"The admissions process for the Starfleet Academy is now open!" Announces the official Star Trek account on social networks. The publication reports on the virtues of the training center, which instructs young people of "at least 16 years of age on Earth (or the equivalent of another species)" who "dream of exceeding their physical, mental and spiritual limits" and who value " friendship, camaraderie, honor and devotion to a cause greater than themselves." It is an original way of communicating that, finally, Star Trek will exploit a territory so mentioned but so ignored by the mythology of Gene Roddenberry: the Starfleet Academy.
The creative heads of the spin-off are Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. Kurtzman was responsible for relaunching the universe created in 1966 in a new era, signing with Roberto Orci the script for the movie Star Trek (2009) directed by J.J. Abrams, in addition to its sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), and above all taking the initiative in a project that was in danger: the Star Trek Discovery series, which Bryan Fuller was originally supposed to lead, and whose creative and commercial success allowed to structure an entire franchise around it. Landau, on the other hand, has never written about Starfleet and his curriculum highlights the teen Nancy Drew mystery series or The Magicians, a series about a school of magic.
"Introducing exciting new characters and storylines, this original series will serve as a fantastic addition to the franchise (...), bringing together new generations of viewers and longtime Star Trek fans to enjoy this new chapter," they reported. from Paramount, which produces the series, and therefore allows us to anticipate that it will be seen in Spain via SkyShowtime. The platform, which was installed on the peninsula last month, currently does not have the rights to all Star Trek series due to the studio's agreements with other streaming services.
With the confirmation of Starfleet Academy, the trekkies already know which series will be able to replace Discovery, which in 2024 will begin the farewell tour of the crew of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) with its fifth and final season of ten episodes. In September 2017, Discovery reinvigorated the universe created by Gene Roddenberry by combining contemporary-quality television serialization with visual effects second to none in movies and drawing on the mythology known to audiences. The protagonist was Cadet Burnham, Spock's stepsister with whom she had a troubled relationship, born human but raised according to the hyper-rational system of Vulcan.
And considering that Paramount does not plan to broadcast more than five series set in the Star Trek universe in a single course, one of the puzzles has already been solved. Starfleet Academy will join Star Trek Strange New Worlds, the prequel to the original series that follows the adventures of Spock (Ethan Peck) aboard the Enterprise, when the ship was commanded by Pike (Anson Mount); Star Trek Prodigy, a children's animated series that centers on the adventures of aliens who find a derelict fleet ship, the USS Protostar; and Star Trek Lower Decks, an adult animated comedy that talks about the day-to-day life of the red shirts on the USS Cerritos, those who have no power on the ship.
The other series ending (and ending this spring) is Star Trek Picard, broadcast on Amazon Prime Video, which closes the story of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and served as a direct sequel to Star Trek: The New generation. However, there are rumors that the fiction could continue under another title but keeping part of the cast, except for Stewart. There are also other projects in development, among which Section 31 stands out, in development since June 2018 and in which Michelle Yeoh, now an Oscar winner for Everything at the same time everywhere, would reprise the role of Philippa Georgiou.
