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The series that started Star Trek’s streaming era came to an end this week, but as ever with the franchise’s current moment, all eyes are already on what’s next. But Starfleet Academy, the next new Trek show, won’t actually be making that much of a temporal jump from Discovery, staying in the 32nd century setting that show established midway through its run.
This makes sense for a lot of reasons—Star Trek already has a bunch of current and recently concluded series all operating in the familiar couple of decades established by TNG, DS9 , and Voyager, around the last couple of decades of the 24th century, and the early years of the 25th. Strange New Worlds is already playing in the franchise’s other popular era, the mid 23rd century, the time of the original Star Trek, so it makes sense now that Discovery is over that there’s going to be a new show that plays about in the time period it’s leaving behind. There’s also the fact that Discovery’s ending leaves a ton of potential on the table for the 32nd century setting to be explored, as the de facto furthest frontier Star Trek has explored so far—so why not keep exploring it with new material?
But Star Trek architect Alex Kurtzman actually has a third, just as good reason—one personal but one also important to Star Trek’s core ideals. “As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him,” Kurtzman recently told the L.A. Times, explaining why Academy will continue on where Discovery left off chronologically speaking. “I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set Starfleet Academy in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now. It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic.”
gizmodo.com
This makes sense for a lot of reasons—Star Trek already has a bunch of current and recently concluded series all operating in the familiar couple of decades established by TNG, DS9 , and Voyager, around the last couple of decades of the 24th century, and the early years of the 25th. Strange New Worlds is already playing in the franchise’s other popular era, the mid 23rd century, the time of the original Star Trek, so it makes sense now that Discovery is over that there’s going to be a new show that plays about in the time period it’s leaving behind. There’s also the fact that Discovery’s ending leaves a ton of potential on the table for the 32nd century setting to be explored, as the de facto furthest frontier Star Trek has explored so far—so why not keep exploring it with new material?
But Star Trek architect Alex Kurtzman actually has a third, just as good reason—one personal but one also important to Star Trek’s core ideals. “As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him,” Kurtzman recently told the L.A. Times, explaining why Academy will continue on where Discovery left off chronologically speaking. “I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set Starfleet Academy in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now. It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic.”
Star Trek's New Starfleet Academy Show Is Set In the Far Future to Give Its Heroes Hope
Starfleet Academy will not take place in Trek's "contemporary" late-24th-century era, but Discovery's 32nd century–and for very good reason.
gizmodo.com
