Alex Kurtzman Sheds Light on Star Trek Discovery’s Tough Road to Season 5 – Den of Geek

But even as it explored the future, Discovery never left behind the rest of Trek. In fact, it made more Trek possible. There would be no Star Trek Universe without Star Trek: Discovery, Kurtzman tells Den of Geek. It was the first one in the door. It took all the knocks, but it also carved all this new ground.

It did indeed take knocks. The shows initial viewers didnt know what to make of the new look, with blue uniforms and a sleek ship design, nor of Discoverys storytelling style, the first Trek series to truly abandon episodic structure for a fully serialized season-long narrative.

However, the reaction to Discoverys changes made way for the second Star Trek renaissance, with the most and best series in production since the 1990s. Without Discovery, there would not be the revival series Picard, the kids show Prodigy, the comedy of Lower Decks, or the unbridled imagination of Strange New Worlds. That last point is particularly true, as Strange New Worlds spins directly out of Discovery, as the latter introduced Ethan Pecks Spock, Anson Mounts Pike, and Rebecca Romijns Number One.

During our chat, Kurtzman explains that the beauty of the current Star Trek universe is that theres something for every kind of fan, whether its Discovery or another series: There are many subsets of the Trek fandom and many different things that different people like. Kurtzman embraces the complexity of the franchise fan base as an opportunity for different forms of storytelling.

The question that we always ask ourselves when were doing any Star Trek show is Why are we putting it in that particular timeline? And the answer cant ever just be Because we havent done it before, he says. It has to be, Well, theres a very specific story thats going to be suited to be told in that particular timeline.

Our biggest thing has honestly been we dont ever want our Star Trek shows to feel repetitive. We dont want you to think that by watching Discovery, you shouldnt watch any of the other shows because youre getting everything from that one show. Each show is different, Kurtzman continues. So for us, its not about doing one show that pleases everybody because thats the surefire way to please nobody. Its more about doing a bunch of different shows that speak to specific sections of the demographic.

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Alex Kurtzman Sheds Light on Star Trek Discovery's Tough Road to Season 5 - Den of Geek