Star Trek: Starfleet Academy got a much-needed update from Star Trek Universe head Alex Kurtzman during New York Comic-Con 2023. Kurtzman confirmed for fans that Starfleet Academy will be another comedic-leaning Star Trek series, saying the series will be 'funny' (as per Collider).

Soon after the initial announcement about Starfleet Academy, Star Trek: Lower Decks animated series star Tawny Newsome revealed that she was joining the writers' room for the new series, giving fans the early impression that the show was going in a funnier direction. Collider got to speak with Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan, who confirmed that Newsome was going to be a great influence on Starfleet Academy: " "I'm a huge fan of Tawny's... Don't tell [Alex] Kurtzman, who is her showrunner right now, but I'm the first one to be like, 'Number one, everybody should hire Tawny to write on their show; number two, everybody should hire Tawny to star in their show because she's a f*ck*ng star.'"

What Is Star Trek: Starfleet Academy About?

The synopsis explaining Star Trek: Starfleet Academy can be read below:

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY will introduce us to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY is the latest addition to the expanding "Star Trek" franchise on Paramount+, which includes the current hit original series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, STAR TREK: PICARD, the animated series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS and STAR TREK: PRODIGY, and STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS.

When making the announcement about the series, Kurtzman and co. posted a mock recruitment call for Starfleet cadets to join the academy, which read as follows:

"Admission is now open to Starfleet Academy! Explore the galaxy! Captain your destiny! For the first time in over a century, our campus will be re-opened to admit individuals a minimum of 16 Earth years (or species equivalent) who dream of exceeding their physical, mental and spiritual limits, who value friendship, camaraderie, honor and devotion to a cause greater than themselves," Kurtzman and co-producer Noga Landau said in an earlier statement teasing the series. "The coursework will be rigorous, the instructors among the brightest lights in their respective fields, and those accepted will live and study side-by-side with the most diverse population of students ever admitted. Today we encourage all who share our dreams, goals and values to join a new generation of visionary cadets as they take their first steps toward creating a bright future for us all. Apply today! Ex Astris, Scientia!"

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is in development.

Star Trek Universe head Alex Kurtzman is giving fans an update on the Star Trek: Section 31 movie, now that the Writers' Strike is over - including the massive question of whether or not Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh is still involved.

During the Star Trek panel at New York Comic-Con 2023, Kurtzman let fans know that Michelle Yeoh is not only still attached to the Section 31 movie, but she is backing the project "with all her power." That is an important confirmation, as Yeoh's career has hit a new stratosphere after the release of the hit film Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022. After Yeoh walked away with the Best Actress Oscar this year, there was a lot of buzz that she could be leaving her days in the Star Trek TV Universe behind.

Paramount made a big statement back in Spring, by officially announcing the Star Trek: Section 31 movie (as opposed to the original limited series format) with Yeoh still attached to star. At the time of the movie's announcement, Yeoh put out a statement that indicated her enthusiasm for Section 31 was indeed very high:

"I'm beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I've loved for so long," Yeoh's statement read. "Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched. To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that's shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can't wait to share what's in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!"

Domenic DiMeglio, chief marketing officer and head of data at Paramount Streaming added that, "We're thrilled that Star Trek: Section 31 will be the next title in our Star Trek universe. Michelle Yeoh is an incomparable talent - she brought Emperor Georgiou to life in such an incredibly fun and nuanced way that the character immediately became a fan favorite. We're so thrilled to welcome Michelle back to the Star Trek and Paramount+ family and can't wait for fans to see what this special movie event has in store."

What Is Star Trek: Section 31 About?

Star Trek: Section 31 will be a spinoff movie from the Star Trek: Discovery TV series, which is focused on Star Fleet's Intelligence division, and its covert operations unit that tracks and eliminates extreme threats to Starfleet, using extreme measures.

In Star Trek: Discovery, Michelle Yeo played two versions of Philippa Georgiou from two different timelines. The "Prime" version was a Starfleet captain and mentor to Discovery protagonist Michael Burnham, who died during a mission early in the series. Burnham and her crewmates later encountered a version of Georgiou from the "Terran Universe" where the kindly captain was now the ruthless emperor of the Terran Empire, a war-mongering version of what Starfleet could be. That version of Georgiou was brought back to the Prime Universe, where her killer nature and imperial mind were put to work for Section 31. Last seen, Georgiou had to separate from Burnham and the Discovery crew after they jumped ahead into the 32nd Century, as Georgiou being an anomaly of both time and alternate reality was too much of a strain on temporal balance.

The Star Trek: Section 31 movie will presumably pick up Georgiou's story in the 23rd-century version of Section 31, and examine whether her presence is for the good or ill of the Prime Universe.

Patrick Stewart drew Star Trek: Picard to a close on Paramount+ earlier this year, but he doesn't want to be done with his beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation character, Jean-Luc Picard, yet. Since reuniting with his Star Trek: The Next Generation co-stars aboard the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Stewart has said he'd like to play the character again in one more movie. In a recent interview with Wired, primarily about Stewart's new memoir, Making It So (a title drawn from his performances as Picard), Stewart explained what he still hoped to achieve with Jean-Luc in a final film.

"Well, it would be: Let's explore further the inside of this man's head," Stewart says. "His fears, his anger, his frustration, his questioning all of those things. There is a moment, I'm not quite sure where it comes in the series ... Well, there are two moments. One is when Picard doesn't know what to do. He's stumped. And we never saw that in The Next Generation. There is also a moment when he is truly fearful. And those two pointers alone, I think, make him an interesting study for one more movie."

While Stewart still has things he'd like to achieve as Picard, this theoretical final film wouldn't entirely focus on that character as Star Trek: Picard's first two seasons did. Instead, it'd be more like Star Trek: Picard's final season, featuring the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation cast.

"I think we could do a movie, a Picard-based movie. Now not necessarily at all about Picard but about all of us," Stewart told IndieWire. "And to take many of those wonderful elements, particularly from Season 3 of Picard, and take out of that what I think could be an extraordinary movie. I keep telling people and mentioning it, and so far there's been no eager response, but it might well happen. And that would be I think a very appropriate way to say, 'And goodbye folks.'"

Will a Star Trek: Picard movie happen?

Stewart is pushing for a movie following up on Star Trek: Picard Season 3 and says in the Wired interview that he's had private conversations about it. His longtime co-star Jonathan Frakes hopes their story continues but has previously admitted, "Movies are tough! Even JJ [Abrams] can't get this fourth movie off the ground. All those wonderful rumors? Noah Hawley was attached to a Star Trek movie, and Quentin was toying with people's emotions about doing a movie. If those two names can't get a f****** movie made, I don't know. TV is the future, it seems to me."

There may be another way forward. Paramount+ recently announced a Star Trek: Section 31 movie starring Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Georgiou, which is reportedly the first in a series of straight-to-streaming Star Trek Paramount+ wants to release biennially. Perhaps a Star Trek: Picard movie could be one of those releases.

