Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be more like original the series, says writer Akiva Goldsmith

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Set phasers to multiple genres and serialized storytelling

Star Trek: Picard
(Image credit: CBS)

With Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Star Trek: Picard season 2, and more Star Trek: Lower Decks all headed our way, it's certainly a good time to be a Trekkie. With the new series Strange New Worlds on the way, writer and producer Akiva Goldsmith shared some more details about the upcoming series.  

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Goldsmith opened up about one particular aspect from the original Star Trek series that he’s incorporating into his new series. "It's unlike the other shows in that it's really episodic," he said. "If you think back to The Original Series, it was a tonally more liberal – I don't mean in terms of politics, but it could sort of be more fluid.” 

He then went on to explain what he meant by the show being tonally liberal, saying: "Like sometimes Robert Bloch would write a horror episode. Or Harlan Ellison would have 'City on the Edge of Forever,' which is hard sci-fi. Then there would be comedic episodes, like 'Shore Leave' or 'The Trouble With Tribbles.'"

With the wide range of genres to play within the confines of the show, Goldsmith went into the storytelling process for Strange New Worlds. "So [co-showrunner] Henry Alonso Myers and myself are trying to serve that," he said. "We've all become very enamored, myself included, with serialized storytelling. And I'm talking to you from behind the stage where we're shooting Picard, which is deeply serialized...But Strange New Worlds is very much adventure-of-the-week but with serialized character arcs."

There is currently no release date for Strange New Worlds, but it will be joining the Star Trek: Discovery, Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks soon on streaming service Paramount Plus. 

Stephanie Williams

Stephanie is a comic book historian and pop culture critic for publications including SYFYFANGRRLS, Marvel, The A.V. Club, Nerdist, Den of Geek, and Rotten Tomatoes. Stephanie is also a comic creator with three ongoing webcomics, Parenthood Activate!, But What If Though?, and Living Heroes. She made her Marvel debut with a short story featuring Monica Rambeau in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy. She recently made her DC Comics debut in Wonder Woman Black and Gold #2 and is co-writing the Nubia and the Amazons miniseries.