Star Trek Comic Con Reveals
Article by Kieran Burt
Star Trek boldly beamed down to a news panel at San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), and came armed with reveals and footage setting out to war audiences. Audiences got news on the latest seasons of Picard, Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds but there are a couple of other bits worth mentioning.
Picard teaser
First, is a new teaser trailer for Picard Season Three. Picard season three is set to debut in early 2023, and audiences saw a small glimpse of what they can expect. Whilst not actually footage from the upcoming season, the new teaser does confirm the return of some of the Enterprise-D crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Guest stars Jonathan Frakes, and Marina Sirtis will of course return as Will Riker and Deanna Troy, but they will be joined by Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, and Gates McFadden, reprising their roles as Worf, Geordi La Forge and Beverly Crusher. Although he isn’t in the trailer, Brent Spiner is set to return as Commander Data. His return is very intriguing, as audiences learnt Data passed away in the first season. Wonder what he’ll think about the events of the first season.
IGN interview with Sir Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden
It appears this wouldn’t be a fully happy reunion between old crewmates, as in an interview with IGN, Sir Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden hints a tension between the crew of The Next Generation.
Lower Decks trailer
Looking at Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks receives a season three trailer, showing the crew on a mission to rescue Captain Freeman and the U.S.S Cerritos. The end features the return of Deep Space Nine, which is instantly recognisable to any fan of the 90s series of the same name. Showrunner Mick McMahon revealed that “we [‘Lower Decks’] go into Deep Space Nine, where we walk the promenade, we will enjoy the Cardassian architecture … and you might see some friendly faces in there.” teasing that familiar characters will be making the jump to animation. Audiences won’t have long to wait for the new season, as it will debut on Paramount+ on August 25th 2022.
While there was no trailer shown for Strange New Worlds, audiences did get the surprising news that the show and Lower Decks will be crossing over with each other, both in live action and animation. Audiences will see Ensign Beckett Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome, and Ensign Brad Boimler, voiced by Jack Quaid, join the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise in the second season of Strange New worlds. A further surprise is that the episode in question will be directed by none other than Jonathan Frakes, legend of The Next Generation. The second season of Strange New Worlds will debut in 2023.
Alex Kurtzman also briefly alluded to where the future of Star Trek is heading. Revealing that two more shows are in the works, his comments show that there are more corners of this universe to investigate. Further comments he makes allude to where these new spin offs might be headed. In response to a fan asking if female characters, such as Rebecca Romijn’s Number One from Strange New Worlds or Jeri’s Ryan’s Seven of Nine from Picard have the potential for their own spin offs, Kurtzman replied with the following:
“Anything’s possible and I’ll say that, without revealing too much, you can certainly expect to see more Star Trek shows with female leads,”.
While the future for Star Trek couldn’t be brighter on TV, its future in the cinema is less known. Reaching out to lead actor Chris Pine during the panel about the new Dungeons and Dragons film, Deadline asked Pine about the latest developments about Star Trek 4, and he had this to say:
“I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything about it other than the news”.
See encounter below.
Paramount announced that they would be making a fourth film set in the Kelvin universe in February, and set its sights on an ambitious December 2023 release date.
Although there is no news on the movie side of the universe, audiences have a lot to look forward to on TV, with some of the announcements coming very soon. It’s a very exciting time to be a Star Trek fan.
