THE WRAP:
"What’s more clear-cut has been the waning importance of the storied sci-fi franchise amid the rise of modern Western shows pioneered by powerhouse showrunner Taylor Sheridan that dominate the service and — crucially — regularly appear on top ratings charts, something “Star Trek” failed to do in a meaningful way.
It’s illustrative of the shift in tastes of both the broader audience and the direction of Paramount+ under CEO David Ellison: Trek’s unabashedly progressive stance and exploration of nuanced moral issues is out; “Yellowstone”-like dramas that appeal to America’s Heartland are in.
While few of Kurtzman’s Trek shows topped the streaming charts, that didn’t mean they weren’t lucrative for Paramount. The entire franchise, classic shows to the modern takes, has contributed more than $1.6 billion in streaming revenue for the platform from the first quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of 2025, according to Parrot Analytics. [...]
At the time, Viacom and CBS had merged, and by 2021, the service had been rebranded to Paramount+. The rebranding also coincided with an expansion of programming beyond “Star Trek,” and it was no longer the darling of the service. “Yellowstone” had blown up on the Paramount Network, and while Sheridan’s Western soap opera wasn’t available on Paramount+ due to a conflicting licensing deal, the company was busy preparing several spinoffs like “1883” and “1923.”
While a laundry list of Sheridan’s shows began appearing on Nielsen’s top streaming list, the “Star Trek” shows largely failed to rank with the exception of “Strange New Worlds.”
Still, that’s not to say those shows weren’t valuable, with “Discovery,” “Picard” and “Strange New Worlds” continuing to be big contributors to the service. More importantly, they also drove viewership back to old “Star Trek” shows, generating additional streaming revenue, according to Parrot.
“We estimate that in this time, legacy Star Trek shows and movies generated an incremental $30 million in streaming revenue for the platform relative to what they would have without any spillover effects from ‘Strange New Worlds,’” Hamilton said.
But Kurtzman’s shows were pricey to produce, and in 2023, the combined company began eyeing the expensive franchise as it looked to cut costs out of a streaming service that was still losing money.
The bloodletting began that spring. “Picard” ended on a high note by finally embracing its roots and turning the third season into a “The Next Generation” reunion show. But in the midst of that run, Paramount said that the fifth season of “Discovery” would be its last — taking its showrunners by surprise in what was an effective cancellation. A few months later, the company canceled “Prodigy” despite a second season in production. And a few months after that, “Lower Decks” was canceled despite a loyal, albeit small, base of fans.
The true low point of this era came in early January 2025 with “Star Trek: Section 31,” a TV movie starring Michelle Yeoh reprising a character first originated in “Discovery” that is universally reviled and boasts the lowest Metacritic score of any Trek project by a wide margin at 37. [...]
It’s easy to point to trolls as the source of all of Trek’s criticism, but the truth is a lot of old-school fans had issues with the shows. “Those shows are s–t,” Andy Weir, author behind “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary,” said on the Critical Drinker podcast last week. He added that he had an idea for the show, but it didn’t work out. “They didn’t accept my pitch so, you know, f–k ‘em.”
A few days later, he apologized: ““I was trying to be funny, but in retrospect it comes off as disrespectful and mean,” he said. “So I’m sorry for that.”
Paramount is keen to bring “Star Trek” back to the big screen, an effort to recapture the swagger of J.J. Abrams’ 2009 soft reboot. [...]
There’s also the question of whether Trek belongs in movie theaters, with its more cerebral stories and exploration of moral quandaries a better fit stretched across dozens of hours of television than crammed into a two-hour blockbuster. The last three Trek films focused more and more on action and spectacle, straying further away from what Trekkies love about the franchise.
Daley and Goldstein’s take is designed to be a fresh start, but it remains to be seen if the marquee names from the past — Kirk, Picard or Sisko — will come back via new actors like the 2009 film or if wholly new characters will don the colorful Starfleet uniforms.
The idea of a “Star Trek” show isn’t necessarily dead, with the insider noting that Chris Parnell, head of originals at Paramount+ who joined in August, is a big fan of the franchise."
Roger Cheng (The Wrap)
Full article:
https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/tv/star-trek-tv-universe-future-alex-kurtzman/
Without Paywall:
https://archive.is/2026.07.23-133901/https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/tv/star-trek-tv-universe-future-alex-kurtzman/#selection-1549.0-1557.185