How to watch Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard is streaming in its entirety on Paramount+. Star Trek: Picard - The Final Season is now on Blu-ray and DVD, joining Star Trek: Picard - Season One and Star Trek: Picard - Season Two. All three seasons are available in a single Star Trek: Picard - The Complete Series box set and Star Trek: Picard The Legacy Collection - which will include all seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard, as well as all four Star Trek: The Next Generation movies - is set for release in November.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 has found a new streaming home on Netflix. The Star Trek animated series has been searching for a new place to stream ever since Paramount+ canceled the series and removed the first season from its library. Production continued on the second season in the hopes of finding Star Trek: Prodigy a new means of reaching fans, and it seems those hopes have come to fruition with Netflix, who previously carried Paramount+'s Star Trek series in international markets before Paramount+ began its global rollout. Star Trek: Prodigy will become the first new Star Trek show to stream anywhere other than Paramount+ (or CBS All Access, its previous branding) in a market where Paramount+ has been available since the long-running sci-fi franchise entered the streaming era with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 will move to Netflix later this year. Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 will debut on Netflix in 2024.

"Thank you to our incredible Star Trek: Prodigy fans, who championed not just a show, but a community that's always been connected by the belief that we build a better future together," said executive producer Alex Kurtzman and co-showrunners Dan and Kevin Hageman in a statement. "We set out to inspire you, but you inspired us. The team is still hard at work on the second season, and we can't wait to share it with the amazing fans around the world."

"I've always held that the Star Trek fan base is among the strongest and most intelligent in the world. They have shown their collective passion, and we're happy to be able to celebrate Prodigy once again," said Kate Mulgrew, the voice of Admiral Janeway.

Star Trek: Prodigy Heads to Netflix

Paramount+ canceled Star Trek: Prodigy following in June and quickly removed the first season from its streaming library despite having previously announced the second season of the Star Trek series for kids. However, work on the series' second season continues as Paramount looked to sell the series to another streaming service or television network.

The show's producers offered a glimpse at Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 during a panel at the annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas earlier this year. The clip confirmed the return of Robert Picardo as the voice of his fan-favorite character from Star Trek: Voyager.

What is Star Trek: Prodigy?

Star Trek: Prodigy follows the young crew of the U.S.S. Protostar, which the characters discovered on the prison colony of Tars Lamora, deep in the Delta Quadrant. Though aimed at younger viewers, Star Trek: Prodigy excited longtime Star Trek fans by bringing back Kate Mulgrew to voice Kathryn Janeway in both Hologram Janeway and Admiral Janeway forms

Star Trek: Prodigy's voice cast also included Brett Gray (Dal R'El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok). The recurring voice cast includes Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), and Billy Campbell (Thadiun Okona).

It's no secret that Patrick Stewart took some convincing before he'd agree to return to the Star Trek franchise as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+. Alex Kurtzman and other producers had to pitch Stewart passionately and convincingly before Stewart became interested in a return as Picard in the Star Trek universe. Stewart eventually acquiesced, but he had three conditions on which his return was contingent (while Marina Sirtis only had one), conditions that, as an executive producer of Star Trek: Picard, he had some power to enforce himself. Stewart lays out those conditions in his new memoir, Making It So.

The first condition was that Star Trek: Picard would not be a Star Trek: The Next Generation revival and that his former co-stars would not be a focus of the show. The second involved Picard's relationship with Starfleet. The final condition concerned how long the series would run. Stewart writes:

"1. The series would not be based on a reunion of 'The Next Generation' characters. I wanted it to have little or nothing to do with them. This was not at all a mark of disrespect for my beloved fellow actors. Rather, I simply felt it was essential to place Picard in entirely new settings with entirely new characters. Perhaps Picard might encounter Riker or Dr. Crusher in the second season, but such encounters were not to be the series' raison d'?tre.

"2. Picard would no longer be serving in Starfleet, and he was not to wear any kind of uniform or badges. 3. The series would run for no more than three seasons. It was clear to me that the writing team was not entirely thrilled with these conditions, but basically, they were all agreed to. The no-uniform rule was the toughest one for them to stomach, for some reason, and more than once, I was asked to reconsider my hard line. I stuck to my guns."

Patrick Stewart's Star Trek: Picard Conditions

Paramount+ stuck to Stewart's final condition. Star Trek: Picard ended with its third season (though not the way Stewart had hoped), which doesn't mean that Stewart is done with Jean-Luc Picard, as he still hopes to play the role again in another Star Trek movie.

The second rule - the one about Starfleet and uniforms - was infringed upon somewhat, but the show kept to its spirit. Stewart did appear in a Starfleet uniform in Star Trek: Picard Season 1 for a scene that flashed back to his final day in Starfleet, and again, briefly, in Season 2 when he gave a speech to Starfleet Academy cadets. However, he and his crew acted independently from Starfleet in Season 1. Although he was reinstated as Chancellor of Starfleet Academy in Season 2, the time-jumping plot meant his relationship with Starfleet had little to do with the story. By Season 3, Picard had retired again. Though Picard did wear badges for communication throughout much of the series, the uniforms mostly stayed in storage.

That first rule was stuck to during most of the series. Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, and Marina Sirtis had guest roles in Star Trek: Picard's first season, with John de Lancie and Whoopi Goldberg then appearing in Season 2. However, Star Trek: Picard Season 3 was very much the Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion that Stewart hoped to avoid when he signed up for the series. He explains how that happened in Making It So:

"For Season Three, our last, Terry Matalas, by then 'Picard's' showrunner, told me that the studio wanted a full 'Next Generation' reunion. Ugh, just what I had firmly said I didn't want. But that had been three years ago. Now I was less resistant, having enjoyed working with Jonathan, Brent, Marina, John, and Whoopi. As an executive producer, I had a say in how we might go about achieving such a reunion. I told Terry, 'I like the idea, provided that we don't bring them all back at once. Let's trickle them back in."

Stewart had his way there. Star Trek: Picard begins with Frakes' Will Riker again joining his old captain, Stewart's Picard, as they gently hijack the USS Titan-A to respond to a distress call from Dr. Beverley Crusher, played by Gates McFadden. More of the Enterprise's bridge gradually join the cast, but the whole group isn't back together - and back aboard the Enterprise - until the final act.

Star Trek: Picard is streaming in its entirety on Paramount+. Star Trek: Picard - The Final Season is now on Blu-ray and DVD, joining Star Trek: Picard - Season One and Star Trek: Picard - Season Two. All three seasons are available in a single Star Trek: Picard - The Complete Series box set and Star Trek: Picard The Legacy Collection - which will include all seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard, as well as all four Star Trek: The Next Generation movies - is set for release in November.

Star Trek 4 has seen several iterations while gestating at Paramount Pictures, beginning as a time travel movie teaming Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) with his father, George (Chris Hemsworth). It has since been passed between various writers and directors to develop in different directions. Screenwriter Lindsey Anderson Beer had been working on the latest version of Star Trek 4 before departing to focus her attention on Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, the prequel horror film now streaming on Paramount+. Before that, she had participated in a writers' room to develop a Star Trek movie pitch separate from Star Trek 4 that came from director Quentin Tarantino. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Beer described working in Tarantino's room.

