Is Alex Kurtzman Staying - Star Trek Starfleet Academy Could Be More Than 2 And Done

Hello, hello, hello, my friends. How are you? And I hope that you are very, very well. We are here today to bring you a little bit of a news summary, sort of everything we know right now before the premiere of Star Trek Starfleet Academy airs next week on January the 15th. We're having two episodes. Just before we were going to put all of this together, well, our colleague Mick Jost over on CinemaBlend got quite the scoop. During the press junket for Starfleet Academy, he asked Alex Kurtzman straight out, so, Alex, what's happening? Are you staying or are you going? I am paraphrasing slightly, but Mr. Kurtzman responded with, I can't go into specifics, but the future is looking bright. Basically, what that means to us is that, right, all this uncertainty about the end of the current contract with Secret Hideout and Paramount would, you know, suggest that perhaps we were going to see a changing of the guard. We have spoken about it before on this channel. It now looks as though perhaps that won't be the case, that Secret Hideout and Alex Kurtzman will be staying on. So if that is the case, what does that mean for Star Trek as a whole? Specifically for Starfleet Academy, I actually think that that would be a positive development. And let me explain. We had an awful lot of uncertainty over what would happen if Starfleet Academy, which is currently filming its second season, suddenly finds itself the, I suppose, recipient of new orders in charge. Would that mean a nail in the coffin for potentially a third season of Starfleet Academy? We have theorized at length about it. If there is now not going to be a change of the guard, well, by no means does that mean, whoa, we're guaranteed for 17 more seasons, but it does mean that the reasons that we felt would contribute to a to-and-done run for Academy now seem not to be in place. Based on Academy, this is positive news. It also helps to allay some of the uncertainty about what's happening with Star Trek going forward. We, I suppose I should avoid saying we now know, but it is heavily implied that Kurtzman will be staying on in charge of Star Trek. We know that there's a movie on the way that is not connected to the television side of Star Trek, but is still en route. And we also know, thanks to, actually, shout out to our colleagues over at SFX, and editor Darren Scott, who I will go into a bit more detail, but as part of their big celebratory issue about Starfleet Academy, Alex Kurtzman teased that there are many things that he can't talk about that are in the plan. So it does seem that we're looking at a period of more Star Trek. Whatever it looks like, we don't yet know. So that's kind of one of the big news, is that, again, it's not set in stone, but it looks like Alex Kurtzman is staying for the foreseeable future. I know, by the way, and I'm not going to pretend that this isn't the case, I know that that will cause concern to a lot of people in the audience, people who have perhaps not connected to Star Trek since it returned in 2017. And I'm not here to say, er, you're wrong, I'm not here to do that. I'm saying, I get that, I do. Star Trek is quite different these days from what it was back in, you know, from starting 1966 up into the 80s, the 90s, and the early 2000s. So I'm not here to brush aside your concerns. I personally, I'm a bit, I feel optimistic about this because, you know, I quite like what I've seen of Academy so far, and I, specifically, I don't want that show to be the victim of, you know, corporate nonsense in the way that, you know, kind of Star Trek Prodigy was. So, but as I say, I do hear the concerns, and I'm not here to be like, you're totally wrong! Rah! I don't know, perhaps this will go a way to, you know, helping people think I'm not actually a shill, but sure, listen, that's gonna happen regardless. Going into a lot of the things that have been released, about, ooh, actually, do you know what? No, before I do that, one more thing. There's two other questions, really. One is the ongoing question of, will there be a Star Trek legacy? I would take this as a sign that legacy just became less likely. I will be honest with you. At least in the form that people have been calling for, hoping for, which is the adventures of the Enterprise-G, with Jerry Ryan returning, with Michelle Hurd returning, with Ed Spilliers returning. I think this might be indicative that perhaps we're not going to get that. Obviously, never say never, never say never, and several times on this channel we've been proved wrong, so that's all good. Star Trek Year One, this purported, perhaps, continuation of the Strange New Worlds era, once Strange New Worlds comes to an end at season five. I don't know. This might make it more likely that something like that might happen. As of recording, there is no confirmation of it. We do know that they have cast Sulu and McCoy, obviously, for the final episode of Strange New Worlds, be that as this is a backdoor pilot for Year One. I don't know, but that, perhaps, I would keep that candle lit. I think there is a chance for that to happen. And who knows? We could yet see a Star Trek United as well. There has been a lot of fan clamor for this idea that we spoke to Michael Sussman about during the Year Two, so it is, as much as this has given a tiny bit of clarity, there's also complete lack of clarity as well. Right, I'm gonna get into what we've seen about Starfleet Academy so far. Over on social media, over the last month or so, Star Trek has been teasing clips, giving us little backstories and little snippets about the characters that we're about to see in Star Trek Starfleet Academy. Paul Giamatti, who is, of course, Oscar-nominated, will be playing Nus Braca, who we know is a mix of a Tellarite and a Klingon. In interviews, he says that this guy is an absolute