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The future never ends. At the center of Star Trek’s core message is the idea that things will go on, and arguably continue to improve, because the future never ends and through community, communication, and the need to explore, new heights will be reached and new frontiers discovered. It’s something to think about as the final season of Star Trek: Discovery airs, taking the franchise further into the future than ever before… but the story will not end when that series does.

Whether it’s William Shatner’s James T. Kirk, Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard, Avery Brooks’ Benjamin Sisko, or any of the subsequent commanders and captains of the many starships of Starfleet, generations of viewers have found themselves in good hands when it comes to navigating the outer limits of reality on a regular basis… and, these days, there are more opportunities than ever to transport into space for a trek of your own.

Even with 2023’s final season of Picard, there are no fewer than four ongoing Star Trek series right now — with even more on the way, and the return of the franchise to the big screen, with multiple movies in the works. There’s so much happening, in fact, that it’s easy to lose track… which is why you should keep reading and find out what to expect from Star Trek across the next few years. (Spoilers: the final frontier is getting a lot bigger.)

Upcoming Star Trek movies and TV show schedule

There’s no shortage of Star Trek in the pipeline for the next few years, but no official dates have been announced by CBS or Paramount for anything outside of Star Trek: Discovery season five coming in April. That doesn’t mean that we have no idea when some projects should be dropping, based on how far along they are in terms of production, or simply teases given by those involved.

Here’s a quick rundown of the projects that have been announced from Star Trek that exist on some form of schedule, however vague. (There are many unscheduled projects, which we’ll get to at warp speed, don’t worry.)

What Star Trek TV series are planned?

Star Trek: Prodigy, season two

While Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 was originally announced to debut on Paramount+ in the winter of 2023, Paramount+ has nixed those plans — but the show was picked up by Netflix, with new episodes already announced for some point in 2024. (The first season was added to the platform in December 2023.)

Release Date: TBD 2024

Platform: Netflix

Star Trek: Lower Decks, season five

A fifth season for the animated comedy set in the period between Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard was announced in April 2023, but no premiere date is known. Judging by the period between order and broadcast for the fourth season, however, it’s relatively safe to assume that a new season might be ready by the end of 2024, unless the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023 threw everything entirely off schedule.

Release Date: TBD 2024

Platform: Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season three

As if the second season cliffhanger wasn't enough of a clue that the popular spin-off of Discovery — which is also a prequel to the original Star Trek series from the 1960s —would return, the show's third season renewal was announced back in April 2023. But after a second season that included a half-animated crossover episode and a musical, how can they top what they've already achieved? A clue arrived in a recent article mentioning a murder mystery episode, and we’ll see what else the show is planning to wow fans when it returns at some point in 2025.

Release Date: TBD 2025

Platform: Paramount+

Movies & TV Shows with No Approximate Schedule Yet

Star Trek: Section 31

Even before the character of Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) left the Discovery narrative, rumors of a Section 31 spinoff starring the Oscar Award-winning actress have swirled. In mid-April 2023, it was officially announced that a Star Trek: Section 31 “special movie event” starring Yeoh had been greenlit by Paramount+.

Yeoh, who originated the idea for a Section 31 spinoff herself, will serve as executive producer with Alex Kurtzman. Additional details from the announcement include the fact that Section 31 will be written by Craig Sweeny and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi (director of many episodes of Discovery). However, it remains to be seen what other familiar Trek characters may appear in the show, if any. The movie is currently in post-production, which makes a late 2024 or early 2025 release likely — and Yeoh has already said that she’d be willing to make more if this one goes over well.

Release Date: TBD

Platform: Paramount+

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

In late March 2023, it was announced that Starfleet Academy season 1 had been ordered. Very few details have been revealed about the series, although we do have confirmation that it will be a live-action series. The announcement refers to it being “the first time in over a century” that individuals will be admitted to the Academy implied the series will be set around the same time period as Discovery seasons 3, 4 and 5, which was later confirmed by Paramount executives.

However, we do know some of those behind the scenes who will be involved with Starfleet Academy. Serving as showrunners and executive producers will be Kurtzman and Noga Landau. Furthermore, in a Tweet sent shortly after the series order was announced, Lower Decks star Tawny Newsome revealed that she has joined the show’s writers room.

Release Date: TBD

Platform: Paramount+

Star Trek 4

In April 2021, a new Star Trek movie was announced for release on June 9, 2023. It was subsequently revealed to be a fourth movie in the Kelvin Timeline. WandaVision alum Matt Shakman was attached to the project before he accepted the directorial role for the upcoming Fantastic Four MCU adaptation; he subsequently left the project, which placed it in turnaround.

