'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' to Film in 2024, Alex Kurtzman Says It Will Be Funny
'Lower Decks' star Tawny Newsome is part of the writers room for the new spin-off series.
Star Trek has been boldly going all weekend at NYCC and with today's Star Trek Universe panel, franchise boss Alex Kurtzman was able to give some exciting updates on the shows and movies currently in development. Earlier this year, Paramount greenlit a new spinoff series titled Starfleet Academy, presumably set in 32nd century. Today, Kurtzman revealed that the resolution of the WGA strike has allowed the writers to get back to work on developing the new series which will aims to speak to a younger generation.
Per Collider's Maggie Lovitt who was in attendance at the NYCC panel, the series will be funny. The lighter tone of the show will no doubt benefit from having Lower Decks star Tawny Newsome in the writers room. Newsome currently voices Becket Mariner on the adult animated series, she's both a powerhouse of humor and the very embodiment of the best of Star Trek, so Starfleet Academy is already in good hands. The new series will follow academy students as they discover who they are, making mistakes along the way, before they're assigned to a ship in the fleet.
I recently spoke with Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan who shared high praise for Newsome's writing abilities. "I'm a huge fan of Tawny’s. I think any comedy show should hire Tawny. She loves Star Trek," said McMahan. "Don't tell [Alex] Kurtzman, who is her showrunner right now, but I'm the first one to be like, “Number one, everybody should hire Tawny to write on their show; number two, everybody should hire Tawny to star in their show because she's a fucking star.”
