All the Star Trek shows and movies coming in 2023 and beyond

By tiara starks | may 25, 2023.

Pictured: Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+ © 2021 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.

Trekkies have a lot to be thankful for this year as the Star Trek franchise we all know and love shows no signs of slowing down!

As of now, there are four series in production within the entire franchise. Before streaming took over in the mid 2010s, there were only five broadcast series on air including The Original Series ,  The Next Generation ,  Deep Space Nine ,  Voyager , and  Enterprise . Now, with so many additions, both animated and live-action, it seems almost impossible to keep track of what to watch next, but you’ve come to the right place.

If you’ve been wondering when and where you can watch the current and upcoming seasons of Star Trek series and learn what anticipated films are set to be made, read on to find out!

Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The most recently released live-action series in the franchise received positive reviews and has already been ordered for a third season ahead of its second season release. Strange New Worlds is set a decade before the events of the original series in the 23rd century and offers up a contemporary take on the original series’ episodic storytelling and 1960s design choices.

The main cast includes Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Bruce Horak, and Rebecca Romijn as Number One. The second season will premiere on Paramount+ on June 15 .

Star Trek: Lower Decks

The adult animated series takes place in the late 24th century in the Star Trek universe, in which Earth is part of the multi-species United Federation of Planets and focuses on Starfleet’s least important starships, the USS Cerritos.

The main cast includes Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, and Jerry O’Connell. Even though the fourth season has yet to premiere, a fifth season was ordered in March 2023 and is already in development. Season 4 is scheduled to premiere on the streaming service Paramount+ in Summer 2023  with a 10-episode run.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Another wildly popular animated series in the franchise, Nickelodeon’s P rodigy is returning for a second season. The main cast includes Brett Gray, Ella Purnell, Jason Mantzoukas, Angus Imrie, Dee Bradley Baker, and Kate Mulgrew.

The series, which was met with positive reviews from critics and even received a Children’s and Family Emmy Award, has been airing since 2021. While an exact release date has not yet been set, season 2 will arrive this upcoming winter on Nickelodeon and Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

The live-action series begins around ten years before the events of The Original Series which aired in the mid to late ’60s. The main cast includes Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, and Mary Wiseman. A final 10-episode fifth season was ordered in January 2022 and is expected to premiere on the streaming service Paramount+ in early 2024.

Star Trek 4

The long-awaited sequel to the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond was originally supposed to be released in December 2023 but has since been pushed back. It is unclear when the film will be released in theaters.

Star Trek: Section 31

This movie is based on the novels that explore the operations of the clandestine organization known as Section 31 and expected to be released on streaming platform Paramount+. The film stars Michelle Yeoh who first appeared in Star Trek: Discovery as Captain Philippa Georgiou. Yeoh returns as an alternate universe version of her character who is now named Emperor Philippa Georgiou. She’ll be the central character in this movie. It is yet to be announced when filming will start but keep your eyes peeled for a date soon!

Next. WGA Strike explained: What the writers want, how it affects TV, and why you should care. dark

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‘Star Trek’ Cast, Including Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, Returning for Fourth Film

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

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Star Trek Chris Pine Karl Urban Zachary Quinto Simon Pegg

They’re boldly going back.

Paramount is planning to enter negotiations for “ Star Trek ” stars Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and Simon Pegg to return to the Enterprise for their fourth tour of duty in the venerable sci-fi franchise.

The announcement was made by J.J. Abrams during the Paramount Investors Day Presentation on Feb. 15.

“We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new ‘Star Trek’ film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take ‘Star Trek’ into areas that you’ve just never seen before,” Abrams said. “We’re thrilled about this film, we have a bunch of other stories that we’re talking about that we think will be really exciting, so can’t wait for you to see what we’re cooking up. But until then, live long and prosper.”

The six actors first stepped into their respective iconic roles as Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Bones, Sulu and Scotty in 2009’s “Star Trek,” directed by Abrams, which reset the “Trek” timeline and allowed for the reboot to exist unencumbered from the hundreds of hours of “Trek” continuity that had come before. The actors returned in two sequels, 2013’s “Star Trek Into Darkness,” also directed by Abrams, and 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond,” directed by Justin Lin.

Abrams is producing the new, as-yet-untitled film through Bad Robot, with Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) directing from a screenplay by Josh Friedman (“Avatar 2”) and Cameron Squires (“WandaVision”) based on a earlier draft by Lindsey Beer (“Sierra Burgess Is a Loser”) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Captain Marvel”).

Paramount was close to bringing back this cast once before: In 2018, S.J. Clarkson (“Jessica Jones”) had signed up to direct a sequel that would have reunited Pine’s Kirk with his late father, played by Chris Hemsworth reprising his performance from the 2009 “Star Trek.” That film never materialized, however, after Paramount reportedly couldn’t close a deal with Pine and Hemsworth.

Since then, insiders say the studio has done market research to determine audience interest in the rebooted cast, given the long wait period between “Beyond” — which lost money for Paramount — and a prospective new “Trek” film. Execs determined that there was still lasting audience enthusiasm for Pine, Quinto and the rest of the cast in their established roles, which allowed the studio to feel comfortable with moving forward with bringing them back.

Paramount has also explored several other avenues for “Trek” features, none of which seem to have ultimately borne fruit. Quentin Tarantino reportedly cooled on a “Star Trek” script he was pursuing with “The Revenant” screenwriter Mark L. Smith. In late 2019, Paramount tapped “Fargo” and “Legion” creator Noah Hawley to write and direct a “Trek” movie that Hawley planned to feature new actors playing new characters. But when Emma Watts became president of the Paramount Motion Picture Group a few months later, insiders say she paused all “Trek” development, including Hawley’s film , to decide how best to move forward with one of the studio’s crown jewel franchises. With Watts’ departure from Paramount in September, it’s unclear what the current “Trek” film portends for other development for the franchise, including a screenplay by “Fear the Walking Dead” co-executive producer Kalinda Vazquez .

Bringing the 2009 “Trek” cast back could prove a challenge given they’ve all had busy schedules since “Beyond.” Pine added the “Wonder Woman” franchise to his resume and he’ll next appear in Olivia Wilde’s thriller “Don’t Worry Darling” and the black-ops film “Violence of Action.” Quinto headlined the AMC series “NOS4A2,” and starred in the Broadway revival of “The Boys in the Band” and its 2020 Netflix film adaptation. Saldana continued her run as Gamora in several Marvel Studios films, including “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and “Avengers: Endgame”; she’ll star in “Avatar 2” this year and in “Guardians Vol. 3” in 2023. Urban appeared in 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok” and he’ll continue his performance as Billy Butcher on Season 3 of Amazon’s “The Boys” in June. Cho starred in acclaimed indies “Columbus” and “Searching,” and he starred in Netflix’s live-action adaption of the anime series “Cowboy Bebop.” And Pegg starred with Nick Frost on Amazon’s horror comedy series “Truth Seekers,” and he’ll reprise his role as Benji in “Mission: Impossible 7” in 2023.

One member of the 2009 “Trek” cast, however, sadly cannot join them. Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov, died in an accident in June 2016, a month before “Beyond” opened in theaters. At that film’s premiere at San Diego Comic Con, the cast, filmmakers and invited guests sat in a full minute of silence in tribute to the late actor.

Brent Lang contributed to this story.

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Star Trek In 2023: What We’re Most Looking Forward To

star trek actors 2023

| January 1, 2023 | By: TrekMovie Editors 148 comments so far

After reflecting back on the year that was , we’re going to look ahead to the next one. There is a lot to look forward to in the world of Star Trek in 2023. Sometimes we know exactly when they’re coming, sometimes we don’t so we’re guessing, but we remain, in true Star Trek form, optimistic about what’s to come.

In no particular order, here’s what the TrekMovie team is most excited about…

Next Gen cast returning for Picard season 3 (February)

After two mixed-bag seasons, Star Trek: Picard is getting revived for a third and final season under new management with showrunner Terry Matalas reengineering the show to give fans the “proper sendoff” for the TNG crew tha t Star Trek: Nemesis didn’t. But star Sir Patrick Stewart cautions us not to call it a “reunion,” as his former crew are fully integrated into the story, which promises some dramatic tension. Hyped as a cinematic and emotional season, it’s worth being cautiously optimistic the third time is going to be the charm.

star trek actors 2023

Carol Kane on Strange New Worlds season 2 (May?)

It’s doubtful that anyone had this on their predictions list: Academy Award nominee Carol Kane will be appearing on SNW in a recurring role to play Pelia, a new engineer on the Enterprise (filling the sad gap left by Hemmer’s death in season 1). Kane is an actress who shines onscreen no matter who she’s playing and always brings something special to the table—check out Taxi, The Princess Bride, Dog Day Afternoon, Scrooged, Annie Hall, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, just for starters.

star trek actors 2023

The  Strange New Worlds / Lower Decks crossover

Another big highlight for the second season of SNW will be the first major crossover of the new era of Star Trek shows. Lower Decks stars Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome broke the news when they crashed the Strange New Worlds panel at San Diego Comic-Con revealing they will appear in live action as Boimler and Mariner on board the USS Enterprise (and Pike will get animated too). To make it even better, the episode was directed by none other than Jonathan Frakes. Counting the days!

Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome crash the Strange New Worlds panel at San Diego Comic-Con

T’Lyn on  Lower Decks season 4 (August?)

Season 3 of  Lower Decks delivered the fun news that T’Lyn (voiced by Gabrielle Ruiz and first seen in season 2’s excellent “wej Duj”) has joined the Cerritos crew to be part of the senior science offer training program alongside a very enthusiastic Ensign Tendi. Viewed as “unstable” by her Vulcan crewmates aboard the Sh’vhal, she’s likely to get the opposite reputation on the Cerritos. Showrunner Mike McMahan said he couldn’t wait to write it , and we can’t wait to watch.

Tendi and T'Lyn in the Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 finale

More legacy characters in Prodigy season 2 (October?)

The first season of Star Trek: Prodigy just wrapped up, with big events setting up a whole new dynamic for season 2, focused on the search for Chakotay on board Admiral Janeway’s new ship . Now that the show has moved back into the Federation, season 2 looks like it will have even more canon connections; the producers have told us we can expect “some really wild, fun, legendary characters coming back.” Looks like Janeway may have some familiar help guiding the young “warrant officers in training” in season 2.

star trek actors 2023

A new fun tone for Discovery season 5 (November?)

Assuming Paramount+ can at least get it started sometime in 2023, Star Trek: Discovery looks to be pivoting again for its fifth season. Letting go of the galaxy-ending stakes that have been a hallmark of the previous four seasons, the new one promises a “ tonal shift ,” moving away from all that heaviness for “more of an action-adventure sort of season” focused on a big mystery that is a bit of a quest or treasure hunt… think Indiana Jones in space.

star trek actors 2023

Nerf Phasers (December)

One of the fun surprise announcements of 2022 was from Hasbro, who are planning on releasing their first-ever Nerf product for Star Trek in 2023. The limited edition release actually includes two TNG-era Nerf phasers: The Star Trek Starfleet Type 3 Phaser Motorized Blaster with Lights & Sounds and the Starfleet Type 2 Phaser. Like with the first wave of new Playmates roleplay toys, it’s great to have Star Trek stuff you can play with again.

star trek actors 2023

Star Trek: Resurgence (April)

Originally expecting a 2022 release, we are still excited about this upcoming narrative adventure game set in the post-Nemesis  era . Coming to PC and Console, Resurgence will be a story-based game designed to be accessible to a wide audience. A preview at Comic-Con 2022 was impressive and the new IDW prequel comic tie-in is setting the stage and introducing the characters.   

star trek actors 2023

Star Trek: Defiant (March)

IDW blew us away in 2022 with their new ongoing series entitled simply Star Trek, and in March, it gets a “dark and edgy” spinoff called Star Trek: Defiant , described as “ The Dirty Dozen meets Star Trek .” IDW’s Star Trek editor Heather Antos said that they have “comics’ biggest Star Trek fans at the helm of the biggest and boldest interconnected comics story ever.” If that’s true and even more Star Trek comics are coming as part of a “cinematic universe,” 2023 is shaping up to be a banner year for comics fans. Plus, with Worf leading a Defiant crew that includes Ro Laren!, Lore!!, and Spock!!!, how could you not be excited?

star trek actors 2023

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country (February)

2023 will see the first novel tie-in to Strange New Worlds with The High Country from John Jackson Miller, who wrote our favorite Trek book of 2021 ( Picard: Rogue Elements ). The new book is set sometime during the first season of the show and will see the return of Hemmer. We can’t wait.

star trek actors 2023

Paramount Pictures announcing plans for another movie

Since the release of Star Trek Beyond in 2016, finding the way forward for the Star Trek film franchise has vexed Paramount Pictures, resulting in a number of starts and stops along the way. 2022 brought exciting news early on with the announcement of plans to start shooting a new Kelvin movie by the end of the year for release in Christmas 2023, but that fizzled out and the director exited. That project could still get going, or maybe the studio will pivot to something tied into the Paramount+ shows, or something different entirely, but Star Trek is too important to Paramount to continue to languish. We continue to optimistically hope that something definitive will be announced about the next big screen Trek.

star trek actors 2023

TNG Movies on 4K HDR Blu-ray

After wrapping up the TOS movies on 4K HDR Blu-ray in 2022 , it is expected for Paramount Home Entertainment to move on to the four TNG movies, with a possible release of Generations , First Contact , Insurrection , and Nemesis coming in 2023. It’s been rumored a release could come as early as First Contact Day in April.

star trek actors 2023

Voyager Documentary

Another rollover from 2022, To The The Journey: Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager is a documentary coming from the same team behind the DS9 doc What We Left Behind , promising the same kind of dive into  Star Trek: Voyager. Production continued in 2022 with more interviews being done as recently as November . We’re hoping that this is the year they put it all together for a deep dive into the Delta Quadrant.

star trek actors 2023

A brand-new Star Trek series announcement

We’ve been hearing whispers ( sometimes loud ones, at big events ) about new Star Trek shows in development. Will it be a Section 31 show with Michelle Yeoh ? A Starfleet Academy series set in the  Discovery era? A spin-off from  Picard featuring legacy stars? A live-action Janeway show ?  Nothing’s been locked in yet , but it seems a good bet that at least one of them is going to get a green light this year.

star trek actors 2023

William Shatner doing something new

In 2021, he swam with sharks and went into space. In 2022, he was praised by Rob Zombie for his cover of “The Great American Nightmare.” No doubt the ninety-one-year-old will come up with something to surprise us this year too, in addition to writing a book or two and releasing that documentary he’s been talking about.

star trek actors 2023

Prodigy merchandise, at last (spring)

Delayed from last year (supply chain issues, you know how it goes these days),  Prodigy toys are on the way from Playmates. A few lucky folks got a small plush Murf at NYCC, but the rest of us will finally be able to join in the fun when we get action figures of Dal, Gwyn, Jankom, Zero, and Murf, and then Rok-Tahk and Holo Janeway before we hit 2024. (Now can we start talking about a plush Rok and a wind-up Zero?)

star trek actors 2023

Season 2 of Gates McFadden’s InvestiGates podcast

Season 1 gave us terrific, unique discussions with Nana Visitor, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Michael Westmore, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, and many more. This year, she’s moving beyond her TNG intimates: Announced guests for season 2 include some captains—William Shatner, Kate Mulgrew, Anson Mount—along with Jack Quaid, Tawny Newsome, John Billingsley, Rosalind Chao, Wilson Cruz, and others yet to be announced.

star trek actors 2023

Patrick Stewart’s memoir

In 2020, Sir Patrick announced that he’s writing his memoir , which he’s finally gotten some time to work on now that production on the final season of  Picard has wrapped. The most recent update came this March, when he said he’d reached page 310 and had a title: Are You Anybody?  There’s no publish date yet, but fingers are crossed we’ll be able to read it before the year is out.

star trek actors 2023

What are you looking forward to?

Let us know what you’re most looking forward to from Star Trek in 2023 in the comments!

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Happy New Year! Can’t wait for more of Gates McFadden’s podcast. I imagine her conversation with Kate Mulgrew will be especially insightful and fun.

All those things are exciting! It’s going to be a great trek year!

I really hope the Section 31 show isn’t the big new series announcement. Section 31 should’ve been left to the shadows in which it operated in DS9. A Starfleet Academy series set during the post-Nemesis era would be nice.

Agreed! No S31 and if they do an Academy show, let it be 25th century, not 32nd.

I am all in for a S31 show. So many different ways this could go. I love the idea of the central character being a naive young officer who is excited about joining the covert spy agency, only to discover the horrific things they do. So much that could be done with political and social allegory there.

Too bad that Trek fans are so narrow minded, short sighted, and bitter. Open you mind!

I’d rather be called narrow-minded than having to endure yet another attempt at depicting “horrific things”… Star Trek doesn’t need that sort of boundary-pushing. There are gazillions of other IPs that can take care of that…

How do you know it won’t be more along the line of a Men In Black thing, where they save the universe, alot. With know one knowing about it. Michelle is awesome so who knows what they’ll come up with

MIB the movies…fun! MIB the comics, in which they actually kill off witnesses…no so much!

AlphaPredator was suggesting something far more in the cynical grimdark realm, tho, and for me that ain’t it. That miserable stuff is so basic, so overdone, it’s everywhere –and I literally get abuse online for not liking it, as though that’s supposed to change my mind?? I would give a Section 31 show a look, tho, because it’s Star Trek. But like when Enterprise came out, if it’s not something I look forward to each week I’ll just slowly stop watching it. (Sorry Enterprise fans out there, I’m glad it was good for you, no hate, I just wasn’t hooked.) And honestly I can understand why they’d want to make a show about such a different part of Starfleet as Section 31 seems to be (I haven’t watched DS9 since it came out so I only know it from Discovery); it’s got to be hard to keep coming up with plots and new spins on old plots for all these shows, all while keeping them fitting that Trek tone. But at the same time if it doesn’t feel genuine, I think a lot of people will tune out. Also, I don’t like the MIB feel of “everyone else is a bunch of ignorant muggles while we who know the truth save the day!” It’s very egotistical and belittling and instills in the audience a false sense superiority (because we’re “in the know” too, see?) instead of curiosity and empathy. I would not enjoy a Section 31 show that basically boiled down to minimizing the rest of Starfleet as a public face that can’t “really get the job done” and all that blah blah. See, it just keeps circling back around to that same cynical justification for illegal and immoral activity that we see from modern governments. And then if it’s countered with the illogical and wet ‘appeal to emotion’ (like my beloved Prodigy used to bring in non-starfleet assistance in their s1 finale) it only emboldens that kind of thinking. So something that avoided and subverted all that would be great. If, uh, any Section 31 writers are lurking out there ;)

lots of the previous shows and movies have had starfleet compromise principles or just been plain wrong regarding policy and it been up to field officers like kirk, picard, sisko and others to hold to Fed values.

ds9 is the very best of ST

“ds9 is the very best of ST”

Not for me. It was good but I didn’t love it the same extend as any ship-based shows.

naive young officer who is excited about joining the covert spy agency, only to discover the horrific things they do. 