Long believed to be quietly dead, sources inside Paramount have recently said that it’s still active and in development. And yet, it's not all good news - according to Variety, the fourth entry into the Chris Pine-starring Star Trek saga will be "the final chapter” in that particular series.

Release Date: TBD

Platform: Theatrical

Untitled Star Trek prequel

Having wowed fans with his work on Lucasfilm’s Andor series, director Toby Haynes is reportedly developing a new Star Trek movie set decades before J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot of the franchise, with writer Seth Grahame-Smith onboard to write. Little is known about the project including just what timeline of Trek it’s going to take place in; initial reports suggested it was part of the Kelvin timeline — which is to say, the continuity of the 2009 reboot movies — but more recently, it was described as being part of the core timeline of the franchise. (Of course, in that it’s a prequel set before Nero changed history in that 2009 movie, it’s possible that it could be both. Time travel is confusing.)

Release Date: TBD

Platform: Theatrical

Untitled Picard movie

The open question over what, if anything, Paramount would do to follow up on the success of the third and final season of Picard might have an answer. While Picard showrunner Terry Malalas had teased a new series called Legacy — see below — Patrick Stewart revealed in a recent interview that he’s heard of a movie script written specifically for Picard, although he hadn’t read it and couldn’t give any further details. Will this feature more of the reunited TNG cast, or is it something entirely different? And is it meant as a Paramount+ project a la Section 31, or a theatrical release? Time will tell…

Release Date: TBD

Platform: TBD

Potentially Abandoned Projects

Quentin Tarantino’s Trek

At one point, legendary director Quentin Tarantino was talking about directing an R-rated movie set in the Star Trek universe, with another writer working from an idea he had that was reportedly a time travel movie that would take inspiration from the original series episode ‘A Piece of the Action.’ Things progressed to a small degree with writer Mark L. Smith before Tarantino decided that he didn’t want to direct it, but the screenplay exists and Tarantino has said that he’d be willing to offer notes for any new director. We can but hope this oddity one day happens.

Star Trek: Legacy

One unannounced project remains at the forefront of Trekkie agendas everywhere: the proposed Picard semi-sequel, Star Trek: Legacy. The title was revealed by Picard season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas on Twitter in March 2023, while Picard’s wildly popular third season was being released. Matalas stated the proposed series would be set in the 25th century, following up on storylines and characters from “the Last Generation and the Next.”

While the series has yet to be officially commented upon by Paramount or CBS, fans have signed online petitions in support of the idea, and at least one Trek executive seems in favor; In interviews in support of Strange New Worlds season 2, Akiva Goldsman voiced his continued advocacy for a continuation of the vision Matalas has for the Franchise. “Let me put it this way,” Goldsman said during an interview with CinemaBlend. “I signed the petition too.”

It’s unclear whether or not the Picard movie project mentioned above is a variation on the Legacy idea, or an entirely separate project.

Is Star Trek 4 confirmed?

As we mentioned earlier, a fourth and final Star Trek movie set in the Kelvin Timeline — the alternate timeline created with J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot of the franchise, featuring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban as Kirk, Spock, and Bones, respectively — is in development, although it’s unclear at what stage at time of writing. Certainly all parties involved seem to want to make it happen, so at this point, we should consider it a question of when it’ll happen.

What is the most current Star Trek?

Currently, episodes of the final season of Star Trek: Discovery are airing on Thursdays on Paramount+, running through the end of May 2024.

What’s the next Star Trek series?

At time of current writing, the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy is anticipated to be the next Star Trek show to debut, at some point on Netflix. The next all-new series to debut will be Starfleet Academy, which we can likely expect at some point in 2025.

Will there be another Star Trek with Jack Crusher?

One of the breakout stars of Picard, season 3, Ed Speleere portrays Jack Crusher, a new addition to the Star Trek universe with ties that go back generations (or at least, to the new one). After the third season fo the Patrick Stewart-starring spinoff wrapped, fans were very curious about whether we'd see Crusher again.

Unfortunately, there's no confirmed answer to this question. However, that hasn't stopped folks like Susana Polo at Polygon from speculating about Crusher's future, particularly how it could connect to the rumors of Star Trek: Legacy. Be warned before you read that speculation, though; it contains major spoilers for Picard season 3.

Space may be the final frontier, but there's no end to Popverse's love of the Star Trek universe. Hop aboard the starship Enterprise with our Star Trek watch order, explore strange new worlds with our upcoming Star Trek TV shows and movies list, seek out the new life of the franchise, and boldly go where no Star TRek film has ever gone before - with Quentin Tarantino?