Wil Wheaton, known for his role as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, has expressed his desire for a new Star Trek series focusing on his character and his character’s half-brother, Jack Crusher, played by Ed Speleers. If you’re curious about this proposed series, read on to learn more!
What is Wil Wheaton’s idea for a Crusher Brothers Star Trek series
In an interview with Screen Rant at the 51st Saturn Awards, Wheaton, Wil Wheaton revealed that he would like to see Wesley Crusher and Jack Crusher team up in a future Star Trek series.
“I would love to have opportunities to work with Ed Speleers and be like, ‘Turns out I’m your half-brother you never knew about. I’m kind of a super being. You’re not supposed to know that I’m here. Things don’t need to get weird for you, but don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on you. I’m out!'” pitched Wheaton, who was at the awards night with his The Next Generation to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award. “Those opportunities, if they were ever to arise, it would be like getting a present in the mail.”
In addition to the potential Crusher Brothers Star Trek spinoff series, Wheaton also shared that he would like to appear in a Star Trek project that will serve as a sequel to Star Trek: Picard season 2 finale.
“If the story was right, [I would like to] do something that built a little bit on the story we implied at the end of Star Trek: Picard Season 2, I would love to come back and be part of that.” For those who can’t remember, Wheaton made a surprise cameo as Wesley at the end of Picard season 2 finale, in which he recruited Kore Soong (Isa Briones) into the race of cosmic beings called the Travelers.
What are the upcoming Star Trek TV shows?
As of today, February 12, 2024, here are the upcoming Star Trek TV shows:
1. Star Trek: Discovery season 5
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is set to premieres on Paramount+ in April 2024. The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery sees Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery embarking on a thrilling new adventure as they uncover a mysterious ancient power that has been hidden for centuries. However, their quest to understand this power will not be easy, as they face dangerous threats from other groups who also seek to control it.
2. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3
The third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently in production, no announced release date yet, but likely later in 2024. While there isn’t an official synopsis for season 3 yet, here are what we know so far based on interviews, production updates, and the 2023 ending of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2:
- The fate of Captain Batel and the captured Enterprise crew: Season 2 ended with Captain Batel captured and the Enterprise adrift. Season 3 will likely deal with their rescue and the aftermath of this event.
- Nurse Chapel’s fiancé, Roger Korby: This introduces a potential love triangle involving Spock, adding a layer of personal drama to the season.
- Dr. M’Benga’s dark secrets: Hints were dropped about M’Benga’s actions during the Klingon War, suggesting a future exploration of his past choices.
- Lieutenant James T. Kirk’s fatherhood: Kirk becoming a father could impact his character development and relationships within the crew.
3. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 is expected to premiere on Paramount+ sometime in late summer or fall of 2024. Showrunner Mike McMahan has mentioned a return to the show’s episodic roots and a “more joyful” Mariner this season. Like in season 4. we can expect the typical blend of sci-fi adventure and humor the television series is known for. McMahan has also teased legacy character cameos that will excite every Star Trek fan. Also, new episodes could potentially involve characters from across the Star Trek universe.
4. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2
The second season of Star Trek: Prodigy is set to premiere on the streaming service Netflix in 2024 and consists of 20 episodes. The Protostar is destroyed in the season 1 finale, leaving the crew aboard Admiral Janeway’s new starship, the USS Voyager-A (a nod to her previous command in Star Trek: Voyager). In the sophomore run of the animated series, Admiral Janeway takes a more active role in guiding the young crew, replacing the holographic Janeway. The core goal, however, remains finding the original Prodigy crew and learning more about Starfleet.
5. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is currently in production and doesn’t have a release date yet. This confirmed Paramount series will follow a new class of cadets at Starfleet Academy, the prestigious institution that trains officers for the United Federation of Planets. This upcoming TV series will explore their journeys as they navigate academics, personal development, friendships, rivalries, and first loves. The show will introduce a new enemy posing a threat to the Academy and the Federation itself, but promises a blend of optimism, adventure, and challenges, reflecting the core values of Star Trek.
6. Star Trek: Legacy
Though not officially greenlit yet, Star Trek: Legacy is expected to be the next Star Trek series to be developed after Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. If Star Trek: Legacy gets picked up into a series, the show will follow the adventures of Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Number One Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), and the rest of the crew of the rechristened USS Titan, now called the USS Enterprise-G. Terry Matalas told Collider that the potential Star Trek series would start with the newly built crew.
