Exclusive: Star Trek Kelvin Timeline Show In Development

A show set in Star Trek's cinematic timeline is in development for Paramount+.

By Michileen Martin | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

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Though the events that created Star Trek’s Kelvin Timeline have been mentioned on the TV series, up until now the narrative in which Nero (Eric Bana) destroys the USS Kelvin has kept itself to the film franchise. According to our trusted and proven source, however, that’s going to change in the near future. There’s a Star Trek TV series set in the Kelvin Timeline currently in development which will ultimately stream on Paramount+ alongside the platform’s other Trek shows.

We don’t know exactly what the Star Trek series will be about, but the Kelvin Timeline is relatively unspoiled territory for the creators. Would there be a Voyager in that timeline? A Deep Space Nine? A Jean-Luc Picard? Compared to the already covered