Is the Sun setting on Nu-Trek?

The Industry Shift

Theres a story that’s been circulating the interwebs lately. TNG alumnus and famed director Jonathan Frakes noted that “300th Night” is the last Star Trek episode he will be directing for the foreseeable future.

What the articles aren’t highlighting is that the short-term future of the franchise is very much up in the air. Strange New Worlds has Season 4 ready and an abbreviated Season 5 coming in 2027. Starfleet Academy already has Season 2 in the can for 2027. Beyond that? Silence.

With Alex Kurtzman’s contract ending this year and the Skydance/Paramount/Warner Bros. merger shifting the landscape, the “popular thought” is that the spending spree is over. While Paramount claims Trek is a priority, there’s nothing new on the horizon besides a standalone feature film that promises to be separate from the current timeline.

Haunted by the “Death Rattle”

I know some critical fans will be happy to see this era end, but I’ll be disappointed. I remember the Trek drought of the early 2000s, when Nemesis felt less like a curtain call for the TNG cast and more like a death rattle. The franchise was dead in the water until 2009, and I’ll admit, my interest waned during those dark years.

Embracing the Kurtzman Aesthetic

It took me a while to fully embrace “Nu-Trek.” The aesthetic shift in Discovery Season 1 was an absolute shock to the system, and the $10 million-per-episode price tag felt unsustainable. However, the franchise made a massive course correction with the introduction of Anson Mount’s Captain Pike. Dropping the Discovery into the 32nd century gave creators the leeway to play with 900 years of tech evolution, and while Picard met some early resistance, Season 3 gave us the incredible “last call” that the TNG crew deserved.

Looking Toward the Horizon

I’ve grown used to the “Kurtzman aesthetic,” and more importantly, I’ve grown fond of these characters. I have no desire to live through another Trek drought, nor do I look forward to the “growing pains” of breaking in a new group of showrunners. If the Prophets smile upon us, this era still has a few more laps to run.

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AI art created with Google Gemini

The article “Is the Sun setting on Nu-Trek?” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.