“There’s really an infinite number of stories to tell”: The Strict Rule Star Trek Must Follow May Help Avoid Dumpster Fires Like ‘Discovery’

Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, has manifested itself into one of the biggest and most successful franchises in Hollywood. After multiple decades, we have numerous comics, movies, and TV shows that fans gush over regularly. While the initial movies and TV shows have a much more hardcore fanbase, recent projects have also managed to hold their own.

With such an expansive canvas, the franchise has multiple stories to tell. In recent years, Star Trek has been producing a lot of projects. In 2017, the franchise, in collaboration with its streaming partner Paramount+, started its new journey with Star Trek: Discovery. Since then, it seems like there is no stopping. But all that does not mean they are simply busy adding anything and everything to their storyline, as the franchise is said to be following a very strict guidelines when it comes to working on more shows and movies.

Star Trek Follows a Very Specific Guideline

The franchise which started in the mid-60s with the 1966 show Star Trek: The Original Series, is now a canon full of varied storylines. After their collaborative journey with Paramount started, Star Trek has only added to its canon with recent shows like Star Trek: Short Treks, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Out of these, Short Treks and Picard have already concluded, while Prodigy and Lower Decks are on their way towards the end. Star Trek: Discovery, which started this whole journey, also ended its journey last month, with its fifth and final season. But if you ask screenwriter and producer Alex Kurtzman, they have a strict rule they follow while making these shows.

Kurtzman has been an executive producer to all the latest Star Trek shows, him and the rest of the team follow a guideline when it comes to greenlighting a new project. On the Star Trek recap chat show The Ready Room, host Wil Wheaton asked Kurtzman about the future of the franchise. To this he said:

I spent a lot of time that first season [of Star Trek: Discovery] really kind of meditating on this incredible universe that has been around for so long, and how much more can be done with it; how many amazing stories there are to tell. There’s really an infinite number of stories to tell.

The Star Trek universe is vast, with so many species and so many characters that we only know on the surface and yet to dig deep. So yes, there are truly infinite number of stories that can be told. But the focal point of the matter is, are these stories worth telling.

Star Trek Only Wants to Tell Stories That Have Something to Say

Alex Kurtzman joined the Paranount owned Star Trek franchise in 2015. While he is the executive producer to almost all the shows that have been recently released, he has been a part of this universe from long back. He, alongside Roberto Orci, co-wrote the scripts for the J.J. Abrams directed Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013). The movies starred Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in leading roles, and was the franchise trying to reboot the universe with a new cast but old characters.

Kurtzman, while speaking on The Ready Room, said that as the EP of the latest shows, while there was a lot of scope, he made sure to only make projects that had a story to tell. He wanted it to be new and exciting, something that hadn’t already been repeatedly told over the years.

I only want to make another ‘Star Trek’ show if there’s something special to say. I don’t want to do it just to do more. I think that would be a huge disservice to ‘Star Trek.’ It would be a huge disservice to the fans.

He further added:

If there’s one thing that ‘Trek’ fans know, it’s authenticity. So for me, it’s really just about figuring out a way to make sure that we take our time, we’re deliberate, we’re thoughtful, and we deliver on the promise of something different every time.

Well, hopefully, even after all these cancelations, Star Trek manages to persevere. All seasons of Star Trek: Discovery are available for streaming on Paramount+.