I’ll pass. Grim and dark is not particularly compatible with Star Trek.

Agreed, When I want Grimdark I’ll watch the 40k stuff Amazon prime puts together, you know a setting DESIGNED for it

sometimes things are grim and dark in the franchise but then our heroes battle to find a way out of it

I completely disagree. DS9 is the best example of this working very well.

Part of what made S31 work in DS9 was that it outdid the two established secret police/spy agencies (Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order) in terms of keeping itself unknown in-universe to all but a select few.

I think that should be preserved.

I agree section 31 was a fun idea for a shadowy org in an episode or 2 but it’s the classic case of “show too much and you ruin it”

Most of those sound great, though Discovery’s fifth season just sounds goofy. I hope it works better than the last couple of seasons have.

How does it sound any more goofy than most Trek plots? Lol 😆

I’m tempted to agree. Mainly because I’ve never gotten through an Indiana Jones movie, hah! But who knows, I’ll take some light fun each week…

April Fools isn’t for another few months, guys.

We can probably expect two or three different announcements.

It’s interesting that we ended the year with no live action series renewals or announcements. Currently there are no new star trek seasons currently in production or greenlit for production in 2023, that includes Lower Decks. They are all in post production right now, or in the can. There is still plenty in the queue, but things are probably going to start thinning out for ’24.

I’ve noticed that, too. SNW, for example, had their second season greenlit during production of season one. Now nothing. Maybe it has something to do with some of the business challenges all streamers are facing. Series orders are down across the industry. I’ve seen one rumor that Paramount wants to sell the ST IP, but there’s no other scuttlebut about any such thing, so I don’t put much weight in that.

I hope those rumors are just that. A change in ownership could lead to a horrific change in publication policy. The new IP owner might go all Disney and never release the new shows on BluRay and DVD. And honestly, then I don’t need any more Trek. I don’t want Trek that I cannot own and collect! That has already ruined Star Wars for me…

Hard to tell what might come of that. It really depends on who bought it and what they would want to do with it. Thing is, Paramount Global could probably use some cash since the feds killed the Simon & Schuster deal.

Paramount and WB are the only studios that regularly release TV shows on physical media. And I guess it won’t be WB… The most likely candidates I reckon are Disney, Amazon or Netflix and that means no more physical media for Trek… So yeah, I really hope this isn’t true.

I can see Apple being interested, but they might want all of Paramount. Indeed, one of the rumors around surrounding the Viacom/CBS merger was that it was done with an eye toward putting the new entity up for sale.

Russian bootleggers will be more than happy to sell you copies of all those Star Wars shows.

There is a significant spending retreat happening in streaming and I know Paramount+ is especially vulnerable so it’s possible they are suspending renewals and re-evaluating. Unless executives are pessimistic about season 2 of SNW, I still expect that show to get a renewal soon. If not, than the franchise might be on the hook.

That’s true, but I also sense Paramount just doesn’t see ST as a priority. While they’re mum on new ST, they have two additional Yellowstone spinoffs in development.

They don’t really need to rush

Oh, a tonal shift to lighter storytelling promised for Discovery! Feels like 2020 again :D

Discovery has had a difficult time shedding the CW melodramatic tone, and the Arrowverse-style hallway conversations.

It’s not just the repetitive ‘galaxy ending threat that can only be solved by the chosen one’ trope that’s hurting it.

I know that the target audience is younger than I, but not even our teens like that stuff. I wonder if it’s original core audience is ageing out of the show.

I’ll be cutting see how this adventure plot plays out. I’m sceptical always about Trek captains riding fast vehicles, especially across bumpy desert. The only good versions so far we’ve seen have been deliberate animated camp.

More, Discovery hasn’t been able, since Paradise took the reins, to help itself from grinding suspense and dramatic tension to an absolute halt by taking an inexplicable and ill timed break for a three minute heart to heart. Emotional moments can be great, but they shouldn’t completely squelch momentum. If they don’t stall out for too many earnest hallway conversations, it may work.

Yeah Discovery is a narrative and acting mess. I liked season one and I loved season two other than the end but things fell apart fast after that. Seasons three and four have been largely forgettable and Michael Burnham has become insufferable. I’ll still watch it because I don’t dislike the show despite my criticism of it but right now it’s only about a inch above Picard for me on the list of current Star Trek shows, in second-to-last place.

Yep totally agreed as well. Like others, I just think Michelle Paradise is an awful show runner. She took what should’ve been a really exciting prospect, having a show in the far future and made it really boring, tedious and overly emotional. I don’t know what can ‘save’ Discovery at this point if you’re not a fan already but I just think the show needs to be completely rethought at this point. I don’t mean throwing it in the 43rd century or anything, but the format is just not working IMO. No one seems all that excited about season 5 for a reason. And if it’s more of the same, it could be the first show I might stop watching. Not completely, just wait for the season to end and binge it assuming it gets passed season 5.

Or 2018. Or 2019. Or 2021…

Not a plug on purpose, but 7th Rule podcast with Cirroc Lofton (Jake Cisco) has begun TNG watchthrough feating Denise Crosby and it’s been great doing DS9 with them and they do new show coverage too. With loads of great special guests.

Yes! Super excited about Denise joining them and I’ve enjoyed many of their episodes. They have fantastic guests too… no argument here. Love the mix of covering old Trek and new Trek.

I sincerely hope they will finally come around to release the long-awaited SNW soundtrack! I’ve been looking for news ever since Melumad teased its release back in June last year!

Yes! I’m Waiting for it too!

Please let it be Section 31! Don’t listen to the haters! Been literally waiting years now since this was first announced! Michelle Yeoh as emperor georgiou is on of the best trek characters ever! Georgiou is easily the strongest female character ever, on trek! We need more strong women! I also have my fingers crossed for a Janeway/Voyager cast series return! And I definitely need more raffi/7 of 9 in my life! I so want to watch 7 introduce raffi to Janeway! Please, please, please!!

Yeah if they come up with something like a temporal prime directive episodic story line for a redeemed Section 31 and Georgiou, then I really think this can fly!

Captain Georgiou of the Starship Shenzou was awesome and likeable. I know it was more fun for Michelle Yeoh to play the evil Empress, but she played the diabolical character so well, she was completely unlikeable.

In the meantime, the global star continued to act in various outstanding projects that may have simpy made her too big for a Star Trek streaming show.

Maybe it is simply time to scrap the Sec31 series and instead start planning a time travel Star Trek Section 31 motion picture staring an international superstar! We shall see!

It’s obvious they know fans are not big on the Section 31 show and yeah Georgiou is just too unlikeable in the fanbase even if people like the actress herself. No one seems to remotely miss her being on Discovery which says a lot considering she was there for three seasons.

And I think we seen a very different direction of the franchise since they announced that show. S31 was the first spin off show announced, but that was during a time when they were going with the darker/bleak vibe we got with Discovery and then Picard. Since then when fans rejected this tone, it’s gone back to the cheery optimistic vibe we got with shows like Lower Decks, Prodigy and SNW. And that formula seems to be winning. Even season 3 of Picard is suppose to be more TNG in tone and spirit. You wouldn’t know that from the trailers lol, but that’s what they are saying, so we’ll see.

So that’s the thing, the franchise has pivoted more to the classic shows again that’s about optimism and exploration and I’m guessing they want to keep going that direction since they are getting a lot of positive feedback, especially with SNW. Now they can still make the show exactly as they planned and since there are more lighter shows on, they can argue this one can mix things up in the line up sort of like what DS9 did back in the previous era. So it can still happen, but I don’t think it’s a big push to get it on the air when people are way more interested in a Janeway/Seven show or just more TOS/TNG type of shows like we got with SNW. That’s probably why S31 got pushed back in the placed, they listened to the fans and replaced it with SNW and it was definitely the way to go. I don’t think anyone can argue that, even if you’re not a fan of SNW.

People just want more comfort food Star Trek again…hence season 3 of Picard and the last three shows.

Agreed with everything you’ve said. S31 would be so 2019… The course corrections they’ve made since then are obvious. I don’t think they’ll jeopardize that by throwing money at a DOA project. They’d be better off giving SNW 20 eps per season instead…

They might surprise us and still give us the show, but it’s now been over 4 years since they announced it and probably just have more appealing ideas that they know fans will be excited to watch and more ‘Trek-y’ which all these new shows are dyed in the wool.

I agree with everything you said. Yet, having a global star like Yeoh interested in doing a Star Trek show or even a movie, should not be wasted. It will all depend on coming up with the right show.

Fans like me (who love SNW, Prodigy, are interested in the LDs crossover and cant wait to see what Matalas has in store for Picard and the TNG cast in roughly 40 days) are only going to be around for so long. They really need to try and expand their domestic and global audience.

Discovery clearly is targeting women and both gender and racial minorities. I do know women who had no interest in Star Trek have watched Discovery. If they can continue to target that audience, but with the tone and format that interests legacy fans like me, that would be ideal.

If they can do the same, but specifically target the Asian and global market with an international star like Yeoh, then I think it is worth it.

Having Yeoh is okay but the issue is the character and context. That character is completely muddled with all the time-travel / multiverse mumbo-jumbo. And on top of that. the worst ever Trek idea is having former dictators as Section 31 operatives. Didn’t work for Khan and certainly not for Georgiou. It’s ridiculous. Can you imagine a secret service employing Stalin, Hitler or Pol Pot?

That’s my issue too, yeah. Georgiou turned out to be dull and broadly written, and Yeoh was not overly interesting in the role. She may be a big star, but she was kind of a dud on Star Trek. I know she has fans and that’s fine, but I’d be happy to not see her return. Her sendoff with the Guardian of Forever was a great conclusion to her arc.

Tiger2, this board, and even a good hunk of Reddit, aren’t necessarily representative of the audience Paramount would target with S31.

I’m really doubtful if we can say here what fans want or don’t. As you’ve observed in the past, we’re really just a few dozen mostly older fans here, and mostly male.

While many of us will watch whatever Trek shows are made regardless, Paramount+ needs a Trek that draws in young adults that watch its other shows.

Now the Netflix-ish obsession with dystopian streaming shows may be waning as a decade after Discovery was first in development, but spy series with a lot of action are very popular. Reworking S31 into a less dystopian Trek franchise spy series would fill a gap in Paramount’s line up regardless of how much old fans like us might dislike it on principle.

I understand your point, but let’s not kid ourselves, dude if there was a huge groundswell for this show, the show probably would’ve been in production ages ago. You don’t announce a show back in 2019 only to watch four other shows that was announced AFTER get developed and on the air it if people were really begging for this show to happen.

I get it, you seem to really want the show. I notice you are always pushing for it to happen. And as I said, it can still happen obviously. But I’m just looking at reality. Remember, Alex Kurtzman has said multiple times he READS these sites. He wants fan input. And that’s been very very clear he follows what most fans seem to want or not want. It’s been obvious from second season of Discovery through now that practically every decision he’s followed what majority of fans have been hollering about. He admitted they changed the Klingons because of all the backlash online. We have multiple post-Nemesis shows because fans were sick of prequels and reboots and wanted to go forward again. Discovery is only in the 32nd century now because fans complained of canon issues and wasn’t happy it was in the 23rd century.

And the biggest example is obviously SNW itself. And think about it, for every place like here where fans were begging for a Pike show, the same places people were highly divided or plain negative about a Section 31 show. It’s not rocket science, they obviously saw the show people were pushing for online to have and it simply won out.

And you’re talking to someone who was adamant that we weren’t going to even get SNW anytime soon because they kept pushing the idea that S31 was still in the works. At the time, I was convinced S31 was still coming. Remember all the things they were saying at the time? They already set up a writers room and they had planned to start that show after Discovery’s third season. That all went away once SNW was announced. They still keep saying it might happen, but when??? Discovery has now finished its fifth season, everyone is talking about what the new 25th century show could be about but not a peep about S31.

So yeah. We’ll see. But like the next movie, we been seeing and waiting for literally years now.

Word. The Star Trek franchise has vastly improved since the Section 31 announcement, thanks to Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds, and the tonal shift for Picard season three. For them to now return to a Discovery spinoff about Section 31 and a boring character like Georgiou would be a step backwards for a lot of fans, and I think CBS have realized that.

Yeah, again I’m just reading the vibe from social media and boards like this and all I’m getting is fans want more stuff like LDS, PRO and SNW. And less Discovery and Picard’s season one tones. And I didn’t have an issue with Picard’s tone in season one but many did.

Now of course it doesn’t mean S31 would just be a dystopian like show like a lot of people are assuming but the nature of organization doesn’t scream uplifting and optimistic either and I just think it would be another divisive show even if it’s good.

Only by the most basic and outdated measure of strong female character. A phrase that itself is now (rightly) considered obsolete and limiting, its use far too focused on violence, masculinity, and invulnerability. Sorry, but the original Georgiou was great and killing her off was very limiting. They made Mirror Georgiou SO evil that bringing her to the show as a regular and expecting us to buy her redemption (esp. happening largely in the background) was a huge stretch that didn’t connect. (Thus her farewell scene feeling like it was more for the actress than the character.) I’m all for a chaotic neutral or former baddie truth-teller on a redemption arc, love it, it’s a role that should go to more female characters as well, but they sacrificed any believability for that kind of plot for this specific character for the watercooler shock moment of seeing Georgiou in the seat of the Terran emperor. They could have avoided this by simply not making her so powerful in the Mirror U, so in charge, and so unrepentant and nasty. (They could have even made up a new alt universe rather than the OTT weirdness that is the Mirror U.) But I don’t think they actually had a coherent long term PLAN, and it shows. I would also add that, imho, Michelle Yeoh is just as much a joy to watch playing good characters. I want to see her bring out her sweet, funny, and silly side more, too, and again that’s something we could have had with the original Georgiou but feels out of place with the mirror one .

Why label people “haters” just because they find the idea of Section 31 boring? Gatekeeping isn’t needed so please stop. You might like the idea but that doesn’t mean you should be slinging insults at those who don’t.

I find it deeply ironic that you are telling people off for slinging insults when all you do to people who don’t share your worldview is attack and belittle them.

Since that is patently untrue, your response is moot. I have never mocked or belittled people for having a different worldview. Not even once. I am a long-time poster here and have always championed people not being gatekeepers and not being intolerant of different opinions. Any time I see someone denouncing or denigrating fans for liking or disliking shows, I always remind them not to gatekeep. I have a long history of pointing out that people have a right to like or dislike shows as they please, and that there’s nothing wrong with that. I defy you to prove otherwise, which you obviously can’t. Also, random troll, I have no idea who you are, which tells me we haven’t interacted much. So either you’re confusing me with someone else, or else you’re just trying to pick a fight. Either way, buzz off.

Discovery S5 and Picard S3 are the shows I’m most looking forward too.

Same here, along with Lower Decks Season 4!

New movie (Kelvin/Prime) announced early this year for release summer or xmas 2024? or will they just wait for 60th ann?

Damnit, Beyond really fubar’d the movie franchise worse than Nemesis!

Beyond was the best of the 3. Into Darkness screwed things up so much even Beyond couldn’t save it.

lol. no its the other way around

They need to just give up on the Kelvinverse. Everyone has moved on. I think a post-Nemsis legacy movie is where it’s at, personally. Use a movie budget to build some Deep Space Nine sets that could then be reused for a series.

Yeah I could see a return to ‘Prime-verse’ movie but with some (not all) kelvin actors (so like Generations), Pine be too expensive, Saldana too busy with Avatar/Marvel, so in my movie idea it’d be just Quinto (like Nimoy in ST09) somehow emerging in the primeverse Picard era and various TNG/DS9/Voy legacy characters and a couple of new (to make up about 7). Basically like a reverse of ST09 lol, but probably P+ only as that all sounds budget/fan only for a proper cinema movie (which would be all the kelvin cast and the big Prime players for a timetravel/multiverse epic like XMen DOFP – unless they planning something like that to go big for 2026)

No one cares about the Kelvin movies anymore minus a few people meaning it will probably just bomb again and Paramount knows it. Their time ran out circa 2013 when Star Trek Into Disaster made a lot of people stop caring and we got Beyond next which killed it after that.

Make a cheaper post-Nemesis movie with legacy characters like you said. You’re never going to get a big audience or a lot of new people to care about these movies. So make something for fans again like the old days.

Again, it’s Paramount’s fault. They squandered these movies on a major level. They waited for years after the first one and then instead of STID being something that’s about exploration or just a fun action adventure story introducing a new species or something, they doubled down on yet another villain wants to take down the Federation trope and did it with a white Khan in the process and people just lost interest.

I don’t see another movie making anymore than between $350-400 million total (and that’s still MORE what than Beyond did). And my guess is Paramount probably has around the same projections and why they can’t get the money to make another one. No one is moving heaven and earth to make a movie that will make less money than Avatar 2 made in it’s opening weekend alone even if it eeks out a small profit.

But love of Kahless, if we get another movie before 2030, just do something DIFFERENT and ORIGINAL! And hopefully with a new cast of characters.

But like I said, I just stop caring. Make one, don’t make one, I don’t care either way anymore.

 or will they just wait for 60th ann? Beyond really fubar’d the movie franchise worse than Nemesis!

And they even didn’t use the movie to celebrate the 50th anniversary…

The movie announced is basically a nonreality.

The director has left for Marvel. None of the cast were ever booked.

Why Paramount would make an announcement and schedule a release date without booking the cast is inexplicable, but it’s been established that it happened.

One gets the sense that some kind of weird contractual commitment with Bad Robot that required greenlighting by a certain date might have been in play. That’s purely my personal speculation but there must have been some financial driver for what otherwise was a completely subrational announcement decision.

Yes, Paramount totally screwed up on that one. Officially announcing the movie without anyone signed aboard? What idiot thought THAT was a good idea?

Apparently the ‘new’ regime who seems to think if you just announce a movie will happen without the actors, script or money in place first, it will still happen…eventually

I can’t believe people could be THIS incompetent. It’s amazing.

Beyond didn’t fubar anything. Many fans and critics consider it the best of the three. Into Darkness is what fubared it, because Paramount lost a lot of fans who didn’t come back for the third movie after that fiasco.

Beyond is the one that bombed though. ;)

As much as people claim to hate STID, it is actually the biggest film out of the three. It isn’t saying much, but it at least made money. Beyond lost money and only the second one in the franchise to do so.