"We got in there and he started with, 'So what are your guys' ideas for a movie?' and I think I went first," Beer recalled. "So he listened to us patiently and just kind of nodded his head, and then he took out his notebook and started talking for 20 minutes with lines of dialogue and passionate ideas that he'd already written. It wasn't really a story yet; they were just random thoughts he had on a movie, but it was so passionate and so wonderful. And I laughed to myself and thought, 'Well, why didn't we start with that?'"

Paramount eventually chose Mark L. Smith to write Tarantino's Star Trek. Tarantino has said that his Star Trek would have been R-rated and like Pulp Fiction in space and was inspired by the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "A Piece of the Action," where Captain Kirk and Spock visit a 1920s-style gangster planet.

What's next for Star Trek 4?

While Beer didn't get that job, Tarantino thought she did good work. That led to her current relationship with Bad Robot and working on Star Trek 4. She talked about leaving Star Trek 4 during a recent interview with ComicBook.com.

"I wrote a couple drafts of that before I had to leave for Pet Sematary. And it was originally, the seed of the idea came from J.J. himself, who's such a creatively generous person, and it was amazing collaborating with him," Beer said. "And it was very sad to leave our Zoom sessions to focus on [Pet Sematary: Bloodlines], but this was my baby, so I had to prioritize."

While she has stepped away from Star Trek 4, she did tell Collider that, despite losing director Matt Shakman to Marvel's Fantastic Four reboot, the next Star Trek movie is still moving forward. "It is, it's still on the tracks," Beer says. "I love that project, and it was another one that I had to hop off of to direct this movie, and that was a hard thing to do. But I love that everybody involved with that project."

When will Star Trek 4 be released?

Paramount had scheduled Star Trek 4 for release in 2023 with Shakman directing. After Shakman dropped out, Paramount dropped the movie from its release schedule.

Paramount first announced Star Trek 4 ahead of Star Trek Beyond's theatrical release in 2016. J.D. Payne and Patrick McCay were writing, and Hemsworth was to return as George Kirk. SJ Clarkson signed onto the project as director, with J.J. Abrams producing. However, Hemsworth and Pine dropped out during contract negotiations, halting those plans.

After that came reports of Tarantino's Star Trek. Paramount also started developing a Star Trek movie with Noah Hawley. Paramount eventually backed off of both projects, deciding instead to hire Star Trek: Discovery writer Kalinda Vasquez to write a script for Star Trek 4. Paramount later replaced Vasquez with Beer, Robertson-Dworet, and Shakman's version.

Star Trek: Lower Decks' next season might be its last. That's the reality of the situation according to series creator Mike McMahan. While Star Trek: Lower Decks has already been renewed for another season, and the team behind Star Trek's animated comedy is hard at work on Season 5, McMahan observes, in an interview with CinemaBlend, the seeming contraction of the Star Trek franchise on Paramount+, concurrent with the overall cutting back on content by streaming services, which may end up being the writing on the wall. McMahan opened up about how that makes him feel about Star Trek: Lower Decks' future, encouraging fans to be vocal about their love of the series before it gets canceled so that maybe it can avoid the situation in which Star Trek: Prodigy now finds itself.

"Yeah, I mean, listen, we're in weird times," McMahan says. "Everything is changing. I think everything's gonna continue to change. I would say nothing is safe. I don't have any bad news for anybody, but also, I think you shouldn't assume that this stuff is gonna stick around unless you vocally and watch it early on. I do not know if we're going to have another season after the season we're working on right now [Season 5]. Lower Decks could very well be a five-season show."

McMahan continued, "So, if you love Lower Decks as much as I do, I would say make sure to watch it and get people to watch it now. A letter writing campaign after a show gets canceled, it's helpful, but what's more helpful is campaigning to get more eyes on the show when it's airing because it gives me the ability to push for more seasons. I would love to finish Lower Decks with the plan that I have for it. I would say, take Prodigy looking for a new [network], and take a look at Picard being wrapped at Season 3, and at Discovery wrapping as well. I would say read those as signs that if you want more Lower Decks, you should be vocal about it now and not wait."

How Star Trek: Lower Decks will end.

ComicBook.com spoke to McMahan recently. In that interview, he touched on how he thinks about and approaches the ending of the series.

"I'm never thinking the series is going to end because I don't want to write and compact," McMahan said. "I would rather feel like the last episode feels like a series resolution once I've found out that that's happening, and then instead, you get a season where you're writing up to these characters who will continue to exist after the series is over."

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Cast

Star Trek: Lower Decks stars "lower decks" crewmembers of the U.S.S. Cerritos Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Ensign Tendi (No?l Wells), and Ensign Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). Provisional Ensign T'Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) joined the crew in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3. The U.S.S. Cerritos' bridge crew includes Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O'Connell), Lieutenant Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore), and Doctor T'Ana, (Gillian Vigman).

Mike McMahan (Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites) created Star Trek: Lower Decks. In Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, "an unknown force is destroying starships and threatening galactic peace. Luckily, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos isn't important enough for stuff like that! Instead, Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford, and Provisional Ensign T'Lyn are keeping up with their Starfleet duties, avoiding malevolent computers and getting stuck in a couple caves - all while encountering new and classic aliens along the way."

How to watch Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4

CBS' Eye Animation Productions, Secret Hideout, and Roddenberry Entertainment produced Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4. Secret Hideout's Alex Kurtzman, Roddenberry Entertainment's Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth, and Katie Krentz (219 Productions) are executive producers with showrunner Mike McMahan. Aaron Baiers (Secret Hideout) also serves as an executive producer. Titmouse (Big Mouth) serves as the animation studio for the series.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Latin America. In Canada, Star Trek: Lower Decks airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Star Trek: Lower Decks will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in the UK, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and South Korea later this year.

Star Trek and rapper/actor Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi have announced an official collaboration taking place this month. Billed as a "multi-faceted" partnership, Star Trek and Kid Cudi collab will feature an original Kid Cudi song inspired by Star Trek titled "Heavens Galaxy"; a New York Comic-Con booth featuring collab merch (including "tees, crewnecks, hoodies, a custom button-up t-shirt and a colorful leather varsity jacket"), as well as a first look at the Kid Cudi + Star Trek + Fortnite gaming collaboration, "Mirror Mayhem."

You can check out first details of the Kid Cudi and Star Trek collaboration event, below:

"BOLDLY BE" WITH "STAR TREK" AND KID CUDI

The Multi-Faceted Partnership Between "Star Trek" and

Kid Cudi Launches Oct. 12 During New York Comic Con with a New Kid Cudi Single, Immersive Fortnite Gaming Experience and a Capsule Streetwear Collection

Oct. 5, 2023 - "Star Trek" and Scott Mescudi, better known by his stage name, Kid Cudi, announce details of their one-of-a-kind collaboration, kicking off "Star Trek's" all-new "Boldly Be" campaign.

The collaboration will launch on Oct. 12 at the start of New York Comic Con with the release of an original Kid Cudi song inspired by "Star Trek" titled "Heaven's Galaxy." Fans can also visit the "Star Trek" x Kid Cudi booth that will showcase the capsule collection and a first look at the Fortnite gaming experience at NYCC on the Javits show floor from Oct. 12-15, booth 2653.

