Why The Star Trek: Year One Spin-off Series Isn't Happening

Jan Thijs / Paramount+

The first season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" took place in the year 2258, covering the merry space adventures of Captain Pike (Anson Mount) on board the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701. "SNW" has been scheduled to run for five seasons, and it will likely end its timeline in the year 2263. Of course, 2263 is the year that James T. Kirk (played by Paul Wesley in "Strange New Worlds" and William Shatner in the original series) takes command of the Enterprise and instigates a five-year mission of his own. "SNW" has been carefully setting up many well-known "Trek" characters on the Enterprise, and the series now features a young Kirk, Spock (Ethan Peck), Uhura (Celia Rose-Godding), Scotty (Martin Quinn), and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush). Sulu and Dr. McCoy are still waiting in the wings. 

The original "Star Trek" series takes place from 2265 to 2269, so "SNW," ending in 2263, will nearly flow directly into "Star Trek" events that we know and love. Thereafter, Captain Kirk's adventures are well-documented. "Star Trek: The Animated Series" and various "Star Trek" movies followed the character's life through to its end. The only span of Kirk's life that is now missing is the year 2264. 

One of the higher-ups in the "Trek" offices, writer/producer Akiva Goldsman, has spoken in the past about turning that missing year into a brief spin-off series called "Star Trek: Year One," which would link "Strange New Worlds" very directly to the original "Star Trek." 

Speaking to The Radio Times recently, though, Goldsman noted that there has been no movement on "Year One," and that everyone is sort of drifting away from the project. It seems that "Year One" is not to be. He noted that no one ever really gave an official thumbs-up to a new "Star Trek" spin-off. 

Jan Thijs / Paramount+

Although Akiva Goldsman is an executive producer on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," he admits that the decision to launch new "Star Trek" shows isn't something he has any control over. He also noted that the sets for "Strange New Worlds" have already been struck, which would likely not have happened if there was going to be a spin-off series set on the same Enterprise. In his words: 

"Nobody's called, the sets are gone. [...] Everybody else has started to take other jobs. It's never been officially yes, and it's never been officially no. But I don't see it happening. [...] I don't know. It's above my pay grade. Maybe somebody calls and says, 'Hey, do a two-hour movie,' or, 'We want the show.' Great! But there was a moment where it would have been the most expeditious, creatively and economically, to just continue because we had a lot of assets which are now no longer." 

Some Trekkies may hold out hope that "Star Trek: Year One" may be saved on the 1 yard line by some random miracle decision by Jane Wiseman, the executive vice president and head of originals for Paramount+, but from the sound of it, "Year One" is definitely dead in the water. This is yet another disappointment from modern "Trek" to lump in with the unfair cancelation of "Star Trek: Prodigy" after two years and Paramount+'s refusal to greenlight "Star Trek: Legacy," a proposed TV series set on board the Enterprise-G. 

Goldsman admits that he, too, is disappointed that "Year One" is never going to happen.

Jan Thijs / Paramount+

Akiva Goldsman did reassure Radio Times listeners that Paramount executives are passionate about "Star Trek," and that future projects are indeed on the docket, but added, "I don't think it's going to be 'Year One,' although I'd be thrilled if it was." Goldman has resigned himself to the fact that his era of "Star Trek" is very much over, and gets a little wistful about the good times: 

"I would have loved to have done 'Year One' and kept on with this group because they're my cohort now. [...] I feel familial with them, and I understand the 'Star Trek' that we made together. And should [Paramount] call tomorrow and say, 'Let's do that,' I'll come running. But I do think that, at least for me, my time with 'Star Trek' is over now. I was really lucky. 'Strange New Worlds' was everything I imagined when I couldn't even imagine it, as a little boy playing 'Star Trek.' [...] I got to be a bigger boy playing 'Star Trek' with somebody else's toys." 

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" will conclude after its fifth season, which is likely scheduled to air sometime in the middle of 2027. It will be joined in 2027 by the second and final season of "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy." After that, "Star Trek" will take a new tack, likely because of multiple mergers, with Paramount and Skydance having already merged and the possibility of Paramount and Warner Bros. merging. The sets for "Academy" have also already been struck. 

At last reporting, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the makers of "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," are going to reboot "Star Trek" with a new feature film.