It’s a bit of a weird time to be a Trek fan right now. With Starfleet Academy reportedly ending after season two and Strange New Worlds wrapping up with its upcoming fifth season, the future of the franchise on TV feels like it’s hanging in the balance.
For a while, there was a lot of buzz about a potential spin-off called Star Trek: Year One. The idea, championed by showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, would follow Paul Wesley’s James T. Kirk during his first year in the captain’s chair.
Unfortunately, that dream might be hitting a bulkhead.
According to reports from Trek Central, the sets for both Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds are currently being dismantled. Crew members have even shared photos online showing the de-rigging process in progress.
In the world of TV production, taking down sets is usually a sign that a show is truly finished. This is a massive hurdle for Year One because the pitch relied heavily on the fact that the Enterprise sets were already built and ready to go.
The concept for the spin-off first gained traction last year at San Diego Comic-Con. Akiva Goldsman described it as a way to explore the "lost years" of Trek history:
"What we’ve tried to do is reach back to Pike’s Enterprise and bring it in line with the kind of storytelling we do today, then take us right up to Kirk’s first day on the job. That’s the hope. That’s the plan. And if you like us enough, you can always write, 'Dear Skydance and Paramount, you still have the sets. Don’t you want to make Star Trek: Year One?'"
While the creative team did officially pitch the series to Paramount and Skydance, they haven't received a green light. Henry Alonso Myers confirmed recently that the proposal is in the hands of the studio, but with the sets being hauled away, that "easy" transition to a new show is disappearing.
The decision to strike the sets suggests that Paramount might be ready to move away from the prequel era and the aesthetic of The Original Series. This leaves a lot of questions unanswered. We still don't know what the next chapter of Star Trek TV looks like, or if Alex Kurtzman will continue to lead the franchise as he has for the last decade. For now, it seems like the journey of the Starship Enterprise under Pike and Kirk might be reaching its final frontier sooner than we hoped.