"Heavens Galaxy" was written by Cudi, produced by longtime collaborator Dot Da Genius and inspired by Cudi's own fandom of "Star Trek." It will be available beginning Thursday, Oct. 12 on all streaming platforms.

Fans can also join "Star Trek," Kid Cudi and Fortnite as they embark on an out-of-this-world music and gaming collaboration like nothing this Galaxy has seen before! STAR TREK X KID CUDI: MIRROR MAYHEM brings Kid Cudi into the worlds of both "Star Trek" and Fortnite to perform his brand-new "Star Trek"-themed music collaboration, "Heaven's Galaxy," as well as never-before-heard songs from his new album, INSANO. Boldly Go as you partner with Captain Skyles (Kid Cudi) on a mission to uncover the source of a sonic anomaly that threatens the peaceful planet Vada. Beam down to explore, discover and defend a world these forces are threatening to tear apart. It's up to you and other Starfleet recruits to work together with Captain Skyles to uncover the source of this musical malady and restore the harmony of Vada while there's still time! STAR TREK X KID CUDI: MIRROR MAYHEM will launch later this month.

Featuring "Star Trek"-inspired mantras like "Live Long and Rage," the Kid Cudi x "Star Trek" capsule collection will include tees, crewnecks, hoodies, a custom button-up t-shirt and a colorful leather varsity jacket with robust chenille and embroidery details. The collection will debut at New York Comic Con on Oct. 12 with a preorder window exclusively for attendees, followed by the global release on shop.kidcudi.com on Oct. 16.

"Boldly Be" takes its inspiration from "Star Trek's" ethos of IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations), the basis of Vulcan philosophy that the vast variables create truth, beauty and strength.

The Star Trek + Kid Cudi collab event begins on October 12th during New York Comic-Con.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is about halfway through airing its fourth season on Paramount+, and this one has been a little different than previous seasons for a few reasons: the season premiere saw the lower deckers getting promoted from ensigns to lieutenants junior grade, the Cerritos has welcomed a new member to the crew in the Vulcan T'Lyn, and there's a mysterious ship destroying other ships throughout the galaxy in a subplot running through almost every episode of the season thus far. In this week's episode, "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine stars Max Grod?nchik and Chase Masterson reprise their respective roles as Rom and Leeta as the Cerritos heads to the Ferengi homeworld of Ferenginar on a diplomatic mission.

This week, ComicBook.com had the opportunity to speak to Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan about these changes, plus how it feels to see Lower Decks characters appearing in Star Trek tie-in comics and other places. Here's what he had to say:

Jamie Lovett, ComicBook.com: We're about halfway through Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, but since this is the first chance you've really had to discuss it. When you sat down with your writers to talk about the season, what were the goals you had in mind? Did you have specific thoughts about where to go, or did you just turn to your writers and were like, "Hit me with your best shot."

Mike McMahan: I don't like to do the "hit me with your best shot." I think writers work best if a showrunner comes in and says, "Okay, I want to do A, B, and C, but I need to know how to do those, and I need D, E, F for these characters that I haven't quite figured out yet." Then everybody's coming in and being, like, "Here's a goal, but then let's figure out different ways to do it and see it and laugh."

When I started this season, I was like, "All right, obviously, we're going to end Season 4 with people getting promoted." And then pretty quickly, I was like, "You know what? Let's promote them, end of Episode 1." And everybody was like, "Whoa, then what stories do we tell?" And I'm like, "That's the feeling I want the audience to have. That's the feeling I want the characters to have. Let's get to it."

Who knows how many more seasons of the show I might get to do? I'm writing Season 5. That might be our last season, so if that's something I want to do, let's get it done and be surprising, and I hope that was a surprise. It feels like people are responding to it, and it really is like it doesn't change the spirit of the show. It just changes the types of stories we can tell. It pushes me into a Mariner storyline for this season that you'll be seeing expressed more on the back half that I've been wanting to do for a while, that's been cooking for a while and that mirrors these attacks happening in the beginnings of the episodes, that something is building.

You mentioned that you were thinking about sending the season with the promotions. Why was that? Did you know at the time you were thinking about going that way that there would be a Season 5? Did you think that might be where the series should end? Why was Season 4 the right time to make them lieutenants?

I'm never thinking the series is going to end because I don't want to write and compact. I would rather feel like the last episode feels like a series resolution once I've found out that that's happening, and then instead, you get a season where you're writing up to these characters who will continue to exist after the series is over. For me, it felt like we had been writing episodes about them being ensigns, but we had seen them accomplish so much that it was starting to feel like two things were happening: that it would become curious that they weren't up for promotion and that would start to have a little bit of a gravitational pull on the attention of the audience, and then at the same time it was starting to feel like, "Oh, I always want to surprise everybody." I want the show to feel delightful, and there are different ways to do that, but a big way to do it is to open up new storytelling abilities for us and to get to watch these characters do the things they've said they wanted to do." And it doesn't mean they have to be victorious about it, it doesn't mean they don't backslide.

Instinctively, I thought we had another season of goofing around as ensigns, and then I just decided you only live once, so let's see if this show can handle them being promoted and see how it feels. And after a couple of episodes, I was like, "This feels great!" I shed a tear when you say goodbye to the bunks because I love the bunks. It's like losing a character. It's like losing a part of the storytelling, but realizing I could give Rutherford and Boimler bunks in a room that feels like college felt really good to me. It opened up stories that felt fun to me. I went outside of my comfort zone to do it, but I'm really happy we did because it resulted in something that was unexpected for me, too.

What I'm hearing is that you feel like the Lower Decks characters have outshone Harry Kim, the eternal ensign. They are already past him.

[Laughs] Listen, Harry Kim on Voyager is different from Boimler on the Cerritos. It's a little harder to get promoted on slightly more important ships. I feel for Harry Kim.

You mentioned this, but there is a secondary ongoing story in the mix, and that feels new and different. Obviously, you don't want to give anything away regarding where that's headed, but can you talk about how you decided to implement that in this season and why?

I wanted there to be a breadcrumb trail of something that led to a really cool season finale. I think that's a fun thing, on a rewatch especially, to get to watch go down. I also really loved and wanted to get more of the storytelling we saw in "wej Duj," which was the three-ships episode, Season 2. Getting to do a little breadcrumb thing that replaced, if you go back and watch the first season, there were more cold open bits, standalone comedy bits that you would open the show with, and then it would get into the episode. I missed the modularity of that a little bit. We had also just experienced Season 3, where we had been building up the story of Rutherford and the Aledo and Buenamigo all season, and getting that to all work resulted in the second to last episode feeling like I had to do it instead of I wanted to do it. I still love that episode, but we needed 11 episodes that season to really resolve all of that. I told myself we would do a comic book run that filled the gap between those two episodes for Mariner being out and adventuring, but I think that I should've triggered that one episode earlier, but it's hard to navigate all that.

Then this season, I wanted to give our characters time. Now, by just having the modularity of doing these little sketches, of seeing lower deckers and bridge crews on other alien ships and popping into them and having them be removed from the narrative, except in the Betazoids are being affected by it. You're going to see other people being affected by it, but it doesn't drive the narrative of any individual episode. It's existing within it, and it's causing changes to happen within the show, but the Cerritos isn't directly being targeted by it. That was really fun for me because then I could start an episode and be like, "All right, we're going to see some Ferengi lower-deckers." That was really cool. And then it gets to a place which is really like... I don't want to give anything away. I'm going to stop there.

