WGA Strike Ends, What Does This Mean For Star Trek?

The Writes Guild of America (WGA) has reached a tentative deal and officially ended the strike. You can read the detailed summary here or the overview summary here. Still some Ts to be crossed but as of now, writers can get back to work which includes TV showrunners who also tend to be WGA member writers. Great news for the writers but for fans don't get excited just yet.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike continues on. Without the actors, filming cannot begin. What this agreement really means is pre-production can begin on movies and TV shows. Ideally, with a bit of luck in timing and good planning, the day the SAG strike ends is the day actors can go before cameras as a host of TV shows and movies go into full production mode. Others can finish what filming was interrupted and any post production work that is waiting on the actors can be completed.

Which brings us to Star Trek. Here is a quick summary for each show and movies:

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 - All filming, including reshoots, had already completed for the final season. What post-production work that remains can be completed due to return of the showrunners.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 - Writers can now complete scripts, pre-production work can be completed, post-production work can move ahead. Filming can start as soon as actors are avialable.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 - Falls under The Animation Guild (TAG) so writing and animation work not impacted. Voice over work could start but unlikly until after actors strike ends.

Starfleet Academy season 1 - Writing and pre-production can restart, post-production work can move ahead. Casting will have to wait until after strike ends.

Section 31 movie - Script was already completed, pre-production can resume, post-production work can resume. Casting, filming on hold until actors strike ends. With Academy Award winning actress Michelle Yeoh in high demand and her filming schedule blow up by the strike, no telling when production can start.

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 - Despite Paramount+ inexplicable cancellation, contractual production on the series continued with all 20 episodes to be completed by end of year. Issue is finding a home for the series at whatever fee Paramount is hoping to get for the episodes. The whole situation with this show is just bizarre and seems poorly thought out by Paramount executives who are now unwilling to admit they made have made a mistake.

Star Trek 4 - Somehow its still in the cards? At least that is what script writer Lindsey Anderson Beer is claiming, "It is, it’s still on the tracks. I love that project, and it was another one that I had to hop off of to direct this movie, and that was a hard thing to do. But I love everybody involved with that project.” I wouldn't hold your breath. No pre-production work has been done, no negotioations with the cast can begin until the strike ends (and like Yeoh, their schedules are a huge issue) and for Paramount the cost of making the movie remains their primary sticking point. They want it cheap (relatively speaking), I estimate in the $100 to $120 million range and cast salaries could eat up half that budget.

Release schedule wise, there cannot be one since no idea when actors will return to work. Even if timing and all that works out and all the actors could show up the day the strike ends, there is a whole lot of work to be done, especially since the shows are VFX heavy so that creates a significant post-production period. Since Star Trek: Discovery season 5 was minimally impacted by the strikes, it likely remains on schedule to return in early 2024. After that, its up in the air. Lower Decks season 5 can return this time next year but will be highly dependent on how production is going on the other shows. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 would have been a great gap filler but that plan was trashed for inexplicable reasons. End result is there is a good chance that only Discovery and Lower Decks will come out in 2024.