CBS Eyes Four Potential Star Trek Series as Signs New Deal with Kurtzman

In a vote of confidence, CBS signs a five-year, $25 million deal extension with Alex Kurtzman. The deal basically means he controls TV Trek (a la Gene Roddenberry back in the day) for the foreseeable future. Kurtzman was part of the writing team that rebooted the movie franchise for Paramount before going solo to launch Star Trek: Discovery as an executive producer. As of last week he is now also show-runner on the program so all decisions go through him.

The deal goes along with rumors, none confirmed by CBS, that another TV show is in the works. Actually it seems CBS is kicking the tires on four potential series. This isn't to say all four goes to series, just that there are four ideas being developed, one of which may move forward.

One show idea is "Sources say Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, who left Discovery after season one, are attached to the Stewart-led reboot." This comes after Stewart hinted a return saying he "may have good cause to look at [Discovery] very soon." Which to mean suggests a potential cameo appearance, not a series. Or it could mean the convention circuit will soon be swamped with Discovery alumni and he likes being informed for panels and the like. I think people are reading to much into this. The other ideas being kicked around is an animated series and a limited series but this is literally the extent of the information on those two.

Another concept that does seem to have legs is one set at Starfleet Academy (era not mentioned) from Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz (Runaways, Gossip Girl). The idea, one that has been kicked every time Trek returns, seems great as long as the pair can maybe lose some of over ansty television that has been their mainstay for the last decade.

The last concept is a limited series of Khan Noonien Singth from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This was a series that Khan creator and director Nicholas Meyer was rumored to have been working on for a little while. The idea seemed to be put on hold and I am guessing Meyer will have little to do with whatever comes of it as I suspect some bad blood formed during the Discovery pre-production process between Meyer and CBS. The closest Star Trek ever got to a "biography" is the Greg Cox written books The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh and To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh.

End result is CBS seems to be investing in the long term for Star Trek and are not just eyeing a season to season pick up of Discovery to keep the franchise going while Paramount continues to spin it wheels as the studio looks to be willing to wait for around two years to see if Quentin Tarantino might direct the next film.