Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has become a fan favourite, reigniting interest in a franchise with nearly 60 years of history. It blends old-school episodic adventure with the emotional depth and boundless curiosity that made Star Trek: The Original Series a phenomenon. Following the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike, the prequel series bridges the gap between Star Trek’s earliest days and the world audiences already know, all while carving out its own identity from season to season.
Steering that ship are co-showrunners and executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, longtime collaborators who serve as the creative backbone of the series. Goldsman, an Academy Award and Golden Globe winner for A Beautiful Mind, brings a career spanning blockbuster screenwriting and franchise development, including Star Trek: Picard and DC’s Titans, alongside his role as co-creator of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Myers, whose credits include The Magicians and Ugly Betty, has helped shape the show’s tone since its inception, writing and producing throughout its run.
With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 just beginning as Star Trek approaches its landmark anniversary, CGMagazine sat down with Goldsman and Myers to talk about fandom, the franchise’s legacy and what fans can expect as Strange New Worlds heads toward its penultimate season.
Now, we’re coming up quickly on the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. What does it feel like to be part of the show at this point in time?
Henry Alonso Myers: Akiva, you want to answer, or shall I?
Akiva Goldsman: Sure. Wonderful. Delightful. Henry and I have gotten to help take care of and look after a franchise that is really near and dear to our hearts. As anybody on the show will tell you, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is made by Star Trek fans. So, what could be better?
Henry Alonso Myers: It’s a little bit like getting to play with the thing that you always imagined you’d get to play with when you were little, only full-sized.
Akiva Goldsman: With somebody else’s money.
Henry Alonso Myers: Yeah. Somebody else’s money, but your heart.
You both sound like incredible Star Trek fans. What got you into the series or franchise originally?
Akiva Goldsman: Well, my first Star Trek convention was in 1974, so it would be hard to say. What got me into Star Trek was WPIX Channel 11 every day at 6 p.m. in New York, in first-run syndication. What got me into this incarnation of Star Trek was really great luck. And what got me into Strange New Worlds was staggeringly persistent stubbornness.
Henry Alonso Myers: I watched Channel 11 as well. When I was very little, we used to get it on cable in central New York. And I was really into all things science fiction. I was like, “Oh, I have to watch this show.” And it just stuck in my head. I think “The Doomsday Machine” was the episode that really stayed with me. It would enter my dreams. And then I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
I watched The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine in my late teens and early 20s. Science fiction just really spoke to me. It told great stories in the way I like, stories that were cool, exciting and interesting, but also made you think. That was the gut punch that really got me. So, as for this particular part of Star Trek, I would say I was very fortunate and lucky.
That’s awesome. Now, why do you think Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has resonated with so many fans?
Akiva Goldsman: Well, I think for those of us who make Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, we try to respond to the fan within us. It is really hard. I would not want to work on a franchise where the source material was not living rent-free in my mind. Trying to anticipate what people like about something is a pretty risky proposition.
I think what Henry and I try to do is make the Star Trek that we, as fans, would relish getting the chance to see. We, too, grew up in a world where there was a deficit of Star Trek. So, what would we like to see to fill that void? And if we do that and it works, then we count on the fact that we are typical enough that there are a bunch of other folks like us who will also enjoy it.
Henry Alonso Myers: Couldn’t agree more.
That’s awesome. Now, what can fans expect this season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that really pushes the show forward and leads them into this latest season?
Henry Alonso Myers: Well, we try to treat every season like it could be our last. So, we really sit there and try to think about the things we did not get to see in Star Trek that we could try. I want to say there are two things that pull us. One is: What is something we have never seen before, and can we try it in Star Trek? And the other is: How do we make that thing feel like the Star Trek we know and love? The great thing, I think, about Star Trek in general is that it has such a wide range of possibilities. It can be funny and scary. It can break your heart.
It can be emotional. It can also be serious, and it can really make you think. It has elements of science that play throughout it. But it also has the thing that I think gets me, Akiva, if I were to project something onto both of us: it touches the human heart. And that is the thing that I think really matters. It can make you laugh, and it can make you cry. And I have a soft spot in my heart.
Amazing. Do you want to add anything, Akiva?
Akiva Goldsman: Oh, no. I think the only thing I would say is that Strange New Worlds has always been an act of interpolation, right? We’ve always known that we have somewhere to go. And we always knew what that endpoint looked like.
Not the specifics, but we always knew. And much of what we started to do in this season, and entirely in the last, is to get there. And so, we’re coming to the end of that era, at least as we present it.
Now, I just want to wrap up here on the fact that this is a prequel series to everything that we all know and love and have grown up with. What challenges presented themselves in doing that sort of a show with that prequel mindset? And how did you get around those challenges to make something that does feel unique, does feel interesting, and does surprise you episode to episode?
Henry Alonso Myers: Well, I guess from my perspective, it was this: You, as an audience member, know what is going to happen, but you need to remind yourself that, from the characters’ perspective, none of them know what is going to happen. With the exception of Pike, on some level, none of them really know what is going to happen. And so, if you want to give the actors and the show something that feels genuine and specific to our characters, show them that.
We do not know what got them there. So, do not just have the characters behave the way they do later. Have them go on a journey that takes them to that place. That was a lot of what we were trying to figure out with the show.
Awesome. Thank you both so much. I’ve already enjoyed watching what I’ve seen of the latest season, and I’m excited for more people to jump in.
Akiva Goldsman: Thank you.
