With the Alex Kurtzman era of Star Trek very much looking like it's drawing to a close, the matter of how the long-running franchise will move forward has never been more unclear. While the modern shows haven't all been amazing, most have had plenty to enjoy for new and old fans. That said, the two that fall at the bottom of the list are comfortably the worst shows that were produced on Kurtzman's watch. While there will be many Trekkies desperate to forget about those two in particular, they will undoubtedly haunt the space opera as it tries to survive.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024) and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2026-2027) have bookended Kurtzman's time in charge. Although neither project was irredeemable, every other modern Star Trek show is superior. I enjoyed them both, and I'm still looking forward to Starfleet Academy season 2 (yes, it's still happening), but it would be disingenuous to say they don't belong in a sort of joint last place. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a similar opinion on these shows, and that's a massive problem for a surprisingly complicated reason.
Star Trek's next era needs to be more like Kurtzman's worst shows than his best ones
I know this sounds oxymoronic, but let me explain. When Discovery brought Star Trek back to the small screen in 2017, many fans were enraged by how different the franchise felt compared to when Enterprise had ended in 2005. While I can understand this reaction, given the continuity issues the aesthetic overhaul brought about, I've come to just accept it as an interesting quirk of the modern era. Sure, it feels more like J.J. Abrams' Kelvin Timeline trilogy (which Kurtzman also worked on) than the Prime Universe, but the visual upgrade can be easily forgiven.
This new look hasn't gone anywhere as more new Star Trek shows have been put into production, with the only real exception being Lower Decks. Despite being animated, it felt very 24th century, which the fans loved. Starfleet Academy, the other modern show that Trekkies generally despise the most, had something interesting in common with Discovery in particular –—they both revolved around a cast of characters who were, for the most part, original to their respective shows.
While familiar names like Spock (Ethan Peck) and the Doctor (Robert Picardo) were tastefully scattered through these attempts to inject a healthy dose of new blood into Star Trek, they were never the primary focus. This was nothing new for Star Trek, as the classic shows routinely engaged in soft reboots by bringing in an entirely new cast. Inversely, most Kurtzman-era Star Trek shows have gone in too hard on the concept of nostalgia.
Lower Decks is filled with high-profile Star Trek cameos, Picard showcases Patrick Stewart's Starfleet legend, Strange New Worlds is a direct Original Series prequel, and so on. In other words, both of the most prominent attempts to reboot Star Trek for the modern era (Discovery and Starfleet Academy) have been met with lukewarm-to-negative receptions. Inversely, legacy-heavy projects have performed infinitely better. This all feels worryingly circular.
Star Trek can't just keep recycling the same familiar eras and characters
There is certainly a comfort in this approach, but it doesn't offer up any sort of tenable longevity. Eventually, Star Trek needs to move on from the highlights of yesteryear and embrace the new. Discovery and Starfleet Academy did exactly that by introducing countless original characters as well as making the first foray into Star Trek's 32nd century. With most of the more successful Star Trek shows unfolding in and around the 24th century, this time jump was an incredibly bold move.
On paper, both of Kurtzman's two worst shows sound like a blueprint for fresh air, but it hasn't played out as desired. The number of fans turning away from Discovery and Starfleet Academy has been overwhelming, but those same fans have been largely content with revisiting the same nostalgia-heavy elements in new contexts. If the classic era had been like this, then not even The Next Generation would have made it off the starting line.
I do not envy whoever succeeds Alex Kurtzman as Star Trek's executive producer
Again, Kurtman's current deal with Paramount is months away from officially expiring. However, for the sake of argument, let's assume that he is soon for the chopping block. If so, then whoever replaces him has an incredibly uphill battle ahead of them when it comes to what's next for Star Trek. Kurtzman tried the new, the old, and even a balance between the two. While favoring the old formula largely worked well, even hit shows like Strange New Worlds gradually started to garner negative reviews, and for no discernible reason.
As such, I can't see what Kurtzman's successor will try that Kurtzman himself didn't already attempt. I maintain that new characters and eras need to be the focus for the franchise to survive, but Discovery and Starfleet Academy remain as evidence that countless Trekkies will rebel against anything that feels too fresh. So, the next Star Trek boss, whoever you might end up being, I wish you luck. You'll need a lot of it as you try to boldly go.
Paramount+ is the streaming home of Star Trek.
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