Fair enough. The other big difference this season is we have T'Lyn on board, as she's now part of the Cerritos crew. Can you tell me a little about the decision to bring her onto the Cerritos and what she offers into the storytelling mix?

T'Lyn was based on the cosplay of one of my writers, Kathryn Lyn, who used to go as a Vulcan named T'Lyn to comic cons and to Star Trek cons. She wrote "wej Duj" and asked if that could be the Vulcan character because we were seeing a Vulcan lower-decker and a Klingon lower-decker among the various lower-deckers. In that episode, even in the script, it was so fun to write T'Lyn, and then when color came back, and we put the music in, I was like, "Damn, I just love this character." I knew I wanted to bring her into Lower Decks, but I thought it was going to be way far out. Then the episode aired, and people lost their bananas loving that character, and I was like, "Oh, I don't have to wait. I can do this sooner."

I brought her in at the end of season three, but I wished I had done it a little earlier because I love the very Spock, T'Pol, Vulcan sense of humor that she has, and it's a different tone, but it's still comedy. You still laugh hearing lines that are so deadpan, and it also feels very Star Trek.

She's accepted by the main characters. It's like a new friend joining the friend group that fits in, and it feels like another person that makes sense. We're trying to write up to her to give her her own story to give her her own point of view, but she's so Star Trek through and through, and she's so Lower Decks that it was really seamless. It was really fun to add her.

You mentioned comic books, and I feel that between Season 3 and Season 4, Lower Decks really became enmeshed in the Star Trek expanded universe. We got a Star Trek: Lower Decks comic book miniseries. We got a whole RPG sourcebook about Lower Decks. We got characters like Shaxs showing up in a whole different Star Trek comic where he's hanging out with the Next Gen characters. It's interesting to see them integrated that way. I don't know how much of this you are following or directly involved with, but I was wondering how it feels for you to see these things you created really become part of this bigger, franchise universe in that way.

I mean, it's fucking awesome. I always hoped that that would happen, but it's really not in my control. I mean, I know Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. I've talked to them about the comic books and wanting to utilize all these different characters across different shows, and that you can plug in Lower Decks characters into those other situations means I'm doing something right because if they can wield those characters in a way that doesn't feel like Roger Rabbit; if it feels like they're fleshed out, thoughtful Star Trek characters, then that was part of the goal of Lower Decks was to build on the Star Trek pantheon, not to consume it.

Part of what I love about Star Trek is all the ancillary materials, and I even pitched that we do a series of really cheap, fun novels, almost like dime-store novels, based on the backstories of the bridge crew. I was pitching that Season 1, and I was like, "Let's hire all new authors, all fanfic authors, and put together a box set of these really pulpy fun Lower Decks books that have fun with that."

I put the collectible plates into the show! The ancillary fun of being a Star Trek fan is part of what I love. I'm using the whole buffalo. I want all that stuff to be involved, including in the episode that's coming up that's airing this week. They go to a Ferengi version of the Vegas Star Trek Experience restaurant that I've now canonized in Star Trek. That stuff, those details, are part of the fun of making a Star Trek show to me.

Speaking of this week's episode, there are more Deep Space Nine characters and actors showing up. Can you talk a little bit about the genesis of this episode? Did this come from the previous DS9 episode, where you still had ideas and thought you should do more with those characters, or was it something else?

I really wanted to do an episode for Chase Masterson. I love Chase. I've met her multiple times, and I've been dying to work with her, and I was like, "How do I get Leeta and Rom into Lower Decks?" And that started the conversation. I love what Deep Space Nine built about the Ferengi, and I wanted to do something that touched on that but also furthered the lower-decker story. Part of what I like about Lower Decks is we get to go to planets and spend more time on them than other shows really got to. Getting to go and be on Ferenginar and see it through the lens of our show was the impetus for that, and really to get to work with Chase. On top of that, I wanted to do an episode that had a little bit more of a comedic flair to it, that was a little bit more separating the characters to get these mini-stories in.

You see a be-careful-what-you-wish-for story with Tendi and Rutherford, you get to see Boimler going outside of what you expect him to do, and you start seeing more hints about Mariner's long story for the season. It was important to me to get that in there, too. It was all those things combined that made it make sense to do this episode that isn't really high stakes, but you do get a lot of funny stuff and a lot of information about the characters that speaks to the season as a whole.

Since you mentioned Tendi and Rutherford, I will ask: modern fans love a ship. Is that a storyline we'll see see teased out more as the season progresses or was that a one-off funny situation for this episode?

I'm dying to get those two together, but if I do, it could potentially really mess up the storytelling I like to tell with them. It's a delayed-gratification torture for me to be, like, "Obviously, let these two be happy and be together.: But they've always been defined as they are in love because of their shared love of Starfleet and this ship, and I, right now, have a lot more stories I want to tell about them, that even though they're an amazing friend couple, I don't know if I want to take them to a couple couple because I don't want them to feel like they got married too young and they didn't get to have and experience the stories we wanted to tell with them. This episode is me making fun of myself for being, like, "Be careful what you wish for." If they coupled up, what would that feel like? How ill-fitting would that suit be for them, just like you see them in this episode?

I think shippers will read into it, and look: I love that there's this community of people who feel for these characters and want to see them in these combinations. Sometimes, online folks will say, "Hey, you need to make these two characters get together." And I'm like, "Well, that's not my vision for the show," and then they get mad that I'm betraying them. But this stuff isn't made to order. I've got things I'm doing with it, and while I love that they love the characters and it really speaks to me that they're so passionate about it, I don't think anybody wants to watch made-to-order TV. That's why we're fighting AI. It should be what I feel we need, and what the actors have brought to the table. This is my little cautionary, be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale to me, but I'm sure people online will see it as me dogging on them -- and I'm sorry in advance -- but I'm not. I love that you guys all love these characters. It's just things happen at different rates than people want.

And from what you've said, it sounds almost like you were shipping them before anyone else.

Yeah! You don't think I want all the characters to make out? Think how easy that would be. Come on!

Star Trek: Lower Decks is streaming now on Paramount+. New episodes debut weekly on Thursdays.

Patrick Stewart may be happy for Tom Hardy's success now, but there was a time when the legendary Star Trek icon didn't think the younger actor was going to make it -- and even noted Hardy's odd behavior during the filming of Star Trek: Nemesis. In his new memoir, Making It So, the Captain Jean-Luc Picard actor looked back on making 2002's Nemesis and not only did Stewart call the film "particularly weak" but he had some interesting comments about Hardy, who played the film's villain Shinzon, as well.

"I didn't have a single exciting scene to play, and the actor who portrayed the movie's villain, Shinzon, was an odd, solitary young man from London. HIs name was Tom Hardy," Stewart said (via Variety).

