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

Star Trek: Year One: Goldsman on Keeping Kirk Prequel "Dream" Alive

Star Trek EP Akiva Goldsman on his "dream" to expand Strange New Worlds into Year One, set before the experienced Kirk leads ST: TOS.

Published Wed, 17 Sep 2025 08:37:03 -0500

by Tom Chang

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Article Summary

Akiva Goldsman shares his vision for Star Trek: Year One, bridging Strange New Worlds and The Original Series.
Year One would focus on Paul Wesley’s Kirk becoming the legendary captain leading into William Shatner’s era.
Plans hinge on Skydance’s new ownership of Paramount, with no official greenlight for Year One yet.
Strange New Worlds still has two seasons left, with key TOS characters yet to make their debuts.

The streaming era offers a wide range of possibilities in terms of original content. Still, the caveat is that, given the ongoing demand, shows won't return to the traditional 20+ episode seasons. Instead, most hover closer to 10, which often skews the milestones of franchises like Star Trek, which enjoyed success for nearly 40 years on broadcast and syndication. Since Discovery, Star Trek has had multiple shows on Paramount+ with programming, particularly the films, landing on other platforms on occasion. As the only active live-action series, Strange New Worlds wrapped its third season, with fans eagerly awaiting its final 20+ episodes for seasons four and five. The endgame is something Akiva Goldsman hopes to fill in the gap before the timeline officially overlaps with The Original Series. Speaking with TrekMovie.com, the EP and gatekeeper of the Trek franchise provided an update on his proposed series Star Trek: Year One to bookend SNW and TOS that turns Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk into the captain that William Shatner will become.

Star Trek: Year One: EP Akiva Goldsman Provides Update on Series

Upon the ongoing five-year mission, SNW will end with Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) relinquishing the captain's chair in favor of the USS Farragut's first officer, Lt. Jim Kirk. While Welsey's Kirk was introduced at the season one finale, his presence grew with season two, and fans first saw him take command with the Farragut's captain incapacitated in the season three episode "The Sehlate Who Ate Its Tail," which also grouped him with familiar TOS characters Spock (Ethan Peck), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Scotty (Martin Quinn), and Chapel (Jess Bush).

When asked about an update with Skydance's purchasing of Paramount, "I think that—as I say, we're renters, right?—and so the new owners of the house just took possession. So I don't know. I think 'Year One's' a dream. And it's a good dream, and it's a real dream," Goldsman said. "And we would do it in a heartbeat. And right now, we know we promise to end Strange New Worlds well, so that's what we're doing. And if, for some reason, that dream is shared by the folks at Skydance and Paramount, that would be amazing. But we're not relying on it. We're ending the show because we promise to end the show in a way that is complete."

With two seasons to go, the series hasn't introduced TOS characters Dr. Hank McCoy, Hikaru Sulu, and Pavel Chekov, originally played by DeForest Kelley, George Takei, and Walter Koenig, respectively. While it's more likely we'll be introduced to Bones and Sulu, and perhaps not as much, Chekov, since he was a season two addition, no matter what The Wrath of Khan tells you about season one's "Space Seed." For more, you can check out the complete report.

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