I disagree, i think lots of fans (aside some vocal hard core trekkies) and especially general audiences were fine with ID, it made close to 500m a record for Trek (bit less than 09 in US but no biggie, still good for Trek), but Beyond just looked all kinds of meh with that early Fast&Furious in space trailer (a bad time for a meh trailer in front of the seismic event of the return of the original Star Wars), then the general lack of promotion bar an improved trailer and that 50th event, but ultimately the film wasn’t that interesting for audiences with very little ‘hooks’ for fans and casuals aside it being just another Star Trek film, like TNGs last 2 films (whereas ID had intriguing trailers, cool looking action/destruction, mystery of the villain, JJ directing again etc)

I agree with all of this. And I just think it’s more nuance than anything. I have said this many many MANY times lol. I think for long time fans, STID was more of a negative. But for new fans (or general audiences as you put it), it was a much bigger positive. If you didn’t know who Khan was before, then it’s not going to matter to you the way it is to a fan who looks at Montalban’s Khan as nearly iconic (and the reason why it was just a silly idea to even do).

The opposite seems to be the case with Beyond. Long time fans seem to like it more and yes for many they seem to feel it was the most Trek-y out off the three. But new fans there was really nothing about it to interest them. That seemed sadly part of the problem, it was a more Star Trek story where as the first two films had elements of Star Wars and bigger action.

And looking at the scores of IMDB seems to bare this out.

STID: 7,7 audience score STB: 7.0 audience score

So while on all the Trek sites sees STID as a failure that destroyed the momentum of the Kelvin (and as people have suggested here), I do think it’s a bit more complicated. I even blamed STID that lead to people being less interested in the next movie, but I’m speaking in terms of old fans. But if I’m being honest, I think Beyond didn’t really excite new or old fans that much. Sure I think more long time fans enjoyed the movie over STID, but the problem is most of them just waited for the film to come to Blu Ray or cable to make that assessment. Many probably stayed home after that really bad trailer. And while the second was better, still nothing to get that excited about. And if STID already soured them, then even more so. But many more saw STID in the theater because there was just more interest/hype at the time.

So it’s really no wonder why it will be 7 years this year we still haven’t gotten another movie; the longest in Trek’s films history sadly. There is just no more hype for these movies for newer or old fans.

Really looking forward to most of the shows actually. Obviously Picard season 3 is the big one for probably many fans. It probably would be bigger if the show wasn’t so divisive the last two seasons but fingers crossed. Very excited about about the Lower Decks and SNW crossover. I think it’s going to be tons of fun and of course can’t wait for both shows returning. Prodigy has become my favorite show out of all the modern shows so yeah, truly excited for more!

As far as a new show, I’m pretty much open to anything (although still skeptical of Section 31) but I really want to know the show that’s going to replace Picard. I think that’s the one most fans are most curious about. And what legacy characters will be part of it? On that front I’m open to literally anyone. I don’t care if they are from Voyager, TNG, DS9, etc just give us more. ;)

As far as the next movie….lol! That’s all I have to say on that. Biggest irony they were suppose to be making one right now. Maybe some day they will figure something out. I just don’t care anymore.

I’m looking forward to hearing what new shows are being greenlighted. I hope it will be soon. I also hope we’ll hear that SNW season three is going into production soon.

As I said in the Prodigy finale thread, I’m concerned that the Picard season 3 premiere is being held until mid February. It seems like a signal that the people doing the scheduling are wanting to draw out the release of shows already produced.

The promise of new episodes year round seems fragile just now.

The two animated series are long lead times and there’s no word about new seasons after those well advanced in post.

SNW and Discovery likewise have been in post a long time with no hint of preproduction for further seasons.

I hate to be the glass half full person but there seems to have been some kind of pause at the level of the streamer.

It could be just an adjustment period to let the new subscribers in the EU catch up, but for a streamer that’s got a stated strategy of relying on franchises, this seems off. Or, it could just be that Paramount is saving some big announcements for the winter investors meetings.

Yeah I not only fully agree with your points about future season announcements being stalled, I have been thinking about that since LDS ended last season. It is a little odd they have not announced any new seasons for LDS, SNW or PRO yet. Yeah maybe it’s nothing, we know they are ALL coming back for another season, so maybe it’s more about waiting for those seasons to run before announcing the next one. But it is a little weird considering it’s been the opposite since Picard started and then been jumping ahead to announce seasons.

But then I do remember LDS they never officially announced the fourth season. It’s true, we were never given an announcement in advance with that show for some reason, they announced it after it was already in production. So it could be the same thing here too.

That is me looking at it as the glass half full, but yes it could be the opposite and maybe some of these shows could be on the cancellation block. Streaming is such a different animal than traditional TV because traditional TV was really about the here and now. If the show was successful today, that’s all that mattered. If it wasn’t, it was cancelled. But streaming is all about building libraries and enhancing your IPs. They have to think about both today and tomorrow. This is just my guess (and I hope I’m wrong), but I don’t think any of these Star Trek shows are pulling in tons of people or new viewers. Certainly enough to be successful and a steady flow of people subscribing just to watch these shows, but I don’t think the viewership is jumping higher with each new show either. Just keeping the same flow of people whose been watching since Discovery and Picard probably with some spikes here and there.

And as much as many seem to love LDS and PRO, they probably do get less views from average fans since most are more invested in the live action shows for obvious reasons. But same time, those shows are probably muuuuch cheaper to produce as well, so it balances itself out.

So I don’t think the five shows a year will go on forever, especially as that site just get more popular and bigger shows. I notice Paramount+ reported that new show, 1923, got 7 million viewers for it’s premiere episode. I guess that’s really big for a streaming site to get. But to this day they have not reported any numbers for ANY of the Star Trek shows. Not one. Again we know they are popular enough because we have five of them lol. But as I said, I do feel maybe not at a level they can crow about. Picard and SNW had TONS of fanfare coming in, you would think they would be shouting how big those shows did. They put out releases saying it was their biggest shows on the site, but since they are not reporting the actual numbers, its probably not on the level the bigger franchises do. Good for Star Trek but not bonafide good viewing wise.

That said, I think ALL the shows (minus Picard obviously) will get more seasons. But that’s probably not going to be a guarantee in the near future either.

I wouldn’t read too much into that Tiger2.

Looking at the most rapid outside source, Parrot Analytics, 1923 isn’t pulling nearly the relative demand numbers that either Discovery or SNW do typically.

1923 is in 9th place for breakout streaming series in the past 100 days with 16.8 times typical demand.

Discovery and SNW don’t ever quite get to the top of the streaming originals, but are usually clocking 33 times average during their runs. More, these market research and social media estimates have been proven to line up closely with the Nielsen numbers that come out about a month late for streaming.

Other important and cool stats from Parrot Analytics show that Paramount+ relies much more heavily on content it makes itself vs other streamers: 83.4% vs under 10 % for all the others.

Well OK, I’ll take your word for it.

But it’s not illegal to just post numbers of how many people view your shows.

You mention the Nilesn’s chart which Disney+, Hulu, Peacok, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc are all on these days. The only major site NOT on it appears to be Paramount+.

There could be some business reason why they aren’t, IDK, but we wouldn’t need places like Parrot Analytics if they simply showed the numbers. Maybe they feel their shows are not getting the same views a Netflix or Disney+ is. I’m guessing neither is Peacock but they are on it as well.

And I don’t know how good that number is for 1923, even though I been talking about streaming endlessly for five years now., But so much about it still baffles me lol. I don’t know how many views are considered a ‘good’ show or movie, how long do they look at numbers, ie, the first day, over a week, a month, etc since streaming is not like TV and stuff just stays up there and doesn’t disappear after a day, Or even how much does gaining new subscriptions factor in favor of show’s or movie success? I always assumed that was a big factor but again, no clue if it is or isn’t.

So I don’t know. But I do know we’ve had 5 new Trek shows and about 130 episodes produced by them so far but complete black hole on how they are doing by the people who makes them. Again, as I said, obviously they are doing well enough if they keep getting renewed, but who knows what that really means in terms of overall or new viewers? I’m not like some posters around here throwing out BS claims which shows are attracting ‘new viewers’ based on the shows they basically like because there is no data anywhere from what I know. Maybe SNW for example is drawing tons of new viewers so it’s considered ‘successful’ or maybe it’s actually drawing in the least.

But they are attracting enough viewers I guess now, so whatever it is, it’s good enough.

Nielsen has released numbers on Paramount+ at times.

They’ve looked pretty much like they do on Parrot for the US, but that’s because Paramount+ is the streamer that’s been shown to have its shows most balanced across all the age groups. (Pluto is targeted at older viewers.)

Which is interesting when you also consider that Paramount+ makes in-house a very large proportion of the shows and movies it streams. The ‘menu of shows’ model for the Trek franchise seems to line up closely with the broad audience that P+ is trying to attract, and is apparently successful at getting.

I would note that Nielsen skews ‘old‘ in its statistics because it only measures viewership on actual television setboxes. Younger audiences are more likely to use computers, tablets and phones.

Nielsen nearly lost its accreditation with the advertising industry oversight body because it’s just not reliable as it once was. Not measuring a significant proportion of the target young adult market is a huge failure from the point of view of the advertisers trying to draw that audience.

So, the industry has to rely increasingly on alternative methodologies. The fact that Parrot Analytics and Nielsen line up for the slice of the audience that Nielsen can actually reasonably capture, validates Parrot’s methodology such that it can be looked to for the parts of the audience Nielsen doesn’t capture. More, Parrot can provide comparisons across countries.

OK, fair enough. You have your pulse on this stuff much more than I do. But you were also the one who originally made the point the shows not getting renewed right away might be a concern. But now you’re suggesting they seem to be getting healthy viewership. So I’m a bit confused lol.

But as I said myself, I think ALL of the shows will get another season but like you, I am starting to think this gravy train may not roll on as long as we hope as the site just gets bigger and has more varied content to market.

“I hate to be the glass half full person”

That’s odd! Normally, people hate to be the glass half empty person… 🤷‍♂️ Wear your optimism proudly, I say! 😜

I think that we just ended a really long run of new Trek every week. I have been trying to figure out how long it was, but did it not start in like August 2021 with LD? Then we had Prodigy, Discovery, Picard, SNW, Lower Decks, Prodigy? Other than a few short breaks, we have had 63 episodes in 72 weeks.

LD Season 4 and Prodigy Season 2, from everything I have seen are being produced.

I would expect we will hear more about SNW Season 3 closer to the time the show starts, and probably at some convention.

I do think they are probably weighing Discovery Season 6, and what to do after Picard. I tend to think they will not want to replace two shows at once, and so a Disco Season 6 is probably going to happen.

S31 I think is dead. What I think is likely is that we could see the announcement of a Kirk show- and probably the announcement of a 32nd century Academy show.

One of those could be switched up with a Picard spinoff, which could be Worf, Riker, Geordi, Seven, Janeway, or someone else… although Janeway seems unlikely since Prodigy is now the Janeway show.

I was under the impression that Discovery finished production within the last couple of months or so? It would still be in post? It’s SNW that’s been in post forever.

Yes, Discovery season five started production in the late spring and wrapped in November.

Beyond COVID restrictions, it’s more cost effective not to try to rush the vfx and editing in post the way it was done in the early seasons when the shows premiered while post was still being done on the later episodes.

That said, sitting on shows for a half a year or more between wrap and release to stretch out the schedule seems a bit excessive (even if Paramount+ isn’t the only streamer doing it.)

It’s likely Strange New Worlds will begin streaming its second season right after Picard concludes. I’d expect an announcement on that right before Picard S3 begins. Discovery S5 will also likely begin right after Strange New Worlds S2 ends, with Lower Decks and Prodigy finishing out the year, although Prodigy . Since Prodigy has 20 eps per season, it makes sense to make it the final show for 2023 so it can carry ten weeks over into 2024. Any new series announced this year wouldn’t make it to our screens until at least the end of 2024.

Thanks for the reminder about Carol Kane on SNW! Totally forgot about that. She’s always been so great at playing out there, unique and eccentric characters so hopefully she’ll bring that to the role for some good humour. And live action Boimler and Mariner too, very excited for that. Looking forward to seeing how they bring Sybok into the mix too.

I do have some concerns about Paul Wesley’s Kirk, but we’ll see how that works out – finger’s crossed!

I am totally on hold with Wesley’s Kirk. For two reasons – 1) Wesley and the producers were clear that his inclusion in the finale is an alternate Kirk, and was portrayed purposefully that way, whose experiences differed from Shatner’s Kirk by not having been on the Enterprise and being with Spock for over a year at that point. alt-2266 Spock is portrayed differently than 2260 Spock, so why would alt-2266 Kirk be like the flagship commanding 2266 Kirk. and 2) we all know how we feel about Mount’s Pike – we had expectations of that. Like him or not, Wesley-Kirk also is compared to Pine-Kirk & Shatner-Kirk. That’s not right for <30 minutes of guest star.

Quite frankly, I don’t want Pine-Kirk, or Shatner-Kirk in a modern show.

I’m fine in principle with Kirk being in a different place in his life.

Wesley however brought none of the Kirk energy, charisma, intensity or whatever.

People like that exist in any era. There are other actors in other recent shows in the that have brought this to their characters. Wesley however has not been one of them. In fact has given no evidence of being able to bring that. It’s a legitimate concern.

What i am looking for? Well, when they release the Lower Decks Season 3 Blu-ray here on Germany

I am looking for Paramounts next Trek movie announcement that will crash and burn like the previous ones and make them lose all their pedigree. Also I wonder if one of the new shows announced will be that Klingon show that Michael Dorn has been pitching for so long, since he is officially returning to the franchise in Picard season 3.

A Worf show would be great. If the Picard spinoff includes Worf, then we have a good chance it could also include DS9 folks.

It’s going to be a great year for Star Trek!

(note: I am rolling out my new “name” for 2023 — I was previously One Lion)

Enjoy learning about all these updates. Also, I’m a high school journalism teacher, and I am gritting my teeth on a couple of the sentences here. IDW is a singular comic book company, so IDW should be referred to as an “it” instead of a “their.” Also, Hasbro is an inanimate — and a singular — company; that means Hasbo is a “which” instead of a “who” and (again) an “its” instead of a “their.”

Chuckling here.

TrekMovie is an American independent franchise news source and board, true. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s locked down to a mid twentieth century American style guide.

Plural and personal nouns for governments and corporations are fairly widely used in other English speaking countries, and are becoming (I notice) more common in US usage as well. It’s really not that different than the longstanding shift in the US to using them instead of these for inanimate objects (which still grates against my Canadian/British sensibilities).

Language evolves.

As a Canadian, I have seen some of our spelling and grammar being driven to American norms due to the pressure of Microsoft spelling and grammar checkers. A Canadian version of Word is relatively recently generally available, but the intervening impact has been high. I’ve heard that social media is also driving to convergence in both English and French.

Chiming in… I actually considered switching both of those to “it” and “which” but decided to keep them as is because they are also referring to the people at those companies. We know the folks at IDW, and both companies have people working there who are clearly Star Trek fans and have come up with ideas not just based on numbers, but on creative choices that can only be made by humans. So that’s why I didn’t change them. There is also some flexibility on such things, given the context.

“There is also some flexibility on such things, given the context.”

Exactly. The rules are not as black and white as David is making them out to be. He IS mostly correct… but it just doesn’t matter and it’s fine not to make the suggested changes.

Except that this site uses US style. If they want to start using British style, there is a lot more to change than simply pluralizing corporate names.

David, while you are mostly correct in your assertions, this is a fan website, not a professional journalism source, and you’re not paying for any of the content. So you should cut some slack. There’s no need to be pedantic.

That being said, in the spirit of pedantry…

MLA style for em-dashes is to not have spaces on either side of them. :)

Group nouns can take the plural in most English varieties. It’s not a must but it isn’t wrong either.

“IDW are” and “Hasbro are” are both correct sentences. Only the German influence on AmE has widely eliminated the plural form with group nouns as far as I know. Me being a Germany-based English teacher :-).

I’m a writer and copy editor (professionally), and in general, I don’t use the plural form with group nouns, but it was a very conscious choice in this instance as I was thinking about the people working on these products vs. the corporations. I do love these kinds of discussions, though!

Give me more of my Lower Decks and Prodigy and I’m in Trekkies heaven! 😁😁

Looking forward to To The Journey and even kicked in a little money for the cause! Can’t wait!!

JJ verse and those silly movies has died once again! I guess I’m already in heaven! 😂

Lots of great stuff to look forward to!! The creative team should explore delving into limited episode mini-series or straight-to-streaming movies…

A limited episode mini-series would be a great way to tie up/resolve Georgiou’s redemption arc and Section 31, since it seems to be the show the fewest fans are excited about. Something like five or six episodes, set it in the PIC era, involve some legacies and some new characters, and then use is as a springboard for the next actual live-action series.

Star Trek Discovery Series opened up Star Trek again and made it come to life again that it is not died that you are getting more of star trek that you would not have gotten with out it to give a new start

Fair point.

Discovery has struggled, but it’s clearly established its own audience (even if that’s not much represented among the regulars here).

It’s still not my favourite, and hasn’t held the interest of my spouse or our (now teen) kids. But that’s ok.

I’m a bit confused by your unclear wording (no offense intended), but I ***think*** you’re saying that Discovery deserves more credit than people are giving it because it relaunched Star Trek. Did I understand you correctly?

If so, I sort of agree with you. While Discovery is not what relaunched Star Trek (that would be the Kelvin films–Discovery debuted a year after Beyond hit theaters), it IS what made it widely popular again, since the Kelvin trilogy had diminishing returns. And although it’s one of the weakest of all the current shows, Discovery deserves credit for helping to breathe new life into the mythos.

I’m looking forward to exactly nothing on that list. And that really hurts. This was my favorite franchise. I even have it listed unter “interests” in my CV. But I just don’t care about any of this anymore.

Resurgance looks kind of interesting in previews and I like low story based video games. Maybe I’ll give that one a chance …

If you love Star Trek but have been disappointed with the latest incarnations, I highly recommend giving Prodigy another try. It may change your mind. And if you loved ’90s Trek, you will enjoy Gates McFadden’s podcast too! Check out season 1. Start with Michael Westmore, maybe.

I tried watching Prodigy … about half of the first half-Season but just couldn’t get into it. I somewhat enjoy Lower Decks but after three seasons with barely any real developement I’m growing tired of that one, too.

I don’t consider Podcasts by the actors really part of canon but, I might check it out. The Shuttlepod Show is also pretty great though I don’t know if Enterprise can be considered 90s Trek :-D

Oh well … maybe there’ll be a fourth Orville Season. One can hope …

If you have only watched the first 5 episodes of Prodigy then you’ve missed out on some absolute gems like “Kobayashi”, “Time Amok”, “All The World’s a Stage” and “Mindwalk”.