He continued, "Tom wouldn't engage with any of us on a social level. Never said, 'Good morning,' never said, 'Goodnight,' and spent the hours he wasn't needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend...He was by no means hostile -- it was just challenging to establish any rapport with him. On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door. As it closed, I said quietly to Brent [Spiner] and Jonathan [Frakes], 'And there goes something I think we shall never hear of again' It gives me nothing but pleasure that Tom has proven me so wrong."

Hardy did indeed prove Stewart wrong. Nemesis was Hardy's third feature film, but the actor went on to appear in a number of other films before having major success with The Dark Knight Rises, Inception and then in the Venom franchise. Hardy has himself also previously said that, when it comes to Star Trek: Nemesis, he was "terrified" of working on the film.

"Every day on that set, I was terrified -- which worked for the character anyway," he said at the time. "You can't hide that, the camera will pick it up. I was genuinely out of my depth. The whole thing was, 'How can I do this?' I took it very seriously."

Patrick Stewart Still Wants a Picard Movie

While Star Trek: Picard is done as a television show, Stewart has also said that he would like to return as the character for a Star Trek: Picard movie. The actor has previously pushed for a final movie, one that would star the Next Gen cast one more time.

As part of the Star Trek: Picard Emmy Awards consideration campaign, Patrick Stewart spoke to IndieWire and made his case for a Star Trek: Picard movie. "I think we could do a movie, a Picard-based movie. Now not necessarily at all about Picard but about all of us," Stewart said. "And to take many of those wonderful elements, particularly from Season 3 of Picard, and take out of that what I think could be an extraordinary movie. I keep telling people and mentioning it, and so far there's been no eager response, but it might well happen. And that would be I think a very appropriate way to say, 'And goodbye folks.'"

Star Trek is one of the most beloved brands in all of pop culture, and while the franchise has been expanding in recent years on the small screen, it's been seven years since the release of Star Trek Beyond on the big screen, leaving fans waiting for the next installment in the cinematic series. While fans were initially excited when it was announced that Lindsey Anderson Beer was writing the next chapter in the franchise, she recently confirmed how she had to part ways with the project to focus on Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, but that the concept for the sequel was inspired by J.J. Abrams' ideas. Fans can see Pet Sematary: Bloodlines when it lands on Paramount+ on October 6th.

"I wrote a couple drafts of that before I had to leave for Pet Sematary. And it was originally, the seed of the idea came from J.J. himself, who's such a creatively generous person, and it was amazing collaborating with him," Anderson Beer shared with ComicBook.com of leaving Star Trek 4. "And it was very sad to leave our Zoom sessions to focus on [Pet Sematary: Bloodlines], but this was my baby, so I had to prioritize."

In the years since the release of Beyond, a number of figures have been attached to Star Trek 4, including SJ Clarkson and Matt Shakman, with Anderson Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet being the most recently attached writers who were working on a script that was set for Shakman to direct. Shakman, though, left the project to develop Fantastic Four for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a replacement director has yet to be announced.

Luckily, fans can still see Anderson Beer jump into an exciting franchise, as she brought to life a chapter of Stephen King's Pet Sematary for her directorial debut.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is described, "In 1969, a young Jud Crandall has dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within and is forced to confront a dark family history that will forever keep him connected to Ludlow. Banding together, Jud and his childhood friends must fight an ancient evil that has gripped Ludlow since its founding, and once unearthed has the power to destroy everything in its path."

The movie stars Jackson White (Tell Me Lies), Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant), Jack Mulhern (Mare of Easttown), Henry Thomas (The Fall of the House of Usher), Natalie Alyn Lind (The Goldbergs), and Isabella Star LaBlanc (True Detective: Night Country). David Duchovny and Pam Grier also appear in the prequel.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines hits Paramount+ on October 6th. Stay tuned for updates on Star Trek 4.

Are you looking forward to the next Star Trek? Let us know in the comments!

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 brought the story of Jean-Luc Picard to a fitting close (if so desired), but series star Patrick Stewart is now revealing that it was not the ending he truly wanted!

"'What I'd like to see at the end of the show,' I told them, 'is a content Jean-Luc. I want to see Picard perfectly at ease with his situation. Not anxious, not in a frenzy, not depressed. And I think this means that there is a wife in the picture," Stewart explains in his new memoir Making It So (via TIME). "You see, the line between Jean-Luc and me has grown ever more blurred. If I have found true love, shouldn't he?"

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Alternate Ending Explained

"The writers came up with a lovely scene," Stewart continues in the book. "It is dusk at Jean-Luc's vineyard. His back is to us as he takes in the view, his dog at his side. Then, off-screen, a woman's loving voice is heard: 'Jean-Luc? Supper's ready!' Is it Beverly Crusher's voice? Laris's? Someone we don't know? It isn't made clear." He also reveals his real-life wife, Sunny Ozell, "was set to record the lines." The concludes as, "Heeding his wife's call, Jean-Luc turns around, says to his dog, 'C'mon, boy,' and heads inside. Dusk fades to night, and Picard fades into history."

This scene was, as Stewart describes, all set to be shot by the producers and creative team behind Star Trek: Picard Season 3 - only it never got done. As Stewart further reveals in his book, he was partially "to blame" for that:

...This scene was never shot. And I am sort of to blame. Our final day of shooting season 3 was a bear, with a very long to-do list. About eight hours in, I realized we were in for a 14- or even 16-hour day. Brutal. And I was booked to fly to New York the first thing the following morning. So I made a suggestion to the production team.

"Look," I said, "the scene with the dog will take no time to shoot, but it will take hours to set up the lighting and the green screen and all that. We don't have those hours. So let's not shoot that scene today. I can come back at any time you like and take care of it. Just me and the dog."

The production team was grateful and relieved. And I was assured that we would take care of the final scene upon my return from New York.

But I never got a call. When I made a few inquiries, I kept getting put off. Finally, someone told me, "The studio doesn't want to do it. It's too expensive and they think it's unnecessary." Unnecessary? I thought it was crucial to the completion of Picard's arc. But so be it: the TV series ended with the toast, which is a warm, emotional send-off to my favorite Starfleet crew. Either way, you now know of my original intent.

It's not hard to imagine why the producers of Star Trek: Picard pivoted away from that original ending idea: it brought too much finality to Picard's story - as Patrick Stewart clearly indicates it would. (SPOILERS) The Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Finale ended with Stewart's Picard and his former TNG castmates Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker), LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge) Brent Spiner (Data), Michael Dorn (Worf) Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) all getting new status quos within the Star Trek Universe - character arcs that could conceivably continue into a new series - or new series (plural).

In fact, Star Trek: Picard Season 3 sparked major fan hype for a Star Trek: Legacy series, that will follow the sons, daughters, and/or allies of TNG characters, who we met in Picard, as they set out on their own adventures. It was hoped that the elder TNG stars would appear in Legacy in sporadic cameos - including Patrick Stewart's Picard. The ending of Season 3 we got (with the TNG crew having a toast over a game of poker) still leaves that door open.

Star Trek: Picard is streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek 4 is still "on track," says writer Lindsey Beer. The Star Trek Beyond sequel has been in production limbo for years, cycling through scripts and directors. SJ Clarkson and Matt Shakman had separately attached to direct different versions at varying times. Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet came aboard the most recent version of Star Trek 4, writing a screenplay for Shakman to film. However, Shakman left Star Trek 4 to helm Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four. Paramount Pictures still hasn't named his replacement, leaving Star Trek 4's future uncertain.

