Kurtzman Talks Starfleet Academy Setting, Other Details

Now that Star Trek: Discovery has completed its run and nothing Trek is on the horizon for the next three or so months, eyes turn to the next series in the pipeline (depending on how Paramount sale goes) with Starfleet Academy. The series is set to start filming at some point this summer with Holly Hunter in the lead as the commodore of the Academy. He verified that the series will take place in the 31st century on Earth, in San Francisco which is the traditional home of Starfleet Academy. This is the same time frame of the last three seasons of Discovery. 

Kurtzman also spoke of his motivations on choices he has made for what to do with Star Trek over the last few years. Below are choice quotes related to Academy but he spoke of Discovery and others series in the full article with the from the LA Times.

It’s a misnomer that there’s a one-size-fits-all Trekkie. And rather than make one show that’s going to please everybody — and will almost certainly please nobody — let’s make an adult drama, an animated comedy, a kids’ comedy, an adventure show and on and on. There’s something quite beautiful about that; it allows each of the stories to bloom in its own unique way.

There’s a specific reason for [31st century setting]. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now. 

What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

Alex Kurtzman also said he will be directing the first two episodes of the series. He also briefly commented on the future plans saying "There's always notions and there are a couple of surprises coming up" but didn't elaborate further. Keep in mind Paramount (with CBS and Paramount+) are for sale so be really surprised if he has been given the greenlight to produce any more series until a final decision is made on Paramount's future as such a decision (aka budget), would be in the new owners 'hands.

While Kurtzman's reason for the 31st century setting is true, I doubt it is the primary reason. In Hollywood budget, not story, is king. Discovery built up five years worth of assets from sets, cast, stories, and CGI elements that will make a good dent on per episode budgets and speed up the post production process which likely played a huge part in the decisions made for a new series that became Starfleet Academy. Real argument to be made that streaming's more or less every 1.5 to 2 year release schedule does no favors in keep eyeballs around and it will be interesting if this series can finally close the gap with the Discovery advantage and the large Academy set being built.