While there was an announcement shortly before the WGA strike, and Alex Kurtzman confirmed the writers room is back up and at work during an NYCC panel, Paramount+ is moving forward on promotional information about the forthcoming new ‘Starfleet Academy’ show.
Will be keeping an eye out for information about preproduction design work starting up in Ontario.
I really hope it’s good, but I just really would rather see a series set on the Enterprise G or maybe a show that doesn’t rely on well-known characters at all. Anyone wanna convince me Starfleet Academy will be great?
We don’t know what be developed or not for the 25th century, but getting a new show developed and greenlit by Paramount is a long haul, and if they don’t like the initial draft pilots, they’ll keep at it.
Starfleet Academy has been in development as a show since at least 2018, with several changes of leadership in the team of creators. The original idea goes back decades to Harve Bennett. It’s finally got through the maze, let’s cheer that.
So, even if the senior executives are open and enthusiastic about an Enterprise G show:
don’t expect a formal greenlight announcement in less than a year after Picard S3’s finale (which is how long it took for SNW) and then another year to 18 months for production and post;
don’t assume that there won’t be major reworkings and/or changes in prospective showrunners from initial indications (as there was with Michelle Yeoh’s S31 which also changed showrunners),
Here’s some positive points towards Starfleet Academy
most fans were super sceptical about both Lower Decks & Prodigy but they are both well loved across generations;
“reopening the Academy after a hundred years” strongly implies this is in the 32nd century, post Burn, with a cast of largely new characters. Yes, we may see Tilly, some of the Discovery officers or (hopefully) David Cronenberg back as the mysterious Kovich, but that won’t be the principal cast of cadets;
the EP and coshowrunner Noga Landau was a senior writer with Henry Alfonso Myers on The Magicians. Yes, she took over running Nancy Drew for CBS Studios for the CW, but that was better rated when she did, and better than the usual CW teen targeted shows.
the other creator, and writer of the greenlit pilot was the head writer of the thriller Absentia (which has good ratings)
Tawny Newsome is a writer in the writers room.
So new time period, new characters, new team that has done good work for the target demographic. I’m hopeful.
It has happened before and it will happen again. TNG, DS9 and VOY once graced our screens at the same time, until interest waned and shows were canceled. Oh and Babylon 5 was there too, wasn’t it? There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
Am I missing out on some fantastic space shows and movies? I watched the expanse as it came out, the same with Orville. What else is there that suggests market saturation? I need some good stuff this winter 😊
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