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A new Star Trek TV series is in the works

And just in time for its 50th anniversary

Christopher Hooton
Monday 02 November 2015 17:00 GMT
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10 years after the polarising Enterprise series, Star Trek is to return to the small screen with a new show.

Prolific producer Alex Kurtzman is developing a new take on the beloved sci-fi classic for CBS, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and now hunting for a writer.

The plan is for the series to air in the latter half of 2016, which would coincide with the franchise's 50th anniversary (the original series began on 8 September, 1966).

Trekkies will no doubt be hoping for a more cerebral series a la The Next Generation, rather than the action-orientated route JJ Abrams went down with the recent films (though don't get your hopes up, producer Kurtzman worked on both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness).

New Star Trek TV series premiering January 2017. Details at http://bit.ly/NewStarTrekTVseries

Posted by Star Trek on Monday, November 2, 2015

The Next Generation rebooted the franchise between 1987 and 1995, then came the space station-set Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) and Voyager (1995–2001), which saw the first female captain of a Star Fleet vessel.

Enterprise (2001–2005) was the most recent instalment, but received mixed reviews.

The new TV series is not related to the upcoming feature film Star Trek Beyond, which is set to hit cinemas in summer 2016.

Here's more corporate comment than you could possibly want:

"There is no better time to give Star Trek fans a new series than on the heels of the original show’s 50th anniversary celebration,” said David Stapf, President, CBS Television Studios. “Everyone here has great respect for this storied franchise, and we’re excited to launch its next television chapter in the creative mind and skilled hands of Alex Kurtzman, someone who knows this world and its audience intimately.”

“This new series will premiere to the national CBS audience, then boldly go where no first-run Star Trekseries has gone before – directly to its millions of fans through CBS All Access,” said Marc DeBevoise, Executive Vice President/General Manager – CBS Digital Media. “We’ve experienced terrific growth forCBS All Access, expanding the service across affiliates and devices in a very short time. We now have an incredible opportunity to accelerate this growth with the iconic Star Trek, and its devoted and passionate fan base, as our first original series.”

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“Every day, an episode of the Star Trek franchise is seen in almost every country in the world,” said Armando Nuñez, President and CEO, CBS Global Distribution Group. “We can’t wait to introduce Star Trek's next voyage on television to its vast global fan base.”

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