“I think I would want it right there with them,” Matalas said of his ideal starting point for the potential series. “I think the idea of Captain Seven, Jack Crusher, Raffi as Number One, the La Forge sisters (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut’s Ensign Sidney La Forge and Mica Burton’s Alandra La Forge) and Esmar (Jin Moley) and [Mura] (Joseph Lee), I would love to see the crew of that USS Enterprise out there as the next generation, mixed in with a lot of these legacy characters again. I think that they’ve never been better and more interesting.”
Matalas also told Entertainment Weekly that “Jack’s got a lot to do” in Star Trek: Legacy. When asked if he has a specific plan for Picard’s son, who met Q (John de Lancie) in the mid-credits scene of the Star Trek: Picard series finale, Matalas said, “Oh yes, I do”.
In addition to the USS Enterprise-G crew, Terry Matalas told SFX Magazine that they “do have plans for a Shaw character – specifically Todd Stashwick – to be a part of Legacy” despite Captain Shaw apparently being killed off in the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3.
As previously mentioned, fans can also expect legacy characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager to appear in Star Trek: Legacy.
“It’s about Seven of Nine. It’s about Jack Crusher. It’s about the La Forge sisters. It’s about what else is going on in the galaxy with the Deep Space Nine characters and the rest of the Voyager characters,” Matalas told Fox LA about the potential spinoff. “Honestly, some of these [TNG characters], I’m not ready to say goodbye to. I think in a lot of ways, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, they’ve never been better. They are at the top of their game and I want to see more.”
Aside from the above-mentioned actors who have all expressed their interest in returning for a possible Star Trek: Legacy spinoff, Star Trek: Picard star Patrick Stewart also revealed to Variety that he would be willing to make an appearance as Jean-Luc Picard in the potential series to check in on his on-screen son Ed Speleers.
“Certainly, there is a wonderful future for Ed there, I’m sure of it,” Stewart said. “And if I can occasionally crop up to offer a little bit of comedy myself, then I shall be happy to do that.”
If Star Trek: Legacy becomes official, it’s likely that it will be getting a new name. As pointed out by Daily Star Trek News, the name Legacy has already been used on a number of different projects within the expanded Star Trek universe.
There’s a 2006 real-time tactics space combat video game for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 called Star Trek: Legacy. A story in the Star Trek: Waypoint comic book miniseries published in 2016 is also titled Legacy. It is also the title of the 1991 The Original Series novel by Michael Jan Friedman. It’s worth noting that none of these previous Legacy projects have anything to do with the storyline of the potential spinoff series, so a name change is very likely.
What are the upcoming Star Trek movies?
1. Star Trek: Section 31
Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi and written by Craig Sweeny for the streaming service Paramount+, Star Trek: Section 31 is intended to be the first television film in the Star Trek franchise and part of the expanded Star Trek Universe co-created by Alex Kurtzman. It is a spinoff from the series Star Trek: Discovery and follows Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) who is an agent of Section 31, a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets.
2. Star Trek 4 (Kelvin Timeline)
Star Trek 4 is intended to be the 14th film in the Star Trek film franchise and the fourth of the franchise’s reboot films, which stars Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, along with Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldaña, John Cho and the late Anton Yelchin. Star Trek 4 will feature that cast and described as the final chapter for this crew.
In March 2021, Matt Shakman was hired to direct another version of the movie, penned by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, that July. Shakman’s movie was given a 2023 release date, and negotiations for the return of the reboot series main cast started in February 2022. However, due to a schedule conflict, Shakman left the project that August. Although Paramount started searching for a new director soon after, the film was eventually removed from the studio’s release schedule.
3. Untitled Star Trek movie
This confirmed Star Trek film is helmed by Toby Haynes, who directed six episodes of the first season of Star Trek: Andor. Plot details of the movie are being kept under wraps but it is set decades before the events of J.J. Abrams‘ 2009 film Star Trek, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Seth Grahame-Smith is writing the new Stark Trek flick and will be produced by Abrams’ Bad Robot, which describes the feature as an expansion of its Star Trek cinematic universe.