I must admit that I had my misgivings at the start too because it just did not “feel” or look like Star Trek to me, but I persisted and honestly it’s been the biggest surprise and has become my favourite new Star Trek of them all.

The writers intentionally started out the show in a more “alien” way, with nothing really resembling Star Trek as the character’s had never heard of Starfleet or the Federation. But they introduce more and more classic Star Trek elements during the season until it’s fully immersed in the Star Trek world by the end.

I’d definitely agree with Laurie and encourage you to try again and hopefully you have a better response to it once you experience the best of the season.

“Hardly any new developments??? Well, the main character revealed her gay lifestyle in the past season. That’s pretty big news! And Boimler, the former object of her flirtations, is showing signs that he’s heading in that direction, too. Great character development!

I don’t really care about the characters sexual orientation. The whole point of Treks philosophy has allways that it dosn’t matter who you love and people don’t really care as long as it’s consensual. So no … having a same sex relationship or bisexual character isn’t anything noteworthy. Neither in Star Trek nor in the Media Landscape as a whole.

And as a personal thing: I never watched Star Trek for the fucking

Sorry to hear that. But my enthusiasm for Trek hasn’t been any greater since the mid 90s. I’m not a huge fan of PIC S1+2 but the rest I absolutely adore.

Funny. You listed Trek under “interests” in your CV… Never had to write one but philosophically speaking, my Trek fandom IS my CV. I feel as if I had been born again when first watching Star Trek at the age of 13. I’ve added some more franchises along the way (mainly Doctor Who, Star Wars, Middle-Earth and Harry Potter), but Trek will always be front and center of my life. I’m married to the Enterprise, my oath of celebacy rests with my Starfleet files :-)

For me it’s Prodigy, SNW, Picard, and Strange New Worlds: The High Country. I still need to read Rogue Elements, but I liked the sample a lot.I can’t look forward to announcements, tbh. It feels like setting up for disappointment b/c Star Trek/Paramount has yet to prove fully (imo) that they wait long enough to announce things. Obviously they don’t when it comes to films. No-one can foresee everything and of course some projects will become delayed or not happen, and sometimes announcements are the best way to gauge interest…I guess. -.- But even in the best of circumstances, which are largely relegated to the past anyway, I lean towards not getting particularly set on things like release dates or announcements until the stars actually seem to be aligning. My life often means that, for instance, I don’t know until the day whether I’ll actually be able to go to the movie I have tickets for, or if I’ll be attending holiday celebrations, so I’m pretty used to the attitude of “if it happens, cool, if not oh well better luck next time”.

I would like to see a new animated series. It would be aimed at an adult audience and would cover different Trek time periods. One episode might cover just after TMP, for example.

I’m looking forward to seeing if any of the streaming Trek series get renewed and if any new series are announced. Neither has happened in almost a year!

According to a friend of mine at CBS, who I was texting about doing some set work, there has been a lot of movement on the Star Trek TV front, but none of it has yet been announced. She’s been cagey with details, but it sounds like we’ll be getting several announcements pretty soon. I hope so. It’s been a rough couple months and I need to go back to work.

Are you guys actually willing to put your money where your digital mouth is on a movie announcement? I’ll take that bet, let me know where I can collect?

Remember when Gus Van Sant did a shot-by-shot remake of Psycho? A possible idea for the next Trek movie could be — take it back to the beginning — a shot-by-shot remake of Trek: The Motion Picture, one last rodeo for Pine and friends. (I suppose they could go by the “Director’s Edition.”) Those LED walls could be used to keep costs down.

I’m sorry…but no. Make an original story, that’s want fans want. STID made clear making a ‘homage’ to other stories is just not the best move even with good intentions.

…ugh, I still get a bad taste in my mouth anytime STID is mentioned. Worst Trek theater experience I ever had, and I’ve seen them all in theaters.

LOL sorry Danpaine!

And what I can’t get is who in their right mind would want a shot by shot copy of TMP lol. I know that movie has it’s fans, but I can’t even get through the first 20 minutes of it. I’ve seen it three times in my life. I tried watching it again last year when they released the 4K version on First Contact day. I thought with all the new effects and enhancement, it would be a better experience for me. Nope!

And the Kelvin movies are utterly antithetical to what TMP is. TMP is Trek’s version of 2001. The Kelvin movies are Trek’s version of the MCU; loud, big and lots of spectacle. The two couldn’t be any different. If people thought Beyond drove new fans away, the short attention span of today’s audience would kill that movie dead by it’s third day of release.

Nemesis is the worst i have ever seen, period. Not even Star Trek V comes close. I was so disappointed by the movie i left the theater depressed. The cool ship fight at the end doesn’t make up for how awful it is. Data’s death was handled better than in Picard i will grudgingly admit.

Remember when Gus Van Sant did a shot-by-shot remake of Psycho?

I do. And I remember everyone hating it.

Psycho is a classic in the horror genre. Sad to say, TMP isn’t in its respective genre. In Sci-Fi, that distinction falls to Wrath of Khan, and if we’re going to be completely honest with ourselves, WOK was a “lightening in the bottle” moment. A copy would be just that. A copy. Try selling that to investors, and you’re going to get laughed out of the room.

I’m surprised there’s no mention of the Khan podcast.

I guess that the Trekmovie editors either don’t look forward to it as much OR they simply forgot. I don’t hear much talk about that project anywhere.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to that A LOT. If there is one gaping hole in Trek’s exploits, it’s audio drama. I’m green with envy looking at all those 1000+ Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish, having spawned a gazillion spin-off ranges. Trek needs full-cast audio dramas ASAP… Even Alien got a whole trilogy of them on Audible.

You forgot a big one. The Enterprise F appering on screen. Sure the Oddessy is a ten year old design, but A new Enterprise on screen is worth noting I’d say

I guess because it’s in the trailer we’ve technically all already seen it, maybe that’s why it was omitted.

i hope the Voy doc is honest about the show being entertaining but not really working, not true to its premise.

I thought it worked fine, but it probably could’ve honored its premise better if it could’ve been serialized like DS9, but the network was fiercely against serialized stories at the time.

The show botched a serialised arc with jonas

Dude, I had to look that character up. Sure it could’ve been better but I was fine with the outcome. You don’t seem to be a Voyager fan, which is OK obviously, but I just don’t have the same issues with the show like you and others do. I liked it because it WASN’T serialized. But yes some parts of the story arcs definitely could’ve benefited from it.

i just wanted more from a ST show after TNG and DS9 did so well and it came up short. entertaining, especially with the EMH and 7 around but disappointing in the end

I understand of course, you were disappointed by the show. And you certainly weren’t the only one. All I can say I wasn’t one of them. I loved the show from beginning to end, but yes I agree it had problems for sure, but that’s a common issue with Star Trek lol. And I also agree, TNG and DS9 were superior, hence why Voyager is my third favorite out of the three.

It was working for me. Much better than turning it into Trek’s version of NuBSG but doing A Year of Hell-style story arcs. I’m so glad they kept it episodic and optimistic TNG redux-style. But then of course, modern audiences disagree with me :-)

It avoided the truth of their situation, cared little for necessary character development and relied on the Borg after not creating their own alien nemesis like the past ST shows and Ent

They still had other enemies after the Borg like the Hirogen who stuck around through season 7.

And the problem with Voyager was that it was a show that was constantly going warp 9 in one direction (for the most part) for years on end. There’s also no seat of power like the Alpha quadrant has for an enemy to siege upon like the Federation or Starfleet. Or even just a planet. There’s nothing to really conquer the same way the Klingons, Borg, Dominion or Xindi tried to do in the Alpha quadrant. It’s just one ship in a BIG area of space.

And all that makes it really hard to have a long term enemy the way DS9 or ENT had one unless that species has basically over took the entire Delta Quadrant and could be everywhere. Not even the Borg had that once they were out of Borg space. But because of the transwarp conduits, it was easy for them to appear in different areas of the quadrant at any time.

Unless they are fighting the Empire from Star Wars, it’s just not very realistic and why we saw threats come and go as they left systems.

sure, the Hirogen worked for me

Many of us wanted more or something different from Voyager at the time, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that overall, despite unevenness, what Voyager did well, it did very, very well.

There’s a reason it’s held up well and has been, through syndicated reruns and streaming, as impactful on younger millennials and Gen Z as TOS reruns were on kids in the 70s.

Many younger people note (on Reddit and other platforms) that Voyager’s version of many of the classic Trek trope stories are so much better done that when they see them in TNG or TOS those versions seem like lower quality drafts. For them, the Voyager versions are the ones to come back to.

Time for an HD-remaster of VOY… or at least of the double-episodes. It s***** when you have to change the DVD’s to see them.

I just got the making of Star Trek First Contact. Looking forward to the making of The Wrath of Khan. I also can’t wait for the remastered TNG Blu-Rays and 4K. I saw the remastered First Contact digitally it was fantastic the disc version should be even better.

I remember reading or hearing that Nana Visitor was/is writing an in-depth book about the women of Star Trek – featuring interviews not only with actors, but women behind the scenes at all levels of production as well, from all the shows including The Original Series. I wonder what the status of that is? Does anyone know?

I’m looking forward to it too!

She’s also recording interviews on video that could (hopefully, potentially) form the basis for a documentary. I think she may still be holding out for some of the women who have not yet been willing to come forward. (For example, Marina Sirtis who has said that’s she’s already said publicly all she’s willing to.)

Laurie interviewed Nana last year. There is more than one TrekMovie article in the archive.

It was going to be published by Hero Collector, which is now gone, but I think someone else is picking it up. I really want to read it, so I hope so!

There’s never been a better time to be a Star Trek fan. I’m so grateful for the glorious abundance of Star Trek goodness available – all the shows, movies, books, comics, music, games, toys, collectibles, podcasts – and the fun of sharing it all with family and friends (old and new and still to be made.) We are a lucky fandom. LLAP.

Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Voyager?

Jeri Ryan, Kate Mulgrew, Ethan Phillips, and Robert Picardo

The third "Star Trek" series to air in the 1990s, "Star Trek: Voyager" was also the flagship series for the all-new Paramount television network UPN. Making its debut in January of 1995, the series saw Captain Kathryn Janeway command the state-of-the-art starship Voyager on a mission to pursue a group of Maquis rebels. However, when a phenomenon envelops them both and hurls them to the distant Delta Quadrant, Starfleet officers and Maquis terrorists become one crew on a perilous journey home.

Despite a few cast shake-ups, "Voyager" ran for seven seasons and featured a consistently stellar ensemble. The series helped launch the careers of several of its lesser-known actors, while others can count the series as the highest point in their filmography. Some walked away from Hollywood after it concluded, while a few have since made big comebacks, returning to the roles that made them famous.

Since it ended in 2001, "Voyager" has aged like fine wine, earning new fans thanks to the magic of streaming where new generations can discover it anew. Whether seeing it for the first time — or even if you're watching it for the umpteenth — you may be wondering where the cast is now. Well, recalibrate the bio-neural gel packs and prep the Delta Flyer for launch because we're here to fill you in on what's happened to the cast of "Star Trek: Voyager."

Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

It's no secret that Kate Mulgrew wasn't the first choice to play Captain Janeway in "Star Trek: Voyager." Academy Award-nominee Geneviève Bujold was famously cast first  but filmed only a few scenes before quitting the show during the production of the series pilot, leading to Mulgrew being brought in. Today it is difficult to imagine anyone else in the role, though it's hardly Mulgrew's only iconic TV series.

Following the show's conclusion in 2001, Mulgrew took a few years off from acting, returning with a small role in the 2005 film "Perception" with Piper Perabo. After a guest appearance on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Mulgrew snagged a recurring role on "The Black Donnellys" in 2007 alongside Jonathan Tucker and Olivia Wilde and another in the short-lived NBC medical drama "Mercy" in 2009. Her return to a main cast, however, came in the Adult Swim series "NTSF:SD:SUV::," where she played an eye patch-wearing leader of an anti-terrorism task force alongside future "Star Trek" star Rebecca Romijn .

Of course, Mulgrew found a major career resurgence in 2013, starring in one of Netflix's earliest forays into original programming, "Orange is the New Black." In the series she stars as Red, an inmate at a women's prison, a role that would earn her an Emmy nomination. Mulgrew returned to "Star Trek" in 2021, voicing both Kathryn Janeway and a holographic version of the character in the Nickelodeon-produced CGI-animated series  "Star Trek: Prodigy."

Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay

Sitting in the chair next to Captain Janeway for seven seasons was Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay, a former Maquis first officer. Though Beltran counts his heritage as Latino, Chakotay was actually the first Native American series regular in the franchise but was sadly under-used, a fact that the actor has  commented on . Following "Star Trek: Voyager," Beltran's work on the small screen was mostly limited to guest appearances, popping up in episodes of "CSI: Miami" and "Medium" in the 2000s while filling roles in movies like "Taking Chances," "Fire Serpent," and "Manticore." 

Beltran's first recurring part on TV after "Voyager" was in the series "Big Love," starring Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorn. In the series, he played Jerry Flute — another Native American — who has plans to construct a casino on a reservation. However, over the next decade, Beltran seemed to move away from acting, with a sparse handful of minor roles. He revealed on Twitter that he turned down a chance to play Chakotay one more time in the revival series "Star Trek: Picard," as he was unhappy with the part they'd written for him. 

Nevertheless, Beltran did come back to join Kate Mulgrew for the animated children's series "Star Trek: Prodigy." Voicing Chakotay in his triumphant return to the franchise, the series sees the character lost in space and his former captain on a mission to find him.

Tim Russ as Lt. Tuvok

Actor Tim Russ had already made a few guest appearances in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and even the film "Star Trek Generations" before joining the main cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" in 1995. Russ became a fan-favorite as Vulcan Lt. Tuvok, who was later promoted to Lt. Commander. However, after seven seasons playing the stoic, emotionless Tuvok, Russ kept busy with a variety of different roles, mostly guest-starring in popular TV hits.

This includes guest spots in everything from "ER" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" to episodes of "Hannah Montana" and "Without a Trace." He even appeared on the big screen with a small role in "Live Free or Die Hard" in 2007, but it didn't keep him away from TV, as he also had a multi-episode appearance on the hit soap "General Hospital." That same year, Russ joined the main cast of the Christina Applegate comedy "Samantha Who?" and later began working in video games, providing voice work for "Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus" and "The Last of Us Part 2." 

Since then, the actor has kept busy with countless roles in such as "Criminal Minds," "NCIS: New Orleans," "Supergirl," and "The Good Doctor." More recently, Russ turned up in an episode of Seth MacFarlane's "Star Trek" homage "The Orville,"  and in 2023 voiced Lucius Fox in the animated film "Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham."

Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres

On "Star Trek: Voyager," the role of chief engineer was filled by Roxann Dawson who played half-Klingon/half-human B'Elanna Torres. Starting out as a Maquis rebel, she eventually becomes one of the most important members of the crew, as well as a wife and mother. Following her run on the series, Dawson had just a handful of on-screen roles, which included single episodes of "The Closer" and "Without a Trace." That's because, like her franchise cohort  Jonathan Frakes , Dawson moved behind the camera to become a director full-time.

Getting her start overseeing episodes of "Voyager" first, Dawson moved on to helm entries of "Star Trek" spin-off "Enterprise" before broadening to other shows across television. Since 2005, Dawson has directed episodes of some of the biggest hits on TV including "Lost" and "The O.C." in 2006, eight episodes of "Cold Case," a trio of "Heroes" episodes, and more. 

We could go on and on rattling off the hit shows she's sat behind the camera for but among her most notable might be the David Simon HBO series "Treme" in 2011, "Hell on Wheels" with future starship captain Anson Mount, and modern masterpieces like "Bates Motel," "The Americans," and "This is Us." Her most recent work saw her return to sci-fi, helming two episodes of the Apple TV+ series "Foundation."

Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Despite never seeing a rise in rank and perpetually remaining a low-level ensign, Harry Kim — played by Garrett Wang – often played a crucial role in defeating many of the enemies the crew would face in the Delta Quadrant. When "Star Trek: Voyager" left the airwaves, though, Wang bounced around, with his biggest role arguably coming in the 2005 Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries "Into the West." He has continued embracing his role as Ensign Kim by appearing at many fan conventions, where he found an entirely new calling. 

Beginning in 2010, Kim embarked on a career as an event moderator, serving as the Master of Ceremonies at that year's FedCon (a science fiction convention held in Germany). Later, he was the Trek Track Director at the celebrated Dragon Con event, held annually in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the course of his new career, Wang has held moderating duties and hosted panels and events at major pop culture conventions in Montreal, Edmonton, Phoenix, and Denver. According to Wang, his biggest role as a moderator came at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo in 2012, where he interviewed the legendary Stan Lee .

In 2020, Wang joined forces with co-star Robert Duncan McNeill to launch "The Delta Flyers," a podcast that discusses classic episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager."

Robert Duncan McNeill as Lt. Tom Paris

Robert Duncan McNeill guest-starred in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a hotshot pilot who broke the rules and wound up booted from Starfleet. So when producers developed a similar character, they brought in McNeill to play him, resulting in brash, cavalier helm officer Tom Paris. In 2002, after "Star Trek: Voyager" ended, McNeill starred in an episode of  "The Outer Limits" revival  and a few more small roles. However, like Dawson, McNeill left acting not long after the series ended to become a director and producer, starting with four episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise."

Into the 2000s, McNiell helmed episodes of "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill" before becoming an executive producer on the action-comedy series "Chuck" starring Zachary Levi. Ultimately he'd direct 21 episodes of that series across its five seasons. From there, McNeill went on to sit behind the camera for installments of "The Mentalist," "Blue Bloods," and "Suits." 

Since the 2010s, McNeill has served as an executive producer on further shows that included "The Gifted," the Disney+ reboot of "Turner & Hooch," and the SyFy series "Resident Alien." In addition to hosting "The Delta Flyers" podcast with co-star Garrett Wang, McNeill came back to "Star Trek" in 2022 when he voiced the character of Tom Paris in a cameo on the animated comedy "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

Ethan Phillips as Neelix

Another actor to appear on "Star Trek" before taking a leading role on "Voyager," Ethan Phillips played the quirky alien chef Neelix for all seven seasons of the show's run. A well-established veteran, his TV roles prior had included dramas like "NYPD Blue" and family hits like "Doogie Howser, M.D." Unfortunately, his role on "Voyager" never translated to big-time success after, though he hardly struggled for work. That's because he went back to his former career as a character actor.

