Star Trek Horror Series In The Works?
A Star Trek horror series may be in the works for Paramount+.
This article is more than 2 years old
In recent years, Star Trek has been boldly going. Perhaps not to new parts of the galaxy, but to new genres. Trek fans are currently enjoying an animated comedy series and later this year the franchise will introduce a new animated kids’ series. According to a new report, something a bit more chilling is in the works: a new Star Trek horror series.
The news comes from We Got This Covered. The site says their sources are claiming Paramount Plus is currently developing a Star Trek horror series. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any more specific details about the series yet, like its planned title or release date.
WGTC rightly points out that Star Trek isn’t exactly a stranger to horror. Elements of the genre have been prominent in the franchise starting with the original series that premiered in 1966. There have been particularly Star Trek horror episodes in most of the series, not to mention stories clearly taking inspiration from specific horror classics. For example, Star Trek: Voyager has not one, but two episodes taking heavy inspiration from classic Stephen King novels. There’s Season 2’s The Thaw in which Michael McKean guest stars as a virtual A.I. who manifests as a sadistic clown and tortures his victims with fear, much like the infamous Pennywise from Stephen King’s It. Later there’s Season 6’s Alice, when Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) becomes obsessed with a shuttlecraft possessing a malevolent A.I., much like the doomed Arnie becomes obsessed with a demonically possessed Plymouth Fury in the 1983 Stephen King novel Christine.
There are also specific villains culled right from horror stories. The hunting-obsessed Hirogen from Voyager, for example, are thematically similar to the aliens from Predator. One of the most popular recurring antagonists in the franchise — the Borg — are essentially zombies plus hardware and minus the brain-eating. You could potentially come up with a Star Trek horror series based on the Borg alone.
That brings up an interesting question — if Paramount Plus is developing a Star Trek horror series, what will the premise be? Will we be following the adventures of another ship like the Enterprise that will just happen to stumble into more horror-friendly situations than most? Or should we expect a more specific premise, like Starfleet exploring a scarier part of the galaxy or focusing on particularly terror-inducing aliens?
Regardless of what we can expect from the potential new Star Trek horror series, it’s clear we’ve got a lot of new Trek on the horizon. In June, a new teaser for Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard dropped, featuring John de Lancie returning as the mischievous and seemingly all-powerful recurring character Q. The following month, we got our first look at the upcoming animated kids’ show Star Trek: Prodigy in which Kate Mulgrew will voice an emergency hologram program activated on a derelict Starfleet ship.
At the same time, we’ve learned that along with the growing list of Star Trek series — which may include a new Star Trek horror show — the franchise finally has a new movie in the works. In July we learned WandaVision director Matt Shakman had been tapped to direct the long-dormant Star Trek 4.
