New Star Trek animated series may find a home at Nickelodeon

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It seems that CBS All Access may not be the only home for the Star Trek franchise as Variety has reported that Nickelodean is negotiating for a new Star Trek animated series which will be aimed at a younger audience. Franchise producer Alex Kurtzman dropped a hint about the kid-friendly animated series last month, saying that he was hoping to take inspiration from the STAR WARS franchise. "I go back to my childhood and Luke Skywalker, the [Star Wars] farm boy who looks out at the twin suns of Tatooine and imagines his future. Trek never gave me that," Kurtzman said. "Trek was always fully formed adults, already in Starfleet and people who have decided who they are. And it never was aspirational that way. It's important to me to find a way to go back and reach younger kids in a way that Trek should and never really has."

Plot details on this new animated series are being kept under wraps, but Variety said that the project will come from writers Kevin and Dan Hageman, who are best known for their work on Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, Trollhunters, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, THE LEGO MOVIE, and THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE. Should the project officially find a home at Nickelodeon, it's being eyed to serve as a tent-pole series. Should you prefer your animated Star Trek to be a little more adult, fear not, for Mike McMahan (Rick & Morty) is also working on Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated series which will put the focus on the the support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships. Kurtzman has previously said that they're hoping that each animated series will be visually distinctive. "There's other animated things that we're building that are an entirely different perspective and an entirely different tone [from Lower Decks]. What's exciting about it is not only looking at each animated series as what's the different tone, but what's the different technology we can apply to these things so that visually they're entirely different?"

In addition to Star Trek: Lower Decks and the as-yet-untitled kid-friendly series, CBS is also working on a series which will see the return of Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard and a Star Trek: Discovery spin-off focusing on Michelle Yeoh's character and her work with the mysterious Section 31. The second season of Star Trek: Discovery is currently airing Thursdays on CBS All Access.