psychopath. He's got ritual scarring on his skin. What I thought was very important for me as a Trekkie is that in an interview with Collider, when he was asked to rank Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation, and the original series, he put Deep Space Nine in the top spot. Do you know what, Paul? You get a pass from me. I will give you any amount of bad acting, which I'm not saying that you do have bad acting. I'm gonna move on. Kareem DNA, who has been sort of, I guess, the social face for the last while. He's done a lot of collaborative posts with Star Trek on his socials. He, you know, we've probably seen the clip at this point where he talks about the process of becoming Jaden Craig. He spoke about how he had contacted Michael Dorn and Doug Jones, both of whom wore prosthetics for almost their entire runs on their various shows. And he spoke about how, yeah, it can be a lot wearing prosthetics. And even though he is by no means an unfit individual, there is a little bit of additional padding put in the uniform as well for Jaden. So there is a process of becoming a Klingon. But in the clips that have been released, you can see that Jaden is slightly more of, I won't say a pacifist, but, you know, his focus is on medicine. He is not your typical Klingon, as we have come to know Klingons in the last 60 years, which I think is good. You know, give us a wider breadth of this, you know, is it still an empire? Is it now an even bigger empire? You know, who knows? But give us something more than just the warrior class, because we've seen so much of the warrior class. And I love the warrior class, but we've seen so much of it. And it looks like with Jaden, we're going to get a different side of the Klingons. And of course, look, I will of course say as well, I love the look of the Klingons as presented through Jaden. I am, he likes me some head ridges. Sandro Rosta, who will be playing Caleb Meir, he's described as sort of this fearless leader with a rebellious streak. And I think this is kind of, it feeds in a little bit to the concern, if you will, that people might have about, you know, how many times have we seen the comments, Star Trek 90210? Look, we've used it here as well. And I get it, you can see I'm smiling. I get it, I do. But this is your elevator pitch for a character. I feel like we're going to see more than just, ooh, I'm a rebel. That's my audition. So I'm looking forward to seeing what we get. Now it's funny because in, you know, press interviews, I was lucky enough to speak to some of the cast of Starfleet Academy this week. Sandro Rosta's a big guy. He is a big guy. He is roughly 11 foot six and he has enough strength. He could play Superman in the first issue of Action Comics. He could do that, he could lift a car over his head. So George Hawkins, for example, who plays Darren, talked about how, yeah, this is intimidating, trying to intimidate someone, and I quote, the size of a fridge. So I am looking forward to seeing how that relationship translates onto the screen. Carice Brooks, who, by the way, I owe a big massive apology to because in our interview, I called her Keris. Carice, I am so sorry. I am a fool and I will own that. Is this beacon of joy, Sirius Acclamation Mill, or Sam for short, she is a hologram, a photonic, who is, although she's programmed to look 17, is actually only four months old. You know, she is very much the baby of the group. And as such, there seems to be this positivity, this optimism, and yes, this naivety in how she views the universe. But also, what do we know about photonics? Robert Picardo's EMH is back as well. And we see him interacting with Sam, with the other characters in interviews with Robert Picardo, for example. We interviewed Robert on the channel a couple of months ago. He talks about the excitement and the weight as well of being a 900-year-old or 800-year-old holographic character who has crystal clear memories of all of the people he's ever known and loved. It's, I'm looking forward to seeing how that translates as well. You have two photonics on complete extreme opposite ends of the scale. George Hawkins, who plays the first Theonian character to ever attend Starfleet Academy, being Darren, I like him a lot because when I started speaking, he went, hey, an Irishman. George, you're a legend. I appreciate it. And he talks about this pressure that this character has, last to bed, first to rise. And there is some scenes in the trailers where I'm just like, how are you getting your body to do that? That is impressive. But there is this energy as well there. Just to reiterate, I'm specifically referencing all these social clips. These are like little, a few seconds long focuses on each of these characters and actors. And I really, really dig it. For example, Bella Shepard, who plays Genesis Lithe, who is a Darsha attending the Academy, is also the daughter of a Starfleet admiral. You can see that she is laser-focused on what she's doing. But also, we see clips of her straightaway befriending Sam. The description of her as well is that, while Bella Shepard is the youngest member of the cast, she's also one of the most experienced, that she's been acting for years and years. So I want to see what that brings to the dynamic of the group as well. And you've got Zoe Steiner then, who is playing Tarima. We see that she seems to be part of this Betazoid delegation that we've seen in things like Entertainment Weekly and in some of the clips online. So it's certainly suggested that she's not a cadet in the same way that the others are. So interesting to see how that will play out. If the USS Athena, which we know is both the actual Starfleet Academy campus, but also parks in San Francisco from time to time, if that's out exploring the universe, how are we gonna spend time together? We see as well in Nala Aki's introduction to Starfleet Academy, that clip