Well, not that uncertain, at least to Beer. Beer stepped away from Star Trek 4's development to direct Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, which premiered at Fantastic Fest before its debut on Paramount+. However, she tells Collider that the Star Trek film is still coming along. "It is, it's still on the tracks," Beer says. "I love that project, and it was another one that I had to hop off of to direct this movie, and that was a hard thing to do. But I love that everybody involved with that project."

When will Star Trek 4 be released?

Paramount scheduled Star Trek 4 for release in 2023 with Shakman directing. After Shakman dropped out, Paramount removed the project from the release schedule. Shakman told The Wrap that he had "a great time working on Star Trek for a little over a year" but couldn't pass up the opportunity to return to Marvel again after his experience on WandaVision.

Paramount originally announced Star Trek 4 ahead of Star Trek Beyond's theatrical release in 2016 with J.D. Payne and Patrick McCay writing and plans for Chris Hemsworth to return as George Kirk, Captain James T. Kirk's father, whom Hemsworth played in the opening of 2009's Star Trek. He would join Chris Pine and the rest of the cast from Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. Clarkson became attached to the project as director, with J.J. Abrams producing. However, Hemsworth and Pine, who plays Captain Kirk, dropping out during contract negotiations halted those plans.

After that, reports surfaced that Quentin Tarantino had pitched a version of Star Trek 4 that would have been like "Pulp Fiction in space." Paramount also began developing a Star Trek movie written and directed by Noah Hawley. However, Paramount backed away from both projects and instead hired Star Trek: Discovery writer Kalinda Vasquez to pen a script for Star Trek 4, then replaced her with Beer, Robertson-Dworet, and Shakman's take on the film.

Star Trek 4 is still without a release date. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines begins streaming on Paramount+ on October 6th.

Star Trek: Prodigy's final Season 1 comes to Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow, and ComicBook.com has an exclusive look at one of the home media set's bonus features. Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1 - Episodes 11-20 is available to pre-order now on Blu-ray and DVD from Amazon and features more than 45 minutes of features diving into Star Trek: Prodigy's creation and place within the Star Trek franchise. The "Creating New Wolrds" clip sees series creators Kevin Hageman and Dan Hageman discussing how consistently impressed they are with the Star Trek: Prodigy art team's ability to go beyond their expectations, with director Ben Hibon chiming in toward the end. You can watch the clip above.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 - Episodes 11-20 includes the final 10 episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, which makes up the second half of the season. Per Paramount Home Entertaint's listing, "In the remaining Star Trek: Prodigy Season One episodes, as the hopeful crew makes their way toward Starfleet, their dreams are threatened when they discover the U.S.S. Protostar harbors a weapon designed to tear the United Federation of Planets apart. To make matters worse, the U.S.S. Dauntless is on a manhunt for the Protostar as the real Vice Admiral Janeway is eager to uncover what happened to her missing former First Officer Chakotay. With these two ships on a collision course and destruction on the horizon, the fate of the Alpha Quadrant hangs in the balance. This 2-disc set includes 3 new in-depth featurettes with more than 45 minutes of content revealing how Star Trek heritage shapes Prodigy's characters, story and settings."

Star Trek: Prodigy's Future

Paramount+ canceled Star Trek: Prodigy following its first season and removed the first season from its streaming library despite the previously announced second season of the Star Trek series being mid-production, after which the Blu-ray release of Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1: Episodes 1-10 sold out at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. However, it's back in stock now, and this second Star Trek: Prodigy Blu-ray release means the entire series to date is available to watch on home media.

As for the future, there are ongoing attempts to find a new home for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 as work on the season's unfinished episodes continues. Paramount will try to sell the series to another streaming service or television network. The producers remain optimistic that Star Trek: Prodigy's second season will find a way to fans.

What is Star Trek: Prodigy?

Star Trek: Prodigy follows the young crew of the U.S.S. Protostar, which the characters discovered on the prison colony of Tars Lamora, deep in the Delta Quadrant. Though aimed at younger viewers, Star Trek: Prodigy excited longtime Star Trek fans by bringing back Kate Mulgrew to voice Kathryn Janeway in both Hologram Janeway and Admiral Janeway forms

Star Trek: Prodigy's voice cast also included Brett Gray (Dal R'El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok). The recurring voice cast includes Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), and Billy Campbell (Thadiun Okona).

Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1 - Episodes 11-20 goes on sale on Blu-Ray and DVD on September 26th. Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1: Episodes 1-10 is also available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 is headed to Blu-ray, 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 -- which includes "Those Old Scientists," a crossover episode bringing Star Trek: Lower Decks character into live-action for the first time, and "Subspace Rhapsody," Star Trek's first musical episode -- will arrive on home media on December 5th, including as a limited edition Blu-ray Steelbook set. The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 home media release has more than two hours of special features, including behind-the-scenes featurettes and exclusive deleted, extended, and alternate scenes.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2's 4-disc DVD, 4-disc Blu-ray, and 3-disc 4K UHD collections include all 10 episodes of the season, plus special features. The 4K UHD and Blu-ray Limited Edition Steelbooks also have a "Subspace Rhapsody" poster. The 4K UHD includes four exclusive character magnets, which allow fans to customize its packaging art.

The special features include featurettes that go behind the scenes to reveal the making of Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2. Among the deleted scenes is an alternate take of the Klingon song from "Subspace Rhapsody." Here's the list of the set's special features, provided by Paramount:

• Producing Props
• The Costumes Closet
• The Gorn
• Singing in Space
• Exploring New Worlds
• Deleted, Extended, and Alternate Scenes (Exclusive)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Cast

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley, and Ethan Peck as Spock, reprising the roles they first played in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2. The series also stars Jess Bush as Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La'An Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas, and Babs Olusanmokun as Joseph M'Benga. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 brings back special guest star Paul Wesley as James Kirk and adds Carol Kane in the recurring role of Pelia. In addition to the season's musical episode, "Subspace Rhapsody," Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 also featured a crossover episode with Star Trek: Lower Decks, guest starring Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome.

CBS Studios, Secret Hideout, and Roddenberry Entertainment produced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2. Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers are co-showrunners. Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Jenny Lumet, Henry Alonso Myers, Aaron Baiers, Heather Kadin, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth serve as executive producers.

How to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams on Paramount+ in the United States, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The second season will stream on Paramount+ in South Korea, with a premiere date still to be announced.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming now. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 is also available as home media on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4k UHD.

Jonathan Frakes believes that Star Trek: Discovery is returning to its roots as a series focused on action and adventure in its fifth and final season. Frakes -- the Star Trek: The Next Generation star turned veteran director -- has directed episodes of every season of Star Trek: Discovery, including the penultimate episode of Didscovery's fifth season, unaware at the time that it would be the first half of the show's series finale. In an interview published in Star Trek Explorer #8, Frakes discussed the tone of Star Trek: Discovery's upcoming season, comparing it to the high adventure of the Indiana Jones movies.

