By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
These days, the Star Trek franchise is in a precarious position. Both Discovery and Lower Decks were prematurely canceled, and Section 31 was a direct-to-streaming mess that killed any remaining fan enthusiasm for future films from Paramount. And while Strange New Worlds is a breath of fresh air (and fresh hair, thanks to Anson Mount’s killer ‘do), it’s clear that this franchise is going to need another hit show in order to remain relevant. The best idea for this has been around for over three decades: we need a Star Trek series focusing on Captain Kirk’s second five-year mission.
The Mission We Never Saw
If you just spit out your tea (Earl Grey, hot), you might be surprised to discover that both the Star Trek Chronology (which came out in 1993) and the Star Trek Encyclopedia (which came out in 1994) both specify that Kirk and crew had a second five-year mission after the events of The Motion Picture. Effectively, there was a time jump between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, and the unhappy Admiral Kirk we see in that second film is one who has finally given up gallivanting around the galaxy. With a new Star Trek series, we could finally explore exactly what happened between these two films.
At first glance, you might think that the biggest hurdle of creating such a Star Trek series would be recasting iconic characters once played by Hollywood heavyweights like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. However, Strange New Worlds has already given us younger versions of main Original Series characters like Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and Scotty as well as supporting characters like Chapel and M’Benga. If these actors could reprise their roles for a future Star Trek series, it would require relatively little effort to cast new actors for remaining TOS characters like McCoy, Sulu, and Chekov.
The problem with that plan, of course, is that all of these Star Trek: Strange New Worlds actors were cast because they were young enough to pull off pre-Original Series versions of these famous characters. However, that’s the beauty of this plan: SNW hasn’t even aired its third season yet, and based on the show’s popularity, we can likely count on it sticking around for several more years. By the time this show wraps and Paramount completes preproduction on a new Star Trek series, all of these actors will be old enough (more or less) to play the part of post-Motion Picture characters.
If you still think these Strange New Worlds actors would be too young for this role, it may be worth considering that William Shatner and his original crew were arguably too old for the parts they were playing. You see, The Original Series’ final season was set in 2269, and The Motion Picture was set sometime in the 2270s. Despite the full decade between the end of the show and the first film, TMP was supposed to take place relatively soon after TOS.
Therefore, the actors in this proposed Star Trek series only have to look as old as the TOS crew looked in, say, 1972. That year, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were 41 years old. Meanwhile, current Kirk actor Paul Wesley is 42 now, and current Spock actor Ethan Peck is 38. Throw in the fact that they each look younger than they are, and these two actors would look perfect for a new Star Trek series that takes place after The Motion Picture.
Aside from easy casting, such a series would be beneficial because it would, like Star Trek (2009) film, bring in new fans to the franchise. With respect to other shows, this franchise will always be associated with Kirk, Spock, and the classic Enterprise crew. A series focusing on their previously unknown adventures would likely bring in many more fans than the Star Trek origin film Paramount is currently developing.
Speaking of which, that film’s biggest problem is that it will reportedly focus on first contact with aliens and the formation of the Federation, events that were already covered in First Contact and Enterprise. To put it mildly, such a plot will annoy older fans who see Paramount alternately throwing out old canon and retreading old stories we have already seen. With my proposed new Star Trek series, Paramount could attract new fans while giving old ones something we’ve wanted to see for years: an onscreen version of the franchise’s “lost years” that better contextualizes where our characters are (physically and emotionally) in The Wrath of Khan.
Considering that Paramount has been canceling great shows like Star Trek: Lower Decks while pushing out slop like Section 31, it’s doubtful they will take my suggestion for a new series very seriously. That’s too bad, though, because such a show would be an easy win for a franchise that desperately needs one, all while allowing producers to reuse the Strange New Worlds sets. Instead, we’re stuck with Starfleet Academy, a 90210 in space Hail Mary from a franchise that should have tucked itself into the transporter buffer a long time ago.