In the ensuing years, Phillips could be seen all over the dial and beyond, with parts in "Touched by an Angel" and "8 Simple Rules" among many others, even popping up in a guest-starring role in an episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" in 2002. Later he did a three-episode run on "Boston Legal," another Beantown-based legal drama from David E. Kelley, this one starring "Star Trek" legend William Shatner and "Deep Space Nine" alum René Auberjonois. Some of the biggest shows he's found work on during the 2010s meanwhile include "Better Call Saul" and a recurring role in the Lena Dunham comedy "Girls." He's also had roles in major movies, showing up in "Inside Llewyn Davis," "The Purge: Election Year," and "The Island."

Though he hasn't come back to "Star Trek," Phillips did return to sci-fi in 2020, joining the main cast of the HBO space comedy "Avenue 5" alongside Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad.

Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine

Though she didn't arrive on "Star Trek: Voyager" until Season 4, Jeri Ryan arguably became the series' biggest star. She came in to help liven up a series that was struggling and joined the cast as a former Borg drone named Seven of Nine . It proved to be just what the series needed and a career-defining role for Ryan. One of the few cast members of "Voyager" to parlay her role into bigger success, Ryan immediately joined the David E. Kelley legal drama "Boston Public" after the series ended.

There she had a three-season run and in 2006 she secured another starring role on another legal drama, this time in the James Woods series "Shark," with Danielle Panabaker and Henry Simmons. Smaller recurring roles came after, including multi-episode stints on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Two and a Half Men," and "Leverage," before Ryan returned to a main cast with her co-starring role in "Body of Proof" in 2011 alongside Dana Delany. Parts in "Helix" and "Bosch" came after, as well as brief recurring roles in "MacGyver" and "Major Crimes," leading right up to her return to "Star Trek" in 2020.

That year, Ryan joined the cast of the revival series "Star Trek: Picard." Returning to the role of Seven of Nine, she supported series lead Patrick Stewart by appearing in all three seasons, and rumor has it she may even star in a spin-off. 

Jennifer Lien as Kes

Joining the Starfleet and Maquis crew aboard Voyager was Kes, a young alien woman with mild telepathic powers and just a nine-year lifespan, and played by Jennifer Lien. Unfortunately, her character never quite gelled, and in Season 4 Lien was written out to make way for Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine.

Leaving the series in 1997, Lien's career stalled in front of the camera, though she did manage a role in "American History X" alongside "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" star Avery Brooks. However, most of her subsequent work came in animation, with voice work in "Superman: The Animated Series" — where she played Inza, the wife of Doctor Fate — and a starring role as Agent L in "Men in Black: The Series." 

Unfortunately, Lien pretty much left acting shortly after that. She married filmmaker Phil Hwang and started a family but has faced personal problems along the way. While struggling to deal with her mental health, Lien was arrested in 2015 for indecent exposure and again in 2018 for driving without a license. 

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website .

Manu Intiraymi as Icheb

Late in Season 6 of "Star Trek: Voyager," a storyline saw the ship rescue a stranded vessel commanded by a group of wayward Borg children. At the conclusion of the story, four young drones join the crew, becoming a surrogate family of sorts to Seven of Nine after jettisoning their Borg identities. The eldest of them is Icheb, a teenager who becomes like a brother to Seven, played by actor Manu Intiraymi. The young actor went on to make 11 appearances across the final two seasons of the show. 

When "Voyager" ended in 2001, Intiraymi continued acting, with his largest role coming in "One Tree Hill." There he played Billy — a local drug dealer — in a recurring role in 2012. Further projects were mostly independent films like "5th Passenger" in 2017 and "Hell on the Border," a 2019 Western starring David Gyasi, Ron Perlman, and Frank Grillo. 

In 2017, Intiraymi came under fire for criticizing fellow "Star Trek" actor Anthony Rapp, who'd made accusations of sexual assault against Kevin Spacey . A few years later, fans speculated those comments may have been why he wasn't asked to return to the role of Icheb in "Star Trek: Picard," with a new actor playing the part in a scene that killed off the character.

Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman

Plenty of TV shows have added a kid to shake up the status quo late into their run, and "Star Trek: Voyager" was not immune to this trope. In addition to Borg kids like Icheb, Samantha Wildman — the newborn daughter of a crewperson — became a recurring character beginning in Season 5, played by Scarlett Pomers. She'd wind up in 16 episodes, including a few where she played a leading role. In the aftermath of the end of the series, Pomers appeared in the Julia Roberts film "Erin Brockovich," and in 2001 joined the cast of the sitcom "Reba."

For six seasons Pomers starred as Kyra Hart, daughter of the show's star played by Reba McEntire. Appearing in a whopping 103 episodes, it was only Pomers' second regular role but also her last on-screen performance. When that series concluded, Pomers essentially retired from acting. Unfortunately, her exit from the stage was at least partly due to her ongoing battle with an eating disorder, and Pomers has since become an outspoken advocate for those struggling with anorexia and mental illness. In a 2019 interview with StarTrek.com , Pomers also talked about her subsequent career as a photographer, musician, and jewelry designer.

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

Martha Hackett as Seska

In the early seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager," one of the most compelling ongoing storylines was that of Seska, a Bajoran and former Maquis rebel and on-again-off-again lover of Chakotay. Played by recurring guest star Martha Hackett, it was later revealed that Seska was actually an enemy agent in disguise. Hackett would appear in a total of 13 episodes of the series, making it by far the largest role in her career. Still, she has appeared in some big hits over the last two decades.

Those included a small role in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" in 2005 and an appearance in the cult horror movie "The Bye Bye Man" in 2017. It also includes one-off appearances in episodes of popular projects on the small screen, like "The Mindy Project" in 2014, "Masters of Sex" a year earlier, and a recurring role in the daytime soap "Days of Our Lives" between 2016 and 2018. Thanks to her iconic role as Seska, though, Hackett continues to be a regular on the "Star Trek" convention circuit and was interviewed for the upcoming "Star Trek: Voyager" documentary "To the Journey."

Robert Picardo as the Doctor

For 30 years, the world of science fiction meant one thing when the moniker of "The Doctor" was uttered, but that all changed in 1995 with the launch of "Star Trek: Voyager." There, actor Robert Picardo — already known for antagonistic roles in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" and "InnerSpace" — starred as the Doctor, the nameless holographic chief medical officer aboard the Voyager. Known for his offbeat humor and cantankerous attitude, he was played to perfection by Picardo, and it would become the actor's signature role. 

Still, even after leaving sickbay as the Doctor, Picardo had a healthy career, moving quickly into a role in "The Lyon's Den" starring Rob Lowe and Kyle Chandler in 2003. A year later he joined another iconic sci-fi franchise when he secured a recurring part in "Stargate SG-1"  as Richard Woolsey, a grumpy U.S. official who opposed the Stargate program. Following a string of appearances on the flagship series, Picardo joined the main cast of "Stargate: Atlantis" in 2006. A few years later, Picardo had another repeat role, this time as Jason Cooper on "The Mentalist," and he later enjoyed a stint on the Apple TV+ drama "Dickinson."

In 2023, the actor made a guest appearance on the "Quantum Leap" revival playing Doctor Woolsey, whose name is a clear tribute to his two biggest TV roles.

17 Star Trek Actors Who Died In 2023

Here we pay tribute to all of those Star Trek alumni who have left us in 2023.

Borg Queen Star Trek Picard Season 2 Annie Wersching

As we go into December, we must take the time to honour the Star Trek alumni who passed away in 2023. Thousands of people work together to bring Star Trek to the screen, working both in front of, and behind, the camera. Let us take a moment here to honour those who worked on the production side of the franchise, leaving an incredible legacy behind them.

Craig Smith, George Wilbur, Richard J. Anobile, Gerald Fried, Ed Fury, Caryl Codon, Robert Jodlowski, Gordon Dawson, Michael Reaves, Paul S. Eckstein, Jerry Spicer, Steven Lambert, Bob Scribner, Allan Asherman, Keith Giffen, Stephen Kandel, and Robert Butler.

Each name listed here has left an immortal mark on the franchise, and there is not one who won't be remembered with love by those who knew them dearest. Between makeup artists, comic book writers, directors, and more - every person who works to build Star Trek into what it has become is as unique and important as the brightest stars in the galaxy.

The actors that follow have led incredible careers, combining to leave a stellar body of work behind for those of us who can enjoy for years to come.

17. Danny Goldring

Borg Queen Star Trek Picard Season 2 Annie Wersching

Danny Goldring passed away in 2022 after our tribute list for last year had been compiled, so he fittingly is the first name on our list this year. He may best be remembered by Star Trek fans for his appearance in Deep Space Nine's fifth season episode ...Nor The Battle To The Strong.

Born in Illinois, Goldring tried his hands at several careers before he moved into acting. He served in the Signal Corps in the United States Army, before switching upon discharge to construction. His first forays into acting would be on stage, though he did tour for a couple of years as part of a puppeteering company.

He appeared in both Voyager and Enterprise as well, racking up five appearances overall. He played a Cardassian Legate, a Hirogen hunter, as well as both a Nausicaan and Tarket captain.

Goldring passed away on December 2nd, 2022, at age 76.

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: The cast of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' 36 years later

  • "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ("TNG") aired from 1987 to 1994.
  • It was the first live-action "Star Trek" show since the original series ended in 1969.
  • The cast will reunite for the final season of "Star Trek: Picard," which premieres February 16.

The captain of the Enterprise, Jean-Luc Picard, was played by Sir Patrick Stewart for all seven seasons.

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Stewart got his start as a theater actor and was a part of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1982. He then had various roles on British TV series until he was cast as the newest captain of the USS Enterprise in 1987 for "Star Trek: The Next Generation," kicking off decades of debates on who the superior captain is .

Arguably, "TNG" would never have been as successful as it was without the grounding presence of Stewart and his Shakespearean sensibilities. Some of the best episodes and arcs in "Trek" history come down to Stewart's performance, such as the iconic Locutus storyline and its aftermath in "Family," or classic episodes like "The Measure of a Man" and "The Inner Light."

He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in 1995. He won a Grammy in 1996 for best spoken word album for children for his reading of "Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf."

Stewart, 82, will conclude Picard's story in 2023 after three seasons of "Star Trek: Picard" on Paramount+.

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By the time "TNG" wrapped up in 1994, Stewart had already  solidified his place in the hearts of nerds everywhere. He'd go on to star in four more "Trek" movies — "Generations" in 1994, "First Contact" in 1996, "Insurrection" in 1998, and "Nemesis" in 2002 — but that wasn't his last iconic role.

In 2000, he starred as the iconic Professor Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, in "X-Men." He reprised the role in 2003's "X2," 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand," 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," 2013's "The Wolverine," 2014's "X-Men: Days of Future Past," and 2017's "Logan" — the latter of which got him some Oscar buzz . He reprised the role in 2022's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

Stewart was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for services to drama.

He's played various other roles throughout his decades-long career, returned to the stage many times, and secured a Tony nomination in 2008 for his performance in "Macbeth." But Picard wasn't done with him yet.

In 2018, it was announced that Stewart would be returning to the role of Jean-Luc Picard for a series on CBS All Access (now Paramount+) following the former captain 30 years after the events of "Nemesis." "Star Trek: Picard" premiered in 2020. The third and final season will premiere on February 16.

Commander William T. Riker, Picard's right-hand man and first officer, was played by Jonathan Frakes.

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Riker was more of the classic "Trek" rogue, similar in some ways to William Shatner's Captain James T. Kirk, namely, his penchant for getting into trouble and getting women across the galaxy to fall in love with him. But he was also a trusted colleague and friend to Picard across seven seasons and four movies. Picking up Riker from Farpoint Station is actually one of the crew's first missions in the pilot.

Before "TNG," Frakes had appeared in various episodes of '70s and '80s shows like "Charlie's Angels," "The Twilight Zone," "Hill Street Blues," and more. But he quickly became best known for "Trek."

Like Shatner and Leonard Nimoy before him, Frakes also became interested in directing, and he was behind the camera for eight episodes of "TNG," as well as episodes of spin-offs "Deep Space Nine," and "Voyager." He also directed films "First Contact" and "Insurrection."

Frakes, 70, has appeared in "Picard" and "Lower Decks." He's also a successful director.

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Soon after "TNG" wrapped up, Frakes began hosting the series "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?" from 1998 to 2002. A compilation clip of him saying things are false/fiction has since become a meme .

Frakes reprised his role as Riker in episodes of "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" in the '90s, the series finale of "Star Trek: Enterprise" in 2005, two episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" in 2020, and three episodes of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" in 2020 and 2021.

Over the last two decades, he's directed over 70 episodes of television, including shows like "Roswell," "Castle," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "The Librarians," "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Seth MacFarlane's loving "Trek" homage "The Orville," and, of course, the new "Trek" shows like "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Picard."

Like the rest of the original "TNG" crew, Frakes has joined the cast of "Picard" for season three.

Marina Sirtis played Deanna Troi, the ship's counselor and an empath.

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In some ways, Troi was like the exact opposite of Spock, a character from the original "Trek" who operated solely from a place of logic. Instead, Troi was a half-human, half-betazoid, which made her an empath (able to telepathically sense people's feelings and emotions). Her place on the ship was to counsel the captain and other members of the crew.

Notably, Troi and Riker were in a relationship before the events of the show, and they eventually get married during the movie "Nemesis," before moving to the USS Titan, where Riker would finally become captain.

Her mother, Lwaxana Troi, was a beloved "Trek" side character played by Majel Barrett, "Trek" creator Gene Rodenberry's wife and "Original Series" cast member. Barrett also played Christine Chapel.

Before "TNG," Sirtis had appeared in bit parts in films and was mainly doing theater in her native UK.

Sirtis, 67, reprised the role for one episode of "Picard" with her on-screen husband, Riker.

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Sirtis appeared in all four "TNG" films," and she also reprised her role as Troi in "Voyager," "Enterprise," "Picard," and "Lower Decks." She also appeared in an episode of "The Orville."

She's steadily worked in TV over the last two decades, appearing in shows like "Without a Trace," "Make It or Break It," "Grey's Anatomy," "NCIS," and "Scandal."

Sirtis has also had a steady voice-acting career, lending her voice to "Gargoyles," "Adventure Time," and perhaps most famously, as Queen Bee in "Young Justice."

Sirtis will don her Starfleet uniform yet again in 2023 for the final season of "Picard."

LeVar Burton played the engineering genius Geordi La Forge.

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Besides Stewart, Burton was easily the most well-known member of the cast. Ten years prior, he had played Kunta Kinte in the 1977 ABC miniseries "Roots," which was nominated for 37 Emmy Awards, winning nine, including a nomination for Burton . The series finale is still the second most-watched series finale of all time, garnering at least 110 million viewers. He reprised the role in the 1988 TV film "Roots: The Gift."

When he was cast as La Forge, the chief engineering officer who happened to be blind — a big step forward in disability representation at the time — Burton had already been hosting "Reading Rainbow" on PBS since 1983. "Reading Rainbow," which Burton produced, won a Peabody Award and 12 Daytime Emmys.

From 1990 to 1996, Burton also voiced Kwame on "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" for over 100 episodes. In 1999, he directed the Disney Channel Original Movie classic "Smart House."

Burton, 66, was recently at the center of a campaign to take over as the new host of "Jeopardy!"

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Like the rest of the main cast, Burton appeared in "TNG's" four feature films . He also appeared as La Forge in an episode of "Voyager."

He will reprise his role for the first time on TV since 1998 during the third and final season of "Picard" — and he'll be joined by his daughter, Mica Burton, who will play La Forge's daughter Alandra, an ensign in Starfleet.

Burton has had a successful career in Hollywood since, appearing as Martin Luther King Jr. in 2001's "Ali," playing himself in iconic appearances on both "Community" and "The Big Bang Theory," and hosting "Reading Rainbow" until its end in 2006.

Like Frakes, Burton is also a successful TV director. He's directed numerous episodes of "Star Trek" and its spin-offs, as well as episodes of "Charmed," "JAG," and "NCIS: New Orleans." He made his movie directorial debut in 2008 with "Reach for Me," starring Seymour Cassel.

After the death of Alex Trebek in 2020 , fans began campaigning for Burton to take over as the new host of "Jeopardy!" Almost 300,000 fans have signed a petition to that effect. However, after a brief stint as guest host, Burton said he wouldn't be interested in taking over as the permanent host.

In October 2021, he was named next year's grand marshal of the Rose Bowl Parade.

Gates McFadden played the chief medical officer Dr. Beverly Crusher for six seasons — she was replaced briefly in season two.

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Dr. Crusher was introduced as the chief medical officer of the Enterprise with a long relationship with Picard — her late husband, Jack, and Picard were close friends, and Picard even brought back Jack's body after death.

However, as the show progressed, Dr. Crusher and Picard's relationship evolved into love and they even got married (and divorced) in an alternate timeline. We want to see Beverly in "Picard," please — and it seems like we're finally getting our wish.

After the first season, McFadden was written out of the show due to issues with head writer Maurice Hurley and replaced with Diana Muldaur, who played Dr. Katherine Pulaski. Muldaur's character did not gel with the rest of the cast, and McFadden was subsequently brought back for season three (and Hurley was ultimately replaced with Michael Piller).

Before "TNG," McFadden was a choreographer and a puppeteer involved with the Jim Henson Company, in addition to her career as an actress . She appeared in and choreographed 1984's "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and choreographed "Labyrinth" in 1986 . McFadden directed an episode of "TNG" in 1994.

McFadden, 73, has appeared in episodes of shows like "Franklin & Bash," "NCIS," and "The Practice."

star trek actors 2023

McFadden appeared in all four "TNG" films , though she didn't have a huge role in them, considering how her relationship with Picard was left in the series finale. She even joked during a screening of the season three premiere of "Picard" that she didn't remember being in the films.

Hopefully, their bond will be addressed in season three of "Picard," which McFadden will return for, especially since season two of "Picard" seems very concerned with the lack of love in his life.

Since the end of the films in 2002, McFadden has mainly appeared on TV. She was in four episodes of "Franklin & Bash," an episode of "NCIS," and a TV movie called "A Neighbor's Deception." She was also in a 2009 holiday rom-com called "Make the Yuletide Gay."

Michael Dorn played Worf, the first Klingon in "Trek" history to be a main character.

star trek actors 2023

Worf was the first Klingon to be a main character in "Star Trek" — in three of the original films, Klingons were, if not the main antagonists, one of the secondary foes.

By the events of "TNG," Dorn's character Worf had enlisted in Star Fleet and slowly became one of the series' best and most beloved characters, as well as the chief security officer. He went on to star on "Deep Space Nine" for four seasons, from 1995 to 1999.

Before the show, Dorn had appeared in shows such as "CHiPS," "Knots Landing," and "Days of Our Lives."

Dorn, 70, has been in more episodes of "Star Trek" than any other actor. He'll add to his lead by appearing in "Picard."