went out, we can see as well behind-the-scenes clips. Oded Fehr is returning. There was a quick cameo from a certain Jonathan Frakes there as well, who we know will be directing an episode of Starfleet Academy. And also, so a lot of people online have commented on the fact that Starfleet Academy definitely seems to have carried over a little bit of the Strange New Worlds aesthetic. And yeah, I see it. I do. Yeah, I think that is a fair comparison to make. So some people have said, well, you know, these are 1,000 years apart. Why would they look so similar? Especially when you have something like Next Generation and Voyager in the middle. You know, why did the designer go, actually, no, we're gonna go with that. So yeah, I will say, yeah, we've seen that too. And I guess it is worth pointing that out. There was a great clip where Star Trek alumni were asked for their, you know, advice that they would give to cadets. And I mean, we have such a roster. We have Sonequa Martin-Green. We have Robert Picardo. We have David Ajala. We have Anthony Rapp. We have Kate Mulgrew, who was joined by Brett Gray as well. Roxanne Dawson. We had Gates McFadden, Patrick Stewart, Jerry Ryan, Todd Stashwick, John Billingsley, and Linda Park, of course, all of whom have appeared in all of these wonderful, wonderful Star Treks. And it's great just to see, as well, this connection to Legacy. Yep, I'm gonna talk about that Legacy trailer that was released as well. Now, there was no new footage, per se, for Academy, but what it did do was connect to some of the greats of Star Trek past. We get quotes from Archer, Sisko, Spock, Kirk, Worf, Burnham, Janeway, Pike, and Picard. And there was a specific quote picked by Picard, which I really thought suited it. The past is written, the future is left for us to write. Now, this comes from a conversation he was having with Rios in Star Trek Picard. But I think in the context of these new cadets going forward to create their careers, to create this new version of Starfleet, and also at a time when we're trying to figure out what's happening with Star Trek going forward, I think that is a crucial inclusion for that kind of a line. There was a game, as well, on socials of Red Flag, Green Flag, one of which showed a Mugatu mascot costume, which will be the Halloween costume of 2026. I'm saying it right now. There was the blue carpet premiere there during the week where we had the cast and crew turn up for interviews with Celia Rose Gooding, who was emceeing on the carpet, Becky Lynch turning up with her title belt. How much more of a flex do you need? I mean, everyone was looking pretty fantastic on that blue carpet, but I mean, yeah, like, hi, how's it going? Yeah, title belt. All right, do you know what? You earned that. That is cool. Just a couple of last bits, but one is an interview with Holly Hunter in, as I said, this issue of SFX, where she speaks about how Starfleet Academy is a place where failure is not necessarily discouraged, and I thought that was a crucial thing to remember because I think it's sometimes, we as reviewers and as fans, it's probably something we should remember, as well. I often use the example of Encounter at Farpoint, which certainly has aged well, and I enjoy it for what it is, but I did not love that pilot episode, and if I was to judge the next generation based on that pilot episode, I'm not sure how the next gen would have done. You know what I mean? So, you know, then I apply that to Starfleet Academy. You know, it's season one, the first few episodes, like, you know, if something you feel maybe is not great, do we write the show off immediately? That's it, kill it, that's the end of it, and it sounds like I'm joking, but unfortunately, a lot of networks tend to take that approach, so it's something that I hope we will all take on board as we go into this show, that sometimes something that we don't enjoy or we maybe think is, oh, that's the wrong decision, maybe don't write a show off based on one thing. You know what I'm saying? Again, Encounter at Farpoint, as much as the next generation is one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever made, it wasn't a great pilot, you know what I mean? I wanna close on just another wee interview with Alex Kurtzman there, where, first of all, he took responsibility for Nala Aki running around barefoot a lot of the time, which is definitely, I think, quirky, would be a fair word to put on this show, but also, he specifically speaks to the optimism that is key and central to Star Trek, that you cannot remove optimism from Star Trek and still call something Star Trek, and I think that is something that a lot of us have been very aware of over the last few years. Again, something we've spoken of here and something that I agree with completely. You need to have that optimism for the future for it to be Star Trek. It's not to say you can't go dark, look at things like the Dominion War, look at Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country, but even in those, there was an optimism that things would turn out okay in the end, and if that is part of the central ethos of Starfleet Academy, I think we're looking at something that could be a bloody good entry to the series, and as I previously said as well, Kurtzman has teased that there are more things on the horizon. It is the 60th year of Star Trek. It is an exciting time, and I'm really happy to be here with you going through it. So folks, thank you so much, everyone, for watching along. You're awesome. You are wonderful. Please make sure that you're subscribed to the channel. Please make sure that you are subscribed to us on the social media bits and bobs as well. You are awesome. You are wonderful. How cool is this? I just wanted to show you that as well. Look, it's a dog, and it's Spock. Look after yourselves, folks. Live long and prosper, and I'll chat to you soon.