CBS All Access knows what content butters its bread: Star Trek. The streamer has confirmed that long-rumored Captain Pike spin-off series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The show will follow Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike on his adventures aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise before it is taken over by Captain Kirk and the original series begins. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) will return for the series as well.
Fans who may be concerned about the darker tone of the franchise lately might be pleased to hear Strange New Worlds will change trajectory. “We’re gonna get to work on a classic Star Trek show that deals with optimism and the future,” said Mount of the series.
Pike, Spock, and Number One all were featured in the rejected pilot episode of Star Trek, which had Captain Pike at the helm of the Enterprise and Number One as his second-in-command. They then reappeared in the latest season of Discovery, with Captain Pike taking command of the ship. However, given the ending of that season, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds probably won’t cross over with Discovery much, though that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of crossovers with the Section 31 series also in the works.
This could be a chance for at least one of the CBS All Access shows to finally ditch season-long story arcs and return to the episodic style of the original Trek shows. The title itself, a reference to William Shatner’s opening dialog for Star Trek, definitely hints at this, and CBS dabbled in the style with its Short Treks series (though all of them eventually tied back into Discovery).