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Overall, Dorn played Worf for 277 episodes and four films, making more appearances than any other actor in "Trek" history. The character was so popular that there were even talks to continue his story in his own show, called "Star Trek: Captain Worf" in 2012, though they never came to fruition.

He'll continue his reign, as Dorn was announced with the rest of the cast of "TNG" to be returning to "Trek" in season three of "Picard."

Besides acting in "Star Trek," Dorn also directed three episodes of "Deep Space Nine," as well as an episode of "Enterprise."

Like many of his co-stars, Dorn has had a successful voice-acting career . He used his voice in "Dinosaurs," "Superman: The Animated Series," "I Am Weasel," "Kim Possible: A Stitch in Time," "Regular Show," and "Arrow," among others. Most recently, he voiced Battle Beast in "Invincible."

Dorn appeared in two of the "Santa Clause" movies as the Sandman, and he was also in "Ted 2." In real life, he's also an accomplished pilot.

Wil Wheaton played Wesley Crusher, Dr. Crusher's son and a controversial character.

star trek actors 2023

Poor Wesley. It couldn't have been easy losing your dad at such an early age, only to be dragged onto a spaceship with the man who survived instead ... a man who pointedly hated kids to boot. But that was Wesley's plight, and it didn't make for a very enjoyable character. He was written off as a regular after season four, at which point he went to Starfleet Academy. Wesley reappeared in the final season for a send-off.

The year before Wheaton began appearing in "TNG," he starred in the classic '80s film "Stand by Me" alongside River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, and John Cusack, all future stars in the making.

Wheaton, 50, made a surprise cameo at the end of season two of "Picard."

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As Wesley wasn't a  hugely  beloved character, he only appeared in one scene of one film , "Nemesis." He didn't even speak.

But Wheaton hasn't let the haters stop him from having a successful career. He's appeared in dozens of TV shows and movies, and he hilariously played himself across 17 episodes of "The Big Bang Theory." He also had a recurring role on "Eureka," another recurring role on "Leverage," and a talk show on SyFy called "The Wil Wheaton Project."

Wheaton has also acted in many web series, including "Welcome to Night Vale." He's also had great success in voice acting, most recently voicing the Flash in "Teen Titans Go to the Movies."

He also hosted the web series "TableTop," in which he and guests play a game (like Settlers of Catan or Pandemic) each episode, which aired from 2012 to 2017.

Currently, he hosts "The Ready Room," the official "Star Trek" aftershow that features interviews with the cast and crew. He also made a brief, surprise appearance at the end of season two of "Picard."

Brent Spiner played Data, an android who was on a quest to become more human.

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While most of the characters on "TNG" were almost entirely original, Data was clearly conceived as this show's version of Spock , another character who struggled with the concept of humanity.

However, as the show went on, Data solidified himself as his own character with his own fascinating backstory (Lore and Dr. Noonien Soong, anyone?) and a heartwarming desire to become human.

Before the series, Spiner enjoyed a successful career in theater , originating the role of Franz/Dennis in "Sunday in the Park with George" and starring as Aramis in "The Three Musketeers." He also appeared in six episodes of "Night Court."

In 1996, he appeared in the huge sci-fi blockbuster "Independence Day."

They keep finding ways for Spiner, 74, to stay in the "Trek" universe, even 21 years after Data's death in "Star Trek: Nemesis."

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Spiner appeared in all four "TNG" movies . In fact, his character might have had the most complete arc, when you take in his sacrifice at the end of "Nemesis." He also played an ancestor of his character's creator, Dr. Arik Soong, in four episodes of "Enterprise's" fourth season.

In 2016, Spiner reprised his role as Dr. Brackish Okun in the sequel "Independence Day: Resurgence." Over the years he's appeared in dozens of TV shows, including "Friends," "Star Wars Rebels," "Ray Donovan," "The Goldbergs," and "Warehouse 13."

Spiner has also voiced two iconic Batman villains. He played the Joker in an episode of "Young Justice," and he voiced the Riddler in "Justice League Action."

In 2020, Spiner reprised his role as Data in "Picard," appearing as the character in dream sequences and as a virtual consciousness throughout the first season.

He also appeared as a descendant of his creator, Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, and as a similar android named B-4 who was originally introduced in "Nemesis." In season two, he played another one of Noonien Soong's ancestors, Adam Soong.

Spiner was announced, like the rest of the cast , to be part of "Picard's" third season, this time playing Data's evil "brother," Lore.

Denise Crosby only starred in one season of "TNG" as Natasha Yar.

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Yar's death was one of the biggest shocks of "TNG" and proved this wasn't going to be like the original show — deaths weren't just reserved for "red shirts" here. No one was safe.

In actuality, Crosby asked to be written off the show , as she "was miserable. I couldn't wait to get off that show. I was dying." And so, her character was killed in the season one episode "Skin of Evil" by a malevolent tar-like creature. Yar would reappear two more times, in a season three episode called "Yesterday's Enterprise" (an all-timer), and the series finale.

Crosby also appeared in three episodes as a character called Sela, a future half-Romulan daughter of Yar's from an alternate timeline.

Before the show, Crosby, the granddaughter of Bing Crosby, had appeared in films like "48 Hrs.," "Pet Sematary," two "Pink Panther" films, and multiple episodes of "Days of Our Lives."

Crosby, 65, recently appeared in a few episodes of "General Hospital."

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Crosby didn't appear as Yar in any of the "TNG" films, but that doesn't mean she's totally stayed away from "Trek." She produced and presented a 1997 documentary about "Trek" fandom called "Trekkies," and its 2004 sequel "Trekkies 2." As of 2017, there were plans for a third installment.

She's also appeared in multiple direct-to-video movies , in addition to her roles in "Southland," "Ray Donovan," "The Walking Dead," "Suits," "Creepshow," and most recently "NCIS" and "General Hospital."

Colm Meaney had a recurring role as the transporter chief Miles O'Brien.

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Meaney appeared in over 50 episodes of "TNG" as O'Brien before he switched over to "Deep Space Nine," which he starred on from 1993 to 1999. His character got much more to do on the spin-off, though he did get married in a season four episode called "Data's Day," and he eventually had a child in the season five episode "Disaster."

During his run on "TNG," Meaney also appeared in a 1993 film called "The Snapper." He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. 

Meaney, 69, continued to play O'Brien in "Deep Space Nine" through 1999.

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After wrapping up his role in "Deep Space Nine," Meaney went on to be nominated for a Gemini Award in 2002 for his role in Canadian series "Random Passage." He also appeared in three episodes of "Stargate Atlantis," the miniseries "Alice," two episodes of "Men in Trees," and more.

Meaney was also nominated for a Saturn Award in 2013 for his role in "Hell on Wheels," appeared in 10 episodes of "Will" and in British series "Gangs of London" and "The Singapore Grip."

In 2021, he appeared in the 15th season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" as the father of Charlie Day's character.

He's had success on the big screen, as well. He was nominated for the Irish Film and Television Award for best actor in 2007 for "Kings," and he has been in other films like "Law Abiding Citizen," "Get Him to the Greek," "Tolkien," "Seberg," and "Pixie."

He recently starred in "The Serpent Queen" as King Francis I on Starz.

Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for "Ghost" as she was recurring on "TNG" as Guinan, an alien bartender who was hundreds of years old.

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Goldberg had already been nominated for an Oscar (for "The Color Purple" in 1985) and had won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album in 1985 (Whoopi Goldberg: Original Broadway Show Recording), and had been nominated for an Emmy  for her performance on "Moonlighting" in 1986, when she was asked if she wanted to appear in "TNG" as Guinan, an alien bartender in the ship's lounge who acted as a sounding board for many characters.

She actually asked to be on the show due to her "Trek" fandom, which stemmed from seeing Uhura, a Black woman, in a position of power in the first "Star Trek" series. Goldberg appeared in 28 episodes across seven seasons.

At the same time, Goldberg was becoming a true A-lister. In 1990, she starred in "Ghost," which eventually won her an Oscar. In 1992, she starred in the classic "Sister Act" and its sequel the following year.

Goldberg, 67, accepted a personal invitation from Stewart during "The View" to return as Guinan in season two of "Picard."

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Goldberg appeared in two of the "Next Generation" films, "Generations" and "Nemesis." During that time, she also appeared in films like "The Lion King," "Girl, Interrupted," "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella," and "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."

In 2002, Goldberg secured her Tony Award win for producing "Thoroughly Modern Millie." That same year, she completed her EGOT by winning an Emmy for outstanding special class series. She's also hosted multiple award shows, including the Tonys and the Oscars. 

Goldberg has consistently acted in both TV and movies in the 2000s, appearing in "Glee," "The Middle," "Toy Story 3," "Nobody's Fool," and more.

Since 2007, Goldberg has hosted "The View," which won her her second Emmy — she won outstanding entertainment talk show host at the 2009 Daytime Emmys.

During an appearance on "The View," none other than Patrick Stewart extended an invitation to Goldberg to reprise her role as Guinan during season two of "Picard," which she emotionally accepted.

Both Goldberg's version  and  a younger version played by Ito Aghayere of Guinan appeared during the show.

John de Lancie played Q, a mischievous, omnipotent being throughout all seven seasons of "TNG."

star trek actors 2023

In many ways, it would've been impossible to bring back Picard without bringing back Q. The Enterprise's captain meets Q in the very first episode of "TNG," and for almost every season after he pops back in to check in on the crew (and usually antagonize them a little bit). "TNG's" highly lauded series finale is also a Q episode, with Q attempting to conclude the trial of humanity he began in the first episode.

John de Lancie played Q in eight episodes of "TNG," along with one episode of "Deep Space Nine" and three episodes of "Voyager."

Throughout the '80s and '90s, de Lancie also appeared in "Days of Our Lives," "Trial and Error," and had small roles in films like "The Fisher King" and "Multiplicity."

De Lancie, 74, returned for season two of "Picard."

star trek actors 2023

De Lancie has continued to work frequently on TV, with arcs in shows like "Breaking Bad," "Charmed," "The Librarians," "The Secret Circle," and more.

The actor returned to the "Trek" universe to play Q once again on the first season of the animated series "Lower Decks" in 2020. Two years later, it was revealed that Q would play a major part in season two of "Picard" since, as Q would later say in the season, " even gods have favorites ."

star trek actors 2023

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The Intriguing World Of Entertainment

‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Cast: Where Are They Now?

By Christopher Covello | January 18, 2023

Star Trek: Voyager Cast

Even if you’ve never watched a single episode of any Star Trek show, you could still name at least two actors from the franchise and be able to spit out at least two famous quotes spawned from them. If you have seen a few of the different series or are even a diehard Trekkie, you’ve heard of Star Trek: Voyager. 

While not the most famous run of the Star Trek franchise, it still played an important part during its years on the air. We break down what the cast members have been doing since they last finished their mission.

Star Trek: Voyager follows the crew through the challenge of being stuck 70,000 light-years away in the Delta Quadrant and trying to get back home to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager also gives us the first time we see a female in the captain’s seat, with Captain Kathryn Janeway sitting at the helm.

Where does Voyager fall on the Star Trek Timeline?

If you want to know where this one lands on the chronological watching order (because that’s all that matters, right?) it depends if you want to include the movies and animated series in the lineup. The show hits anywhere from fifth to ninth in viewing order based on what you want to include.

On the fictional timeline, Star Trek: Voyager takes place during the years 2371 to 2378, so 20 years after the first journey with the crew. Though we all know there will be Star Trek movies and shows coming out for years to come, we could see this journey shift along the pecking order.

How long was the show on the air?

Filming for Star Trek: Voyager started in 1993, with the first episode airing on January 16th, 1995, on the then brand-new, now non-existent UPN (United Paramount Network). May 23rd, 2001 was the last voyage for this crew.

With a hearty seven-season run, Star Trek: Voyager beamed into our living rooms for an astounding 172 episodes over the years.

Why did Star Trek: Voyager get Cancelled?

Well, actually, Star Trek: Voyager never officially got canceled. Like most shows at that time, seven seasons was about the shelf life. Though ratings did drop over time, and fans weren’t too happy with the direction of the show, Star Trek: Voyager was able to end on the note they wanted to.

Kate Mulgrew as ‘Admiral Kathryn Janeway’

Star Trek Voyager - Kathryn Janeway

Nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe, and winner of an Obie, Critic’s Choice, and Saturn award, Kate Mulgrew has been gracing our screen for decades.

In the Star Trek universe alone Kate has reprised her role as Admiral Kathryn Janeway in 2002s Star Trek: Nemesis, 2004s Star Trek: The Experience – Borg Invasion, and most recently, in the 2021 animated return of the franchise Star Trek: Prodigy.

Kate Mulgrew now

You may recognize her the most as Galina “Red” Reznikov in the hit Orange Is the New Black. You can keep up with Kate on her Instagram , where she is very active.

Robert Beltran as ‘Commander Chakotay’

Star Trek Voyager - Chakotay

Robert Beltran played Commander Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager for the entire series. Before stepping on the Voyager, Robert had already been on the stage and screens big and small.

No stranger to TV, Robert has appeared on CSI: Miami, Medium, and Big Love, as well as dozens of TV movies.

Robert Beltran Now

Most recently Robert has used his voice to return as Commander Chakotay in Star Trek: Prodigy in 2022.

Roxann Dawson as ‘B’Elanna Torres’

Star Trek Voyager - B'Elanna Torres

Since Roxann Dawson played half-Klingon and half-human B’Elanna Torres on Star Trek: Voyager, she hasn’t really stopped working. The list of Roxann’s accomplishments and appearances on screen are way too numerous to count.

From writing plays, acting on stage, being part of documentaries, movies, TV shows, lending her voice to video games and audiobooks, and directing tv, Roxann has been one busy bee.

Roxann Dawson now

If you watch TV at all, Roxann has directed at least one episode of it. The last time Roxann truly graced the screen herself was in a 2011 episode of the hit show The Closer.

Robert Duncan McNeill as ‘Tom Paris’

Star Trek Voyager - Tom Paris

Robert Duncan McNeill had already been acting for decades before he brought Tom Paris to life on Star Trek: Voyager. 

After Voyager he switched gears and did more directing than acting. Robert went on to direct a ton of episodes of early aughts mega-hits like Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, The O.C., and Desperate Housewives.

Robert Duncan McNeill

 If you were obsessed with the show Chuck, Robert executive produced, produced, and directed the hit.

Ethan Phillips as ‘Neelix’

Star Trek Voyager - Neelix

Ethan Phillips has steadily been on TV since the early 80s and hasn’t stopped since.

Before playing Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager, Ethan was in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1990 playing Dr. Farek, and after, in 2002, he was in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2002.

Ethan Phillips now

He also appeared in the miniseries Star Trek: Of Gods and Men. Outside of that franchise, Ethan can be seen in episodes of Bones, Mental, Veep, and Girls. Most recently he was in 2020s Avenue 5.

Robert Picardo as ‘The Doctor’

star trek voyager Lewis Zimmerman

Possibly one of the most recognizable faces from the Voyager cast, Robert Picardo has been in just about every movie and TV show since the late 70s.

Playing The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager wasn’t his first hit show, as he was nominated for an Emmy for his role on the late 80s hit The Wonder Years.

Robert Picardo now

 Robert popped up in another sci-fi-star show, appearing on Stargate SG-1 from 2004 to 2007, and from 2006-2009 on Stargate Atlantis. In 2022 Roberts will lend his voice to the animated film MEAD.

He is very active on his Instagram and regularly post photos and videos of his life.

Jeri Ryan as ‘Seven of Nine’

Star Trek Voyager - Seven Of Nine

Though portraying Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager was Jeri Ryan’s first long-time TV role, she had been in episodes of shows like Who’s the Boss?, Matlock: The Fatal Seduction, and Melrose Place by then. 

Immediately following her run on Star Trek Jeri landed a leading role on the early 2000s drama Boston Public and then the drama Shark from 2006 to 2008.

Jeri Ryan Now

Fans loved that Jeri picked back up her Seven of Nine role and is back in space on Star Trek: Picard with Sir Patrick Stewart.

Tim Russ as ‘Lieutenant Commander Tuvok’

Star Trek Voyager - Tuvok

Not only has Tim Russ played Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, but he was in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Tim Russ Now

Other notable runs for Tim were on shows like Samantha Who? and iCarly. You can see Tim more recently in the 2020 George Clooney directed sci-fi movie The Midnight Sky.

Tim is also a musician and has started the band ‘Tim Russ Crew’. They play a mix of pop rock, blues, old school and roots music. You can check out a sample of their music here .

Garrett Wang as ‘Harry Kim’

Star Trek Voyager - Harry Kim

Playing Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager was Garrett Wang’s big break on television.

Since his Trek days, Garrett mostly sticks with the convention crowds, making appearances, being a celebrity moderator, and since 2010, being the Trek Track director for Dragon Con.

Garrett Wang now

He currently co-hosts a podcast with fellow Voyager star Robert Duncan McNeill. You can follow him on Instagram , where he posts regularly.

Jennifer Lien as ‘Kes’

Star Trek Voyager - Kes

With a handful of shows under her belt by the time she landed the role of Kes on Star Trek: Voyager,  Jennifer Lien  was all over the TV in the 90s.

After the birth of her son, Jennifer decided to step away from acting in 2002 to be a mother, and hasn’t been on screen since.

Jennifer Lien now

Unfortunately, from 2015 to 2018 Lien had some trouble with the law and decided to keep away from the camera, opting to try to start a new life as a nutritionist.

Tarik Ergin as ‘Lieutenant Junior Grade Ayala’

Star Trek Voyager - Ayala

Not everyone that makes it on screen wants to stay on, and that was the case for Tarik Ergin. After playing Lieutenant Junior Grade Ayala on Star Trek: Voyager, he pretty much stayed out of the spotlight.

Tarik Ergin now

(photo: LaxRatz )

He instead got back to his lacrosse roots. Having been a professional player in 2010, since 2011 he has been the Head Coach of the lacrosse Varsity team at Oak Park High School in California.

Scarlett Pomers as ‘Naomi Wildman’

Star Trek Voyager - Naomi Wildman

Before Scarlett Pomers played Naomi Wildman on Star Trek: Voyager she started her career appearing in Michael Jackson’s 1992 hit “Heal the World” music video.

Scarlett Pomers now

But since her days in space Kate has popped in shows like Providence, Judging Amy, and That’s Life. From 2001 to 2007 Kate snagged a main role on the hit show, Reba.

Majel Barrett (Voyager ship voice)

Majel Barrett

Once a Trekkie, always a Trekkie, and that was always true of Majel Barrett. It didn’t hurt that Majel’s husband was the creator of Star Trek, making her the official First Lady of the franchise. 

