Star Trek: Discovery may be over but the 32nd century setting it established will live on in the new Starfleet Academy series, set to start filming this summer. And now the man in charge of Star Trek TV is explaining why.
The Post-Burn era will speak to today’s kids
It has already been revealed that the new YA-focused Academy series shared the Discovery era, but in a new interview with the LA Times, Alex Kurtzman explained there is a specific and even personal reason:
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. 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. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.
In case you missed it, The Burn was an era that spanned the 31st and 32nd centuries when almost all the dilithium in the galaxy had become inert, severely limiting warp travel. As seen in the third season of Discovery, The Burn resulted in the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet becoming a shell of its former self until the crew of the USS Discovery arrived and helped end the crisis, beginning a new era for the Federation and Starfleet.
Kurtzman also talked about how they are approaching the physical setting for the series. After being based at Starfleet HQ in space, the Academy is returning to its roots on Earth in San Francisco. Kurtzman told the LA Times about how the series itself will be set on Earth and in space:
I’m going to say, without giving anything away, [it is] both [Earth-based and space-based]. Right now we’re in the middle of answering the question what does San Francisco, where the academy is, look like in the 32nd century. Our primary set is the biggest we’ve ever built.
The “Mega Stage” at Pinewood Studios Toronto, future home of Starfleet Academy
The executive producer and co-showrunner of Academy also talked about the recent news that Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter has joined the cast:
And I’m very, very, very excited that Holly Hunter is the lead of the show. Honestly, when we were working on the scripts, we wrote it for Holly thinking she’d never do it. And we sent them to her, and to our absolute delight and shock she loved them and signed on right away.
Holly Hunter plays the “captain and chancellor” of Starfleet Academy
More Star Trek developments teased
Kurtzman also fielded a question about what is in development for Star Trek past the Academy series and Section 31 movie. He was vague, but again hinted surprises are coming:
There’s always notions and there are a couple of surprises coming up, but I really try to live in the shows that are in front of me in the moment because they’re so all-consuming. I’m directing the first two episodes of “Starfleet Academy,” so right now my brain is just wholly inside that world. But you can tell “Star Trek” stories forever; there’s always more. There’s something in the DNA of its construction that allows you to keep opening different doors. Some of that is science fiction, some of it has to do with the combination of science fiction and the organic embracing of all these other genres that lets you explore new territories. I don’t think it’s ever going to end. I think it’s going to go on for a long, long time. The real question for “Star Trek” is how do you keep innovating, how do you deliver both what people expect and something totally fresh at the same time. Because I think that is actually what people want from “Star Trek.” They want what’s familiar delivered in a way that doesn’t feel familiar.
Alex Kurtzman (R) with the Star Trek: Discovery cast and crew at the Star Trek Stage at Pinewood Studios Toronto (Michael Gibson)
The Starfleet Academy series is set to start filming in late summer and may not arrive on Paramount+ until 2026.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
