Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: interview, Mike McMahan, paramount, star trek, star trek: deep space nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, star trek: Lower Decks

Lower Decks Creator on "Star Trek" Crossovers, Drops Season 5 Tease

Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan discusses that SNW crossover & how guest appearances are handled and drops a Season 5 tease.

Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan is in the unique position of being able to creatively "play" in one of the largest franchise sandboxes out there with his animated comedy on Paramount+. So far, we've heard from stars from The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. In the streaming era, Lower Decks managed to crossover into live-action with the season two episode of Strange New Worlds "Those Old Scientists," which saw stars Tawny Newsome (Mariner) and Jack Quaid (Boimler) physically appear in front of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. At the end of the episode, we even got a glimpse of what Pike (Anson Mount) & company looked like animated. In the upcoming episode "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place," we get two DS9 alums, Max Grodénchik & Chase Masterson, reprising their roles as Rom and Leeta, respectively. McMahan spoke to Bleeding Cool about the Strange New Worlds crossover, if the reverse scenario was ever considered, and not wanting to turn return appearances into glorified cameos – and even dropped a tease about season five.

Star Trek: Lower Decks: From Ensigns to Lieutenants

Bleeding Cool: What were some of the goals you wanted to establish for 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' season four?

McMahan: I originally thought the season was going to end with them getting promoted [to lieutenant], and then it felt more fun to promote them at the beginning and see what kind of fun chaos that caused. It's been fun to see what kind of stories we get from it, but also how the characters are changing and evolving but still feeling fun to spend time with. I also wanted to just keep…like we knew the crossover episode was going to air beforehand, and I wanted to keep that momentum with the fun up. That classic mix of "We want to be a full Star Trek episode, but animated and funny" as a love letter to everything.

Was there any talk about the reverse with "Strange New Worlds" crossing over with "Lower Decks," or was it always Boimler and Mariner going to 'Strange New Worlds?'

There was never a discussion of that. I think the timeline is so different that doing it twice would be a little odd. We only had one shot at it, and their sets exist [laughs]. You bring in the Lower Deckers into them, saving everybody a little bit of a headache. The thing I must give them so much credit for that people really don't understand is they knocked it out of the park at being open to in a show entering its second season, doing something so wild and inclusive to 'Lower Decks' that it resulted in something that was greater than the sum of its parts. It was this magic that a lot of people in a second-season show wouldn't have kind of gone that wild. That's the "strange" and the "new" in 'Strange New Worlds,' know what I mean? It was the way that Henry [Alonso Myers] and Akiva [Goldsman] run that show is really inspiring.

In "Star Trek: Lower Decks," Legacy Characters Appearances Matter

The series has been sharing the love across a number of other franchise shows, more specifically 'Deep Space Nine.' Outside of that, the only 'DS9' character was originally a 'Next Generation' character in Michael Dorn's Worf. In this upcoming episode, you have Max and Chase returning as Rom and Leeta. Are there any long-term plans to bring in more 'DS9' characters like you had Nina [Visitor] and Armin [Shimerman] earlier?

Listen, I'm a greedy dude. If it was up to me, we would slowly highlight every single character from every previous Trek show. It has to make sense within the timeline that 'Lower Decks' takes place and for the stories that 'Lower Decks' is telling. I don't want it to feel like 'Laugh-In' or 'The Muppet Show' where it's like and this week starring, "some previous person." I want to write up those characters and fill in a little bit more of the timeline without breaking anything.

That's why we're careful. It's also when there's a guest actor…a legacy character on the show, you want to honor the thing they built. You want to give them something a little new, but it also pulls attention away from one of the ten episodes we get each season. It must be a marriage of 'Lower Decks' and that previous show. When we do our job right, like in the 'Deep Space Nine' episode or in this week's episode, you feel like you're getting both at once. It's kind of what 'Strange New Worlds' pulled off, too. I don't have specific plans, and I can't speak to season five because there's some fun stuff happening there as well.

I love all these characters that have come before, and I love highlighting not only characters that maybe you might want to see more or maybe that you don't expect in new ways but also like how we brought back the Pakleds first season or how you'll see the Van Doren's coming up, I like taking one-off characters that maybe or species and giving them another chance in the spotlight because Star Trek is a massive quadrant of species and characters. It's fun to get to breathe life into them again in animation as if no time has passed, as if it hasn't been 30-something years.

You said in a previous interview that you're hoping maybe you can get anyone from Enterprise to come on board – perhaps in the next season?

I'm a big 'Enterprise' fan, and even though that's truly the toughest because they're so far back in the timeline, I'm trying to figure out how to concoct a way to get some 'Enterprise' love. I'm not a big fan of time travel, especially because we did it in the crossover. You guys must watch season five and tell me if I got away with it. There's a little 'Enterprise' love in season five for sure.

Star Trek: Lower Decks, which also stars Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, Gillian Vigman, and Paul Scheer, streams Thursdays on Paramount+. Check out our previous interviews with McMahan and Cordero.

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