Not only was she the voice of the ship’s computer in Star Trek: Voyager, but Majel was in the original Star Trek pilot in 1965.

She played multiple characters throughout the decades, appearing in every Star Trek journey until we sadly lost Barrett in 2008 to leukemia.

Related Posts:

Star Trek Voyager - Tuvok

About Christopher Covello

Christopher Covello is a professional freelancer and published author. He writes copy, content, and SEO-focused material in various niches including music, entertainment, fitness, video games, business, travel, pet care, and eCommerce. More from Christopher

We’re hoping Hallmark’s ‘A Biltmore Christmas’ turns into ‘A bit more Star Trek cameos’

By chad porto | nov 21, 2023.

LAS VEGAS, NV - AUGUST 07: Actors Garrett Wang, Jeri Ryan, Marlena Beltran, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Beltran and Robert Picardo on day 5 of Creation Entertainment's Official Star Trek 50th Anniversary Convention at the Rio Hotel & Casino on August 7, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

Star Trek legends Jonathan Frakes and Robert Picardo are going to be in a Hallmark Christmas movie together, but we’re hoping for some more.

The world of Star Trek will see two of their greatest legends , Jonathan Frakes and Robert Picardo, head over to the world of Hallmark Christmas movies for the upcoming release, “A Biltmore Christmas”. Frakes has a largeish role, serving as a guide of sorts in the trailer that was recently released. Picardo, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have a huge part, at least not one big enough to feature in the trailer.

Both men are great actors and will bring a uniqueness to the world of Hallmark that we’ve not seen that often. Usually, it’s former teen heartthrobs coming in, like the star of a Biltmore Christmas, Bethany Joy Lenz, former star of the CW show One Tree Hill.

So getting two men into their 70s with a far bigger connection to the sci-fi genre is certainly not a common one for the world of Hallmark. But something we think is truly awesome. And we’re hoping for far more.

We’re hoping that Hallmark throws us one other Star Trek cameo in their upcoming A Biltmore Christmas film

With Frakes starring in Star Trek’s The Next Generation and Picard, and Picardo starring in Voyager and Prodigy’s second season, both men are well versed in the world of Trek and both have had plenty of interactions with cast members in and out of the Trek world that could be featured as cameos in the upcoming Biltmore Christmas film.

We’re going to say right off the bat that we don’t think there’s another Trek actor or actress popping up in the film, but man, wouldn’t that be something? Have a little Tim Russ cameo, with Russ starring down Picardo?

Considering the history with Trek and Hallmark, namely the ornaments, we think it’d be a neat way to tie everything together.

Next. 5 reasons fans never fully embraced Star Trek: Discovery. dark

The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek Kirk

Gene Roddenberry's celebrated sci-fi TV series "Star Trek" debuted on September 8, 1966, and it recently celebrated its 57th anniversary. Initially, "Trek" wasn't terribly popular, and it only managed to make a third season thanks to a coordinated letter-writing campaign (a campaign that Roddenberry was accused of orchestrating and encouraging himself). It wouldn't be until after "Star Trek" was canceled in 1969 that its popularity would significantly begin to grow. 

Thanks to a sweet infinite syndication deal, "Star Trek" reruns were common, and a cult began to form. By the early 1970s, the first "Trek" conventions began to appear. Naturally, conventions were a great place for the show's stars and creators to congregate and share production stories with a rising tide of obsessives. Fans were able to talk to and get autographs from William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, George Takei, James Doohan, and Grace Lee Whitney, as well as many of the show's more supporting players. 

Many decades have passed, but the surviving "Star Trek" cast members, now in their 80s and 90s, still appear at conventions to share details of their now-long and storied careers. Over 57 years ago, they were at the start of a phenomenon; none of them could have likely predicted just what a massive impact "Star Trek" would have on the pop culture landscape. Three members of the original "Star Trek" cast appeared at Creation Entertainment's 57-Year Mission convention in Las Vegas, and one of them is already confirmed for the 2024 con  next August. 

If you're eager to get an autograph or merely to hear an amusing anecdote from across many decades of interaction with the "Trek" franchise at large, the following surviving actors will still happily oblige.

William Shatner

In March of 2023, Shatner, who played the resolute Captain Kirk on "Star Trek," turned 92, yet he still makes convention appearances. Stories have been told throughout Trekkie-dom that Shatner can occasionally be spiky at cons, but has clearly embraced them, even going so far as to say that fans are the future  of anything so deeply beloved as "Star Trek." Indeed, in many cases, fans care more about carrying on the legacy of a show than the studios; in many ways, Trekkies take the show more seriously than the people who make it.

Shatner has, of course, had a textured career. Some of his earlier films include adaptations of "The Brothers Karamozov" (in which he played Alexey) and "Oedipus the King" (in which he played a masked member of the chorus), as well as genre films like "The Intruder" and "Incubus." Although Shatner is best known for "Trek" — a common side-effect for most any actor who appeared on any "Star Trek" show — he forged an interesting acting career beyond ii. He appeared in the hit cop show "T.J. Hooker," and appeared in spoof films like "Airplane II: The Sequel" and "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1." He released several notorious albums of speak-singing, and directed several documentaries about "Star Trek," including "The Captains" and "Chaos on the Bridge." 

Shatner also authored several "Star Trek" novels and even launched his own modestly successful sci-fi book series with "TekWar" (ghost-written by Ron Goulart) in 1989. He won two Emmys in 2004 and 2005 for his role as Denny Crane in "The Practice" and "Boston Legal." He's also an equestrian enthusiast and has won a few horseback riding awards. Shatner is spry for 92.

George Takei

In 2019, George Takei , who played the practical and intelligent Hikaru Sulu on "Star Trek," authored a graphic novel all about his childhood experiences of being rounded up and imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Takei was born in Los Angeles in 1937 (he's the only main cast member from the original show who is an L.A. native), and recalls being held against his will by the U.S. government as a child. It may have been that experience that made Takei as political as he is. In the early 1970s, after "Star Trek," Takei ran for a set on the Los Angeles City Council, and served as an alternate delegate at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. At conventions, Takei has spoken at length about his beliefs in civic infrastructure, encouraging L.A. to improve its long-beleaguered public transportation.

Takei came out as gay in 2005, revealing that he had been with his long-term partner, Brad Altman, for the last 18 years. He and Altman married in 2008, one of the first same-sex couples to be granted a marriage license in West Hollywood, California. Takei has been an outspoken queer rights activist ever since, raising money for charities and speaking at charity events regularly. He makes appearances at fan conventions on the regular. 

As an actor, Takei began reading English-language dubs for imported Toho monster movies prior to "Star Trek." He also starred in movies like "The Green Berets" and "Mulan." On TV, Takei guest-starred on many, many programs, including a notable regular role on the hit show "Heroes." His deep voice also afforded him an opportunity to regularly contribute to dozens of animated programs, most recently in Max's "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai."

Walter Koenig

There were rumors circulating through the Trekkie community for years that Walter Koenig was hired to appear on the second season of "Star Trek" because the then-30-year-old actor looked an awful lot like Davy Jones from "The Monkees." This wasn't the case, but Koenig provided a youthful, heartthrob quality with his character, Pavel Chekov. His character was Russian, a notable character decision to make in the mid-1960s as the U.S. was still embroiled deeply in the Cold War. Chekov was a symbol that peace would eventually come. Koenig was never anything less than 100% committed, and reacted to extreme sci-fi scenarios with fire and aplomb. 

In the early '60s, the actor worked his way through smaller roles in multiple well-known TV series like "Mr. Novak," "Gidget," and "I Spy" before joining "Star Trek" in its second season. After, he continued apace, working on TV regularly, eventually landing a recurring role on a second beloved sci-fi series  "Babylon 5." He has also stayed a part of "Star Trek" up until the present, having provided a voice cameo in the most recent season of "Star Trek: Picard," as well as reprising his role as Chekov in the semi-professional and well-respected fan series "Star Trek: New Voyages." He's also dabbled in many amusing B-movies like "Mad Cowgirl" and "Scream of the Bikini," as well as animated shows like "Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters."

Additionally, Koenig has served as an advocate for civil rights in Burma, having visited refugee camps there. Koenig still appears at conventions, happy to talk about his various projects and acting endeavors. Just please, whatever you do, don't ask him to say "nuclear wessels." The man just turned 87. He deserves a break from that. 

The Highest-Paid Actors Of 2023

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“Margot Robbie will be receiving ‘Barbie’ checks for the rest of her life” but Adam Sandler was Hollywood’s top-earning star last year. Here’s how much the Sandman and other top stars banked.

By matt craig , forbes staff.

H ollywood history will remember 2023 as the year of Barbenheimer . Since their releases on the same day in July, Barbie and Oppenheimer have dominated the box office, the awards circuit, and countless essays and op-eds. At the Oscars on Sunday, Oppenheimer is expected to sweep most of the major categories, including Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey, Jr.), and Best Director (Christopher Nolan), and Best Picture.

But even with those two blockbusters— Barbie grossed $1.4 billion worldwide and Oppenheimer was just shy of $1 billion—there were still plenty of hours left in the year for other entertainment. And if Netflix’s annual engagement report reveals anything, it’s that many people spent an astronomical amount of time watching Adam Sandler movies.

Since signing his first $250 million four-picture deal with the streamer in 2014, the 57-year-old Sandler has starred in eight movies for Netflix and produced several more through his Happy Madison production company. The majority of his back catalog of comedies are now licensed to the platform as well. In the first six months of 2023 alone, Netflix subscribers spent more than 500 million hours watching Sandler’s movies.

Or, as Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos explained when he re-upped the collaboration in 2020, “There’s no such thing as too much Sandler.”

Accordingly, Netflix has rewarded the prolific funnyman with not only one of the most lucrative contracts in the entertainment industry, but one with enormous creative freedom. Sandler’s three movies in 2023 included Murder Mystery 2 with Jennifer Aniston (who is ranked No. 6 this year), filmed in Paris and Hawaii as is his “ paid vacations ” custom. He also released You’re So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah starring his wife and daughters, and the animated movie Leo . Combined with his 44 stand-up comedy shows across the country, Sandler earned an estimated $73 million last year (after paying fees to his agent, manager and lawyer). It’s enough to make him the highest-paid actor of 2023 by a comfortable margin.

DON’T MESS WITH THE SANDMAN

For the first half of 2023, netflix viewers streamed more than 500 million hours of adam sandler movies. here’s what they like to watch.

In total, the 10 highest-paid stars combined to earn $449 million in 2023. They come almost exclusively from movies, rather than television, thanks in part to the writers’ and actors’ strikes that shut down Hollywood for half the year and delayed (or shortened) a number of TV seasons, and partially due to the now decades-long precedent that top movie stars can command up to $20 million up front for a single movie plus a percentage of its profits.

In the long run, starring in a hit movie at the box office remains Hollywood’s golden ticket. Unlike Netflix, which pays actors a premium fee up front and buys out their back-end profit participation over the next two years, a hit theatrical movie can continue to generate money in perpetuity—meaning actors with profit participation have no cap on the amount they can ultimately earn.

For example, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, the stars of Barbie , are ranked No. 2 and No. 4 respectively on this year’s top 10 based solely on their estimated earnings from box office, video on-demand and the movie’s first streaming window. Their total compensation for starring in a cultural phenomenon will be considerably higher.

“I promise, Margot Robbie will be receiving Barbie checks for the rest of her life,” says one agent.

Robbie’s success is an outlier in another way. At 33, she is the youngest person on the highest-paid actors list by a decade, with the average age of the other nine north of 52. Older actors benefit from decades of residuals from past hits—such as Aniston with Friends —and also because Hollywood salaries are established by precedent, meaning the going rate for top stars is expected to match or rise from whatever they made for their last picture.

This grandfathering of salaries often makes it difficult for younger actors to break into the upper echelon. The same is true for actors of color, of whom only one is represented in the top 10 for 2023 (Denzel Washington at No. 10). Admittedly, it was a year in which many of the perennial highest-paid Black actors did not release a major movie. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson focused on his entrepreneurial endeavors such as Teramana tequila and the XFL, while his frequent on-screen collaborator Kevin Hart devoted more time to his stand-up comedy. And Will Smith, once the king of summer blockbusters, was still rehabbing his image in the wake of the 2022 Oscars slap . Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson did most of their work on streaming services, where upfront fees are high but potential upside is capped. Still, blockbuster movies fronted by Black, Asian and Hispanic actors remain few and far between.

“The bottom line is, Hollywood is still a white-dominated industry,” says Darnell Hunt, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UCLA and the author of the Hollywood Diversity Report. “There are a few actors of color who can command those salaries, and they’ve established a track record to command that. But the problem is, how many actors have been given the opportunity to develop that track record?"

Looking at the current release calendar, it’s quite likely that 2024’s ranking of the highest-paid actors will look very different. Most movies take years to develop, so while Robbie, Tom Cruise (No. 3 this year), and Leonardo DiCaprio (No. 7) set off to their next projects, 2024’s theatrical slate will feature Smith in Bad Boys 4 , Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 3 . Several members of the impressive young cast of Dune 2 are also fronting multiple movies in the coming year, including Zendaya, Austin Butler and Anya Taylor-Joy. Plus, blockbuster TV shows like Yellowstone , Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Bear will have stars in the earnings mix.

Beyond the hefty salaries, what’s truly been earned by this year’s highest-paid stars is greater power within the industry, particularly the ability to negotiate for even more favorable deal terms on their next project. In an industry where pay can rise or fall based on each performance. this list represents a snapshot of who has the most leverage in Hollywood in 2024.

Art Streiber/Variety/Penske Media/Getty Images

1. Adam Sandler • $73 million ($97 million gross)

In the first three months after Murder Mystery 2 was released on Netflix, the streamer reported that it was watched for a total of 173 million hours across the world and ranked in the Top 10 in 90 different countries. The sequel was part of a very busy year for the Sandman, who did more than 40 stand-up comedy tour dates in 2023 to go with three Netflix film projects.

Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

2. Margot Robbie • $59 million ($78 million gross)

The cultural phenomenon that was Barbie took off last July and never really slowed down, grossing $1.45 billion at the worldwide box office and untold millions more in licensing and partnerships. As both the producer of the movie and its star, Robbie cashed in on roughly 12.5% of all back-end profits, which Forbes estimates will more than $60 million. Her now red-hot production company LuckyChap was also behind last year's much-buzzed-about satire Saltburn , and in February Robbie signed a new exclusive first-look deal with Warner Bros., the studio behind Barbie .

3. Tom Cruise • $45 million ($53 million gross)

The 61-year-old action star not only defies conventional wisdom when it comes to his outrageous stunt work, but also the evolving norms around how an actor gets paid. Cruise is one of the last, if not the very last, movie star who can still command the vaunted "first-dollar gross" deal, meaning he gets paid a percentage of box office and other revenues beginning the day it’s released, before the studio even recoups its money. In 2023, he cashed in on the latest Mission: Impossible movie and continued receiving streaming and on-demand profits for 2022's Top Gun: Maverick . And studios still clearly want to be in the Tom Cruise business—in January, he signed a new development deal with Warner Bros.

Michael Tran/AFP/Getty Images

4. Ryan Gosling • $43 million ($50 million gross)

He may be just Ken, but the supporting role in the year's biggest movie was good enough for an Oscar nomination and one of the biggest paydays of the 43-year-old Gosling’s career. As an added bonus, his power ballad from the movie, “I’m Just Ken,” has been streamed over 100 million times on Spotify.

Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP

4. Matt Damon • $43 million ($50 million gross)

Many around Hollywood are rooting for Affleck and Damon's upstart Artists Equity studio to succeed, given its promise to help crew members and other below-the-line talent share in movies’ profits. Their first project Air —which starred Damon and was directed by Affleck—sold to Amazon before it ever went into production for an estimated $130 million. That figure was well above the movie's budget, ensuring there would be plenty of money to go around. In addition, the 53-year-old actor took a mere $4 million salary for his supporting role in Oppenheimer , far below his normal rate, in exchange for a small slice of the movie’s substantial profits.

James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images

6. Jennifer Aniston • $42 million ($56 million gross)

Friends residuals ensure that the artist forever known as Rachel Green doesn’t have to “go get one of those job things” ever again—yet the 54-year-old actress continues to star in both TV and movies. Aniston reportedly makes as much as $2 million for acting and executive producing each episode of The Morning Show on AppleTV+, and appeared alongside Adam Sandler in Murder Mystery 2 for Netflix, all while promoting brands like Uber Eats, Pvolve Fitness, Vital Proteins, and her own haircare line, LolaVie.

Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP

7. Leonardo DiCaprio • $41 million ($48 million gross)

The 49-year-old Oscar winner may have been snubbed by the Academy for his performance in Killers of the Flower Moon , but he’s doing just fine on the balance sheet. His starring role in the Martin Scorsese epic included a hefty salary as well as a buy-out of his theatrical profit participation once the movie hits AppleTV+.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

7. Jason Statham • $41 million ($48 million gross)

Statham has been throwing punches, kicks and quips at every man, megalodon or Rock in his path for the last 20 years, and the 56-year-old actor’s earning power has never been higher. In 2023, he fronted three major big-budget franchises— Fast X , Meg 2: The Trench and Expend4bles —plus the Guy Ritchie spy caper Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre . And he’s currently the star of the highest-grossing movie of 2024, The Beekeeper .

Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

9. Ben Affleck • $38 million ($45 million)

When he’s not busy hawking donuts and plugging his new boy band in commercials for Dunkin’, Affleck serves as CEO of the studio startup Artists Equity (to Matt Damon’s chief creative officer). The 51-year-old multihyphenate directed and co-starred in Air , which grossed $90 million at the box office before moving to Amazon Prime Video.

George Pimentel/WireImage/Getty Images

10. Denzel Washington • $24 million ($28 million gross)

Tom Cruise isn’t the only sixtysomething movie star who can open a movie. The third installment of the Equalizer franchise was released in 2023, with all three entries crossing $190 million at the box office for one reason: Denzel Washington. In addition, the two-time Oscar winner’s robust back catalog going back nearly 40 years also produces a steady stream of cash each year for the 69-year-old actor.

METHODOLOGY

Estimations were calculated through interviews with agents, lawyers, managers, executives and industry experts, as well as data sources such as IMDBPro and Polestar. The figures represent pretax earnings for the calendar year 2023, minus fees for representation – 10% to agents, 10% to managers and 5% to lawyers, per industry standard, although some actors do not have all three.

Actors were credited for compensation on projects in the year they were released, despite the fact that often up front fees are paid when a movie is filmed, which could be years in the past, and back end participation is often paid several years into the future.