"The first half of the season finale of Discovery, by the way, is Indiana Jones this year instead of the heavy emo of season four," Frakes said. "Discovery is back on track as an action-adventure show, and I guess they got their marching orders to maintain that. Everybody has embraced it, from Michelle Paradise and Alex, down through the cast. There's a new energy and a new mandate."

He continued, "It was a thrill for me to find some levity in some of those scenes. That's why First Contact was successful, because you build and then add just a little levity to let them steam out, so you can restart. That's why Deadpool is such a fabulous franchise, because it doesn't hurt. Audiences can handle levity. The Indiana Jones reference is a perfect example. Nobody does that better than Spielberg."

Star Trek: Discovery's fourth season started within that action-adventure genre framework. A misunderstanding in the season premiere, "Kobayashi Maru," during attempts by Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Cleveland "Book" Booker (David Ajala) to get the inhabitants of Alshain IV to rejoin the federation led to a tense chase scene. After that, Discovery's fourth season did take a turn into more intimate, introspective territory, focusing on Book's grief after losing his homeworld, the strain that put on his relationship with Burnham, and the heady challenge of making first contact with an extragalactic species much more alien to humanity than what Starfleet usually encountered. The return to an action-heavy approach is evident in the first clip released from Season 5.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Release Date

The news that Star Trek: Discovery, the show that brought Star Trek back to television (via streaming) for the first time in more than a decade, would end with its fifth season came as a surprise to those making it. Making the final episode first the remit of a series finale, rather than a season finale, required some reshoots.

"I directed the first half of the finale of Season 5, which turned out to be the real finale," Frakes told Variety in an interview published in July. "So that was a very emotional end as well. When we did it, we didn't know it was the end. And then [Discovery executive producer and director] Olatunde Osunsanmi had to go back up and do two or three days of new stuff to actually make the finale the finale."

Star Trek: Discovery has wrapped filming and is scheduled to return in early 2024 on Paramount+. The first four seasons of Star Trek: Discovery are streaming now on Paramount+.

Jonathan Frakes reprised his Star Trek: The Next Generation role as William Riker in Star Trek: Picard's third and final season, and he's ready for more in the proposed Star Trek: Legacy sequel series. He has a pretty firm idea of what role Riker would play in the still hypothetical spinoff, and he shared that idea during an interview published in Star Trek Explorer #8 (excerpted on StarTrek.com). In talking about how Riker's story concluded in Star Trek: Picard, Frakes said that he sees Riker playing a role similar to that of Charlie in Charlie's Angels while Frakes himself directs, should Star Trek: Legacy become a reality.

"The Rikers' marriage is back on track," Frakes says, referencing the struggles faced by Riker and his "imzadi," Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) after the death of their son, Thad. "In my mind, for the show to be able to move forward, Riker would have to be a captain and have his ship, or he would be promoted to admiral and be a liaison. I'm only half-kidding when I say it would be great for me if the show carries on and I'm like Charlie from Charlie's Angels. They'd have to come to my office one day a week for a meeting with Riker. That'd be perfect. Then I could direct a bunch of the episodes and be around the show. I suspect if it does go forward, it would be Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, and Ed Speleers, who's now in Starfleet, and Mica Burton and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut, who played Geordi's daughter. I would also imagine Lulu Wilson, who played the Rikers' daughter in season one and was so fabulous, could be a part of it. She could come back and maybe be in Starfleet."

He continued, "It feels to me like there's a real opportunity for three of the legacy characters' children to carry on and sort of be the next Star Trek: The Next Generation. It just feels like it's laid out there. It's the blueprint for the next phase."

Will Star Trek: Picard get a sequel?

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas has been upfront about his desire to continue telling stories about the Star Trek universe's future, using Star Trek: Picard's finale as a starting point. Speaking to ComicBook.com when the finale debuted, Matalas shared some thoughts on what the sequel series, which has been unofficially referred to as Star Trek: Legacy, would be like by saying it would combine serialized and episodic storytelling.

"I think it could be a mix-and-match," Matalas said. "Again, let me be clear: there's nothing in development. It's just an exciting pie-in-the-sky idea. But it would mix and match. But I would love to go back to the spirit of Star Trek: The Next Generation quite a bit. This last season of Picard is not Season 8 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's more Star Trek 11. It's a movie. The characters are much closer to their cinematic versions than they are Star Trek: The Next Generation versions of their characters. I would love to go back to the spirit of Star Trek: The Next Generation as much as you can, but we'd have to see if it would be possible. Who knows?"

Star Trek: Picard is streaming in its entirety on Paramount+. Paramount Home Media recently released Star Trek: Picard - The Final Season on Blu-ray and DVD. Star Trek: Picard - The Legacy Collection, collecting all of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the four TNG movies, and all three seasons of Star Trek: Picard into one package, releases in October and is up for pre-order now.

Brazillian scientists have identified three new species of spider and named them after Star Trek's original trio of leads: Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. The researchers, headquartered in the Emilio Goeldi Parenese Museum in Par?, dubbed the Latin American spiders R. kirk, R. spock, and R. mccoy. The scientists discovered R. kirk in Costa Rica, found R. spock in Campeche, Mexico, and met R. mccoy in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The team recently published their findings in the European Journal of Taxonomy. The research team named the spiders after Star Trek characters because of their shape, which reminded the researchers of Starfleet starships.

"They somewhat resemble Star Trek spaceships," Alexandre B. Bonaldo, who co-authored the paper on the team's findings, tells the New York Times. "Arachnologists have a long tradition of giving interesting scientific names for new genera and species, as most of us believe it is a great opportunity to acknowledge people or draw parallels with pop culture and local customs."

The spiders belong to the new Roddenberryus genus, named by Bonaldo and co-author Alexander S?nchez-Ruiz for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. The genus includes R. kirk, R. spock, and R. mccoy and two other spiders, R. sargi and R. pelegrina., which had previously belonged to the Caponina genus, but now fit better with the Star Trek trio.

Scientists have been naming species of fauna after pop culture icons for years. In 2023 alone, a group of Australian scientists recently christened another newly discovered spider species with a name inspired by Venom star Tom Hardy, and another group somewhat ironically named a new snake species after Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford.

Star Trek: The Original Series Character on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley originated Kirk, Spock, and Bones in Star Trek: The Original Series. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban stepped into those respective roles for the rebooted Star Trek film series, starring in 2009's Star Trek and its sequels, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. They expect to return if and when the fourth Star Trek movie in the series enters production. In the meantime, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck are the latest actors to play Kirk and Spock. With Mr. Scott appearing in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2 finale, could fans soon see a younger version of Bones on the Star Trek prequel show?

"The longer we stay on the air -- do we still say that? -- the longer we stream, the longer we do whatever it is we do to let people watch us, the more likely it becomes," co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman teased during an interview with Variety. "Given our druthers -- because Henry and I are both greedy and gluttons for punishment -- we'd go right into the TOS era and see what happens. So, if we're around long enough, sure."

Star Trek: The Original Series is streaming now on Paramouunt+. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' first two seasons also are streaming on Paramount+. Production on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 is currently halted due to industry strikes but is ready to resume as soon as they end.