See Star Trek Tearing The Bridge Down: NuTrek Is Officially Dead

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 15 seconds ago

Since the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, the so-called NuTrek era of the franchise has been controversial. Some enthusiastic fans have really loved how these shows have subverted expectations and given us characters and stories unlike any we have seen before. Other fans felt this was a major flaw and that these new series should be more like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. Now, though, it looks like the haters have won in a big way because the NuTrek era is officially dead.

Recently, it was reported that the sets for Starfleet Academy are currently being demolished. This is to be expected, of course, as this show was recently canceled. The more interesting fact is that the sets for Strange New Worlds are also being demolished, which means we are deeply unlikely to get the proposed Star Trek: Year One show or any other spinoffs of SNW. Coupled with the fact that no new shows are in development (for the first time in a decade) and that Alex Kurtzman’s contract expires this year, all signs point to the NuTrek era quietly coming to an end.

Why The Sets Being Torn Down Is So Significant

If you’re skeptical that NuTrek is dead, you might be wondering what is so significant about the destruction of these sets. Tearing down the Enterprise set from Strange New Worlds, for example, could theoretically be an opportunity to design new sets more in line with the aesthetics of, say, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But Paramount is loath to casually make such aesthetic changes for the simple fact that these sets are insanely expensive.

That’s why the network has reused so many sets over the years in order to save money. Much of The Next Generation set (like the engineering section) was modified for Star Trek VI: The Motion Picture. Before that, the bridge from the TOS movies was transformed into the battle bridge for TNG (among other sets). Heck, even the Defiant bridge from Deep Space Nine became the interior of the Delta Flyer in Voyager. These examples (one of dozens) prove that Paramount wouldn’t just demolish sets they thought they might re-use. Arguably, then, tearing down everything from Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds implies that they intend to rebuild Star Trek from the ground up.

Worst. Anniversary. Ever

These sets being torn down is bad enough. But even before that, Star Trek fans learned the bleak news that, for the first time in a decade, there are no new shows in development. To make matters worse, this news hit right when the franchise was celebrating its 60th anniversary. In a perfect world, this would be a year of constant celebration for everyone’s favorite sci-fi IP. Instead, with the absence of new shows in development, it feels more like a funeral. 

Some fans, however, see it as a good thing that Star Trek will have some downtime so that new creators can make something more successful. While the NuTrek era has been filled with spinoffs, they haven’t exactly been hits: Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds, and Starfleet Academy were all canceled before their time and well before any of them could hit the seven-season mark of shows like TNG and DS9. Paramount wouldn’t cancel shows that were making money, so it’s reasonable to assume these series were financial failures. 

After a year (or a few years) of downtime, Star Trek could have an amazing comeback, especially if they keep one man far, far away: Alex Kurtzman.

Shoot His Contract Out Of The Airlock

For better or for worse, Alex Kurtzman has been the chief architect of all things Star Trek since he signed a five-year deal with Paramount in 2018. In 2021, they expanded the deal, but his contract expires in 2026. It’s possible that the network could expand Kurtzman’s contract, but not likely: not only have all of his Star Trek series been failures, but Starfleet Academy (which he was the showrunner of) has been a highly public, highly embarrassing failure. At this point, it’s clear that keeping Kurtzman in charge will do nothing more than run this franchise into the ground. 

Paramount simply can’t afford to do that: Trek is one of their biggest IPs, and they’re going to need all the success they can get after the expensive acquisition of Warner Bros. Unless you’re a Kurtzman superfan (they can’t all be bots, can they?), the destruction of the SFA and SNW sets is very good news. The end of the NuTrek era is also the end of the Kurtzman era, which means a new creator will take the reins. If the network can snag someone talented and passionate like Terry Matalas, fans could have something we haven’t had in decades: consistently good Star Trek shows.