The original Star Trek series always did not have Captain James T. Kirk in the lead. In fact, a pilot titled ‘The Cage’ was first produced and rejected by the studio, with a character called Captain Christopher Pike in the lead. He is later established as Kirk’s predecessor in the episode ‘The Menagerie’.
While the character never appeared in the original series after that, an iteration of Pike was included by Alex Kurtzman in Star Trek: Discovery. Before starting the series, however, Kurtzman reportedly sought the help of writer Akiva Goldsman, who reportedly began conceiving the idea of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds after reading a fan theory.
Akiva Goldsman created one of the best Star Trek shows by accident
While Star Trek: The Original Series had a cult following of its own, it was not large enough to sustain the expensive sci-fi series and the show was canceled after three seasons. However, it gained a resurgence in the ‘70s, leading the network to bring back the original cast and even develop new shows like TNG and Voyager.
In the Paramount+ era, the franchise has been on a roll with multiple shows being developed under Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, and more. They have brought back iconic actors of the franchise such as Patrick Stewart and the rest of the cast from TNG, and even more legends such as Jeri Ryan.
However, its most surprising hit has been Strange New Worlds, a spinoff series set before the events of the original show. Starring Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, co-creator Akiva Goldsman reportedly conceived of the show by accident when he was called to work on Discovery. He said to The Wrap,
Alex called me and said he needed a little help on it…So I went on the internet and on the internet there were these endless rumors that the show was going to be about Captain Pike and Number One. I’m an old diehard Star Trek fan, so I thought that was the greatest thing I ever heard…But then I get there and the show they were making couldn’t have had less to do with Captain Pike and Number One.
While Mount’s Pike eventually made it to Discovery, Goldsman reportedly held on to his idea and then finally got a chance to work on it with Strange New Worlds.
Akiva Goldsman reportedly found the structure of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds liberating
Nothing has explored the wide range of the cosmos like Star Trek: The Original Series. While Patrick Stewart’s TNG comes close to the exploration of the universe, it was still a bit serialized and had certain long-running arcs. In subsequent spinoff shows like Voyager and Deep Space Nine, a larger story was preferred over episodic narratives.
However, Strange New Worlds went back to the original series’ exploration of the universe, and as the title suggests, new worlds. While Goldsman had experience working on more serialized stories in the Star Trek franchise, he said that the episodic format was far easier for him and the writer’s room. He said,
You’ve got to keep everything straight and your storytelling is deeply interconnected and you always run the risk of not having enough plot climax because every plot is a piece of a larger plot and always your first episode is darker so your last episode can be redemptive — it’s a b*tch. So the idea of doing an episodic series was kind of a relief. It’s a little liberating.
The co-creator also mentioned that with the format, he could bring in his influences from shows like The Twilight Zone and the short stories of O’Henry.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+.
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