Additionally, the ranking only includes earnings related to entertainment—acting, producing, directing, or other forms of performance (such as stand-up comedy). Entrepreneurial endeavors not related to entertainment, such as beauty or spirits brands, were not counted.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

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Star trek: strange new worlds.

Celia Rose Gooding in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E1 ∙ The Broken Circle

Ethan Peck, Babs Olusanmokun, and Melissa Navia in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E2 ∙ Ad Astra Per Aspera

Paul Wesley and Christina Chong in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E3 ∙ Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Anson Mount in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E4 ∙ Among the Lotus Eaters

Ethan Peck, Babs Olusanmokun, and Jess Bush in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E5 ∙ Charades

Paul Wesley and Dan Jeannotte in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E6 ∙ Lost in Translation

Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E7 ∙ Those Old Scientists

Melissa Navia in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E8 ∙ Under the Cloak of War

Subspace Rhapsody (2023)

S2.E9 ∙ Subspace Rhapsody

Anson Mount, Celia Rose Gooding, and Rong Fu in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

S2.E10 ∙ Hegemony

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Rebecca Romijn, Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Celia Rose Gooding in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

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One shot of the NX-01 in Star Trek: Picard suggests the Star Trek: Enterprise series finale didn't happen the way fans think - and that may be good.

  • Picard Season 3 slyly changes Star Trek history by introducing an NX-01 redesign, challenging Enterprise's controversial finale.
  • The inclusion of the NX-01 refit in Picard hints at a major retcon in Enterprise's finale, suggesting a different fate for Trip Tucker.
  • The theory that Trip survived the final mission creates a fresh perspective on the Star Trek universe, potentially altering canon.

With all the big action and high emotions in Star Trek: Picard Season 3, fans can be forgiven for missing a detail in Episode 9, "Võx" that could retcon the divisive series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise . The last series of "second-wave" Star Trek , its sudden cancelation led to an ignominious end not just for the show but for that entire era of the franchise.

During Picard Season 3, Episode 6 "The Bounty," a number of ships appeared in the Fleet Museum, including the NX-01 from Enterprise. However, when the heroes returned to the Fleet Museum in "Võx," pop culture critic and YouTuber Jessie Earl noticed something about that early-era Starfleet vessel. Rather than the design seen in the series with a saucer section and two nacelles, it was the "NX-01 refit," a redesign meant to debut in Season 5 if the series hadn't been canceled. This means the new NX-01 is as officially canon as anything in Star Trek can be. Since the NX-01 hadn't been redesigned by Enterprise 's finale, Earl suggested Picard implies that episode was not the true end of the first Enterprise 's mission. This theory is critical because it's about more than which ship was correct; it's about saving the life of a fan-favorite character.

Updated March 18, 2024, by Joshua M. Patton: In the year since Picard's final season debuted, there has been no more information released about what the inclusion of the NX-class refit means to Star Trek canon. So, the notion that "Trip Tucker lives" is still very much in the realm of "fan theory." Yet, the idea the NX-01 Enterprise refit means the ship seen in the series finale is inaccurate is a strong theory. This article has been updated to include more information about the Enterprise finale, "These Are the Voyages" and comport to CBR's current formatting standards.

Why the Star Trek: Enterprise Finale Was Controversial Among the Fans and Cast

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Star Trek: Enterprise producers tricked UPN into greenlighting a fourth season, so it wasn't really a surprsie the series was canceled that year. While Enterprise was the network's highest-rated show, UPN just didn't have enough reach to bring in the advertising dollars needed to sustain it. Since the finale for this series was going to be the end of an unprecedented 18-year run for Star Trek under Rick Berman, the producer wanted to make "a valentine" to the whole endeavor and the fans , according to a conversation he and Brannon Braga shared on the complete series home release. The only way to bring the 22nd Century cast into the 24th -- without time travel and changing Star Trek canon -- was to use the holodeck. However, this irked many of the Enterprise cast who felt they were being sidelined in their own finale. In another special features conversation, Braga and Bakula discussed the fight they had about this very subject.

Other actors, including Jonathan Frakes, felt uncomfortable with the decision, too, according to The Fifty-Year Mission - The Next 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. Frakes said he agreed because he "always says 'yes'" to Star Trek , and that Scott Bakula was a gentleman on set. "I would have been so insulted. I don't think that was our finest hour," Frakes said. Actor Jeffery Combs, a mainstay in the universe but most notably the Andorrian commander Shran on Enterprise was less charitable. He said he believed Berman's choice to include The Next Generation was a way to remind the studio and the fans that he "had a successful" show in TNG . In the Enterprise special features, Braga apologizes more than once for the finale, though he admits he thought it was a "cool" idea at the time, including the death of Trip Tucker.

Still, the actors held no grudges. Along with Bakula's grace in welcoming the guest stars, the others in the cast spoke highly of their TNG co-stars. On an episode of The Shuttlepod Show with Frakes , former host and Malcom Reed actor Dominic Keating told the Riker actor he enjoyed working with him. He told him "one of the funnest days [he] had shooting [on the series] was with [Frakes] in that galley." While Star Trek is lousy with time-travel, there are no do-overs in real life. However, "The Bounty," may have stealthily retconned the Enterprise finale and Trip's death.

Theory: The Enterprise Finale Was Based on Faulty Historical Information

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Star Trek: Enterprise ended its voyage in 2005, but the NX-01 refit didn't debut until six years later in Doug Drexler's official Ships of the Line calendar. The redesign added the round deflector dish and body of the ship to the original -- bridging the gap between the NX-01 and the NCC-1701 Enterprise . That this version of the ship was at the Fleet Museum suggests the changes were made before the NX ships were decommissioned. As Earl explains , this means the ship the crew occupied in the finale was not the correct ship. It was a work of historical fiction.

What made the Enterprise finale so divisive was that it was technically an episode of The Next Generation . Riker and his wife Deanna Troi appeared, sharing scenes that take place during TNG Season 7, Episode 12, "The Pegasus." Troi suggested Riker use this holodeck program of the last mission of the original Enterprise to help make a tough decision. While the ship had undergone changes from what viewers were used to seeing, it didn't have an entirely new section. The NX-01 wasn't actually seen in the finale except on display monitors, but there was a scene in its shuttle bay. Since it wasn't redesigned, that suggests the ship in the holodeck program was not the accurate ship .

Earl also pointed out how Riker influenced events when he appeared as the ship's chef -- a character mentioned but never seen during the run of Enterprise . At the end of the episode, the vessel was boarded and Chief Engineer Trip Tucker died saving everyone. However, Earl noted a Star Trek novel called The Good Men Do , by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin, introduced the idea that Trip faked his death to go on an undercover mission involving Romulans. A simpler retcon of Trip's death is the holodeck program was just historical fiction or somehow inaccurate. Whatever the case, the redesigned ship means the holoprogram could've gotten more things wrong. It's a possibility Troi acknowledged when Riker noted that security officer Malcolm Reed was shorter than he expected.

Why Picard May Have Stealthily Retconned the Enterprise Finale

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Star Trek: Enterprise was the second of the franchise's second-wave series to not be made for syndication. It debuted on the United Paramount Network (UPN), which failed and became half of The CW five years. Brannon Braga, showrunner for most of Enterprise , said in a conversation with the cast on the complete series home release that he regrets the story they told. He was a bit too hard on himself. It was a good episode of Star Trek , it was just a poor series finale for Enterprise . In their last episode, rather than actual human beings with agency, the crew of the NX-01 were just holographic action figures.

In "Võx," Worf made a casual reference to the USS Enterprise -E's destruction by saying, "That was not my fault." Picard showrunner Terry Matalas tweeted that this was essentially a layup for Star Trek novel writers. Perhaps the NX-01 refit inclusion was another or, as Earl suggested, a nod to The Good Men Do . Matalas worked on Enterprise and had an on-camera appearance in the series finale as an Enterprise-D crewman, walking past Troi as she got on a turbolift -- so he may like the Enterprise series finale just as it is.

Since this is all an off-screen story and headcanon, it is possible that the NX-01 refit was a different ship than the first Enterprise . It might be in the Fleet Museum just so Doug Drexler's amazing design made it on-screen just once. Yet if any Star Trek series finale could use a do-over, it's Enterprise , and even the guy who wrote it agrees. As Earl says, this Picard theory is a great way to live life knowing Trip survived the final mission. But, if a fan happens to love the finale? Then it would take more than the appearance of a ship to change that. It's been a long road from Enterprise to Picard , and it's nice the NX-01 refit design got to make the journey.

Star Trek: Picard

Aided by the crew of the U.S.S. Titan, Seven of Nine, and other old friends, Picard makes a shocking discovery that will alter his life forever and puts him on a collision course with the most cunning enemy he's ever encountered.

star trek actors 2023

Invincible Season 2's Star Trek Reference Perfectly Highlights A Brilliant Casting Decision

  • Invincible 's brief Star Trek reference in season 2 sheds light on a key cast member, creating a meta connection between the two franchises.
  • Invincible season 2 moves the focus to space adventures.
  • Zachary Quinto's Robot in Invincible cheekily references Star Trek , highlighting similarities between his characters Robot and Spock.

Invincible season 2 made a brief reference to Star Trek that seems like a throwaway gag, but it actually shines a light on a key member of the Invincible cast . The line itself isn't presented as a joke, but it's an amusingly meta connection between the two franchises. Invincible isn't the kind of show to make too many direct references to other properties, so this one feels especially poignant.

The characters in Invincible all have incredibly rich backstories. As well as having heroes born on Earth, certain figures have extraterrestrial origins. Due to this, Invincible season 2 has shifted much of its focus to adventures among the stars . Moving the story away from Earth has afforded the show new opportunities that could be built upon for the remainder of the season and an inevitable Invincible season 3 . The adjustment to season 2's setting is also what allowed a certain reference to take place.

Mark Grayson's Powers & Abilities In Invincible Explained

Robot's star trek quip acknowledges zachary quinto's time as spock, quinto may yet play spock a fourth time.

Invincible brings together stars from various franchises. The properties represented by the Invincible voice cast include Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, The Walking Dead , and Star Trek . The latter of these three is referenced by Zachary Quinto's Robot in Invincible season 2, episode 6, "This Must Come as a Shock." When questioned by a member of his crew if their shuttle has shields, Robot replies with, " This isn't Star Trek, we're unarmed ." The joke is fairly benign, but when it's considered that Quinto played Spock in JJ Abrams' Star Trek movies , the quip becomes something much more.

When questioned by a member of his crew if their shuttle has shields, Robot replies with, " This isn't Star Trek, we're unarmed ."

Zachary Quinto played Spock three times between 2009 and 2016. Even though the third Abrams reboot movie, Star Trek Beyond , was released eight years ago, a fourth entry into the film series is still expected to be made. Therefore, Quinto could still return to the role of Spock while also voicing Robot in Invincible . While Robot's comment doesn't canonically connect Invincible to Star Trek , it's still a fun moment.

Robot & Spock Have More In Common Than Just Zachary Quinto

Quinto plays robot very similarly to how he plays spock.

The Star Trek reference from "This Must Come as a Shock" does more than just prod fun at certain science-fiction tropes. Both Quinto characters actually have many shared traits that the connection highlights. For instance, both Robot and Shock struggle with processing and learning about human emotions . They both come across as cold and logical, but they each often make decisions based on feeling and gut instinct.

What Zachary Quinto Has Done Since Star Trek Beyond

The similarities don't end there. The speech patterns of Robot aren't dissimilar to those of Spock . The way both characters speak displays a calm, measured disposition, with every word being carefully weighed before it's imparted. Quinto's experience with portraying a character like Spock may very well have contributed to him being cast as Robot. So, even though Quinto's Invincible character is only playfully referencing his Star Trek counterpart, the pair of fictional figures share more than a meta connection.

New episodes of Invincible are released each Thursday on Prime Video. The JJ Abrams Star Trek movies can be streamed on Paramount+.

Based on the comic book character by Robert Kirkman, Invincible follows Mark Grayson,  a seventeen-year-old who leads a seemingly average life save for the fact that he lives behind the shadow of his superhero father, Omni-Man. Mark goes on to develop superhuman abilities, but he must also learn that his father's legacy isn't as glitzy and glamorous as he's been led to believe.

Cast J. K. Simmons, Malese Jow, Khary Payton, Djimon Hounsou, Zachary Quinto, Mahershala Ali, Clancy Brown, Jason Mantzoukas, Ezra Miller, Steven Yeun, Jeffrey Donovan, Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Sonequa Martin-Green, Walton Goggins, Nicole Byer, Mark Hamill, Zazie Beetz, Mae Whitman, Jonathan Groff, Jon Hamm, Gillian Jacobs

Release Date March 26, 2021

Genres Animation, Action, Adventure

Invincible Season 2's Star Trek Reference Perfectly Highlights A Brilliant Casting Decision

Screen Rant

Star trek's next movie gets new logo & heartfelt tribute from wrapped section 31 actor.

Rob Kazinsky, one of the new cast members of Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Section 31 movie, posted a thank you to the cast and crew.

  • Wrapped filming on Star Trek: Section 31, actor Rob Kazinsky's posted a heartfelt tribute to cast and crew.
  • Kazinsky praises the Section 31's cast's chemistry and camaraderie, calling the experience "special."
  • Michelle Yeoh stars in the movie, reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou.

Actor Rob Kazinsky shared a heartfelt tribute to Star Trek: Section 31 after he wrapped filming. Section 31 is in production in Toronto as the first Star Trek movie made for streaming on Paramount+. Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi and written by Craig Sweeny, Star Trek: Section 31 stars Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, who is reprising her role as the anti-heroine Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery.

On Instagram, Rob Kazinsky posted his thanks to the cast and crew of Star Trek: Section 31 after he wrapped filming his undisclosed role. Kazinsky, a lifelong, die-hard Star Trek fan, said "from day one [Section 31] was special..." and his fellow cast and crew will "blow the world of Star Trek off its hinges with the kind of chemistry and camaraderie you only dream of." In addition, Kazinsky shared a photo of a tablet with the movie's new logo: "Section Thirty One." Check out his post below:

Where You've Seen Star Trek: Section 31's New Actors Before

What to expect from star trek: section 31, appropriately, michelle yeoh's star trek movie is shrouded in mystery.

Apropos for a movie about Starfleet's black ops organization, Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Section 31 movie is shrouded in mystery. Originally intended as a TV series spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery , Section 31 was reworked as a movie made for streaming on Paramount+. Yeoh is devoted to Star Trek and, after she won the Best Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once , Yeoh used her clout to ensure Section 31 got made. Delayed by the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, Section 31 finally began filming early in 2024 for a potential late-2024/early-2025 release window.

Star Trek: Section 31 is hoped to be the first of a series of made-for-Paramount+ Star Trek movies to be released every 2 years.

Star Trek: Section 31' s cast is comprised of actors who are new to the Star Trek universe , which begs the question of when, exactly, the movie takes place since Emperor Georgiou left the 32nd century for destinations unknown in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Fans hoped Section 31 would cast Star Trek legacy actors and characters who have historic ties to the black ops agency, but it seems like Georgiou will meet all-new characters. But going by Rob Kazinsky's enthusiasm for the film, Star Trek: Section 31 is shaping up to be something special.

Star Trek: Section 31

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‘will & grace’ star eric mccormack says straight actors playing gay characters is “part of the gig”.

McCormack played protagonist Will, a gay man and successful lawyer on NBC's 'Will & Grace.'

By Zoe G Phillips

Zoe G Phillips

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'Will & Grace' Star Eric McCormack Says Straight Actors Playing Gay Characters Is Part of the Gig

Eric McCormack doesn’t believe an actor’s sexuality should get in the way of the characters they play onscreen. The Will & Grace star said this week he feels “the best person for the role” should be cast in all projects, regardless of the actor’s personal identity.

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He added, “So this is what we do. I’d like to think that I represent it well. I came from the theater, and one of my best friends was a gay man. So I think I took their spirit and their message in what was otherwise just a sitcom and, represented it, I hope.”

Will & Grace ran from 1998 to 2006. NBC subsequently released three reunion seasons from 2016 to 2020. Along with McCormack, the show starred Debra Messing as Grace, Will’s straight friend, Megan Mullally as Karen, Grace’s assistant, and Sean Hayes as Jack, Will’s close friend who is also gay.

In celebration of the show’s 25th anniversary last summer, the Paley Center for Media presented an exhibit featuring costumes and props from the show, along with a panel featuring McCormack and Messing alongside co-creators and executive producers  Max Mutchnick  and  David Kohan .

“ Will & Grace  broke barriers and was a driving force in leading to greater LGBTQ+ representation in media,” said Maureen J. Reidy, president and CEO of the Paley Center at the time. “The Paley Center is thrilled to celebrate the series’ milestone anniversary and showcase its profound and enduring impact on television and culture with this exclusive exhibit at the Paley Museum.”

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Voiceover actor Mark Dodson, known for roles in 'Star Wars' and 'Gremlins,' dies at 64

star trek actors 2023

Voiceover actor Mark Dodson, best known for his roles in the ‘80s films “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” and “Gremlins,” has died. He was 64.

Dodson died on Saturday, talent agency Stellar Appearances first shared in an Instagram post Sunday. Dodson’s representative Peter DeLorme later confirmed his death in an email to USA TODAY.

"Mark worked on dozens of movies, video games, commercials and advertisements, adding his unique voice and sound to each character and script he touched," Stellar Appearances’ post read. "Mark leaves behind a wonderful family, close friends, and adoring fans around the world. The family asks for privacy during this difficult time."

Iris Apfel dies: Fashion icon who garnered social media fame in later years was 102

A cause of death was not given.

Dodson’s daughter said the actor reportedly died of a "massive heart attack" during his stay in Evansville, Indiana, for the event Evansville Horror Con , according to TMZ .

Dodson made his “Star Wars” debut in 1983, playing the character Salacious Crumb in “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.” He reprised the role in 2022 in the video game “Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.”

"Mark truly loved his fans and enjoyed meeting them at conventions around the world," Stellar Appearances’ post continued. "Mark was honored to be inducted into dozens of the local chapters of the Star Wars 501st Legions over the past several decades."

Following “Return of the Jedi,” Dodson joined the cast of Joe Dante’s 1984 horror comedy “Gremlins,” in which he voiced Mogwai. He returned for the film’s 1990 sequel "Gremlins 2: The New Batch," portraying various Gremlins.

Dodson returned to the “Star Wars” film franchise in 2015 when he scored the role of Niima Scavenger in “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens,” which starred Daisy Ridley , John Boyega and Oscar Isaac .

Beyond film and television, Dodson also lent his voiceover talent to several video games, including 2010’s “Star Trek Online,” 2016’s “Grim Dawn,” 2018’s “Lucius III,” 2020’s “Ghostrunner” and 2023’s “Ghostrunner II.”

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