Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, strange new worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Leads to Kirk's First Day of Command: EP

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds EP Akiva Goldsman discusses talks with Paramount about ending the series and having Kirk in command.

The end game for Discovery and Strange New Worlds was always to transition directly to The Original Series, according to executive producer Akiva Goldsman, but the journey gets a lot more complicated than that. As the U.S.S. Discovery traveled forward in time from the 23rd century to wrap in the 32nd at the end of season two, the U.S.S. Enterprise and Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) took over that pre-TOS narrative with Paramount announcing their journey's end after five seasons before the season three premiere. Speaking with TrekMovie.com, Goldsman spoke about what they didn't get for the Sonequa Martin-Green-starred series, they got for SNW that will see Pike pass the torch one way or another to Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk, originally played by William Shatner in the NBC series.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds EP Akiva Goldsman on Making Sure the Enterprise Gets to Where It Needs to Be for 'The Original Series'

When Discovery season five was announced to be its last, it became news to the cast and crew because they had already shot the full season without its ending in mind. After speaking with Paramount, an epilogue was filmed for the finale, "Life, Itself," that extended the series finale, providing a proper sendoff for the crew. "Unfortunately, 'Discovery's' loss was our gain," Goldsman recalled. "So they basically said, 'Look, we think we're done after four seasons.' And we said, 'Hey, what about our whole 'Let's get the fans to the TOS era,' because what happens to all these people, and how does this person will come up?' And they were like, 'No, that's fair. That's true.' And they said, 'What do you need to get there?' And we said, 'Six episodes' and they said okay."

Even as plans were in place, there was a lot happening with Paramount with budget constraints, which included the proposed merger with Skydance. "The good news was, when I say 'they,' really the folks who make this show wanted this to happen too, but there are fiscal constraints that are real. You know what's going on with Paramount," Goldsman explained. "So to move things forward in that environment was a challenge, but everybody—CBS, Paramount, Strange New Worlds, and [Alex Kurtzman's production company] Secret Hideout were all pulling in the same direction. And that's how we ended up getting six episodes. So it wasn't really a negotiation, but it was a heavy lift for pretty much everybody, because everybody wanted not to have another Discovery circumstance where it felt abrogated in a way that wasn't thorough."

As fans know, Kirk was already established as the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise in TOS, as the crew had been in the middle of the five-year mission. Goldsmann clarified that the passing of the torch moment will not necessarily be the end of Strange New Worlds as the beginning of TOS already has an experienced captain to match his experienced crew, "We will take the show to Kirk's first day of command, which is, by the way, not actually 'The Original Series.' 'The Original Series' starts a bit into Kirk's command."

When it comes to the narrative after Strange New Worlds, Goldsman was open to doing a revival that continues TOS adventures, likely retaining the same actors in those roles. "Let me put it this way: I certainly wouldn't say no [to a follow-up show set on the Enterprise]," he said. The only characters we don't know the fate of by the time of TOS are Rebecca Romijn's Una Chin-Riley, Christina Chong's La'an Noonien Singh, and Melissa Navia's Erica Otegas. We also haven't been introduced to Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Hikaru Sulu in SNW, who are the TOS chief medical officer and helmsman, respectively. The two-episode season three premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which also stars Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Babs Olusanmokun, Carol Kane, and Martin Quinn, premieres July 17th on Paramount+ with new episodes every Thursday.

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