Strange New Worlds' Style Of Star Trek To Continue

Numerous elements that make Star Trek: Strange New Worlds successful could simply continue in Star Trek: Year One, from the USS Enterprise's set, to the already-established rapport between actors like Paul Wesley, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, and Martin Quinn. No doubt, Strange New Worlds' producers would also break genre barriers in Star Trek: Year One the way they already do.

Akvia Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers' desire to make Star Trek: Year One also speaks to their confidence in Paul Wesley as Captain Kirk. Star Trek: Year One would switch leading men, trading Anson Mount's Captain Pike for Wesley's Kirk. Meanwhile, several popular Strange New Worlds' characters like Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Lt. La'an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) aren't part of Kirk crew in TOS canon. According to Myers:

"[We] have fates in store for those folks who don't seem to appear in canon post-our show... but doesn't mean they don't exist."

Strange New Worlds is the highest-rated and most popular live-action Star Trek on Paramount+ series since the franchise was reborn with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. Paramount+ ending their Strange New Worlds golden goose with season 5 doesn't seem logical, yet this is the plan.

Understandably, Goldsman and Myers are "dreaming loudly" and asking the fans to voice their desire for Star Trek: Year One to Paramount+.

Will Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Kirk Enterprise Spinoff Happen?

Star Trek Could Change When Skydance Owns Paramount

As publicly as Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers are campaigning for Star Trek: Year One, it's important to note that this is merely a 'pie in the sky' idea. Myers even reiterated to EW that "All our dreams of post–Strange New Worlds iterations, [pay]checks notwithstanding, we gotta stick the landing." Meaning, any new Goldsman and Myers-led version of Star Trek also depends on whether fans will still want more after Strange New Worlds ends.Star Trek's next two years consist of the final two seasons of Strange New Worlds and two seasons of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy on Paramount+. After 2027, however, Star Trek is expected to undergo changes after Skydance Media's purchase of Paramount Global. The new corporate entity may overhaul the Star Trek IP, although Skydance CEO David Ellison is a fan who executive-produced Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond.

Meanwhile, Star Trek fans have a different desire that they prioritize over Star Trek: Year One: Star Trek: Legacy, which continues the saga Star Trek: Picard season 3 left off. There has been no movement on Star Trek: Legacy at Paramount+, but perhaps that could change after Skydance's merger with Paramount is completed.

Perhaps the best gauge for Star Trek: Year One will be how the remainder of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds shakes out. Between the rest of season 3, and seasons 4 and 5, there is plenty of time for fans to further warm up to Paul Wesley's Kirk and decide how much they want to see him continue as Captain of the Enterprise.

If the call does come for Star Trek: Year One, however, it sounds like Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers are ready and willing to launch Kirk's Enterprise after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ends.

Source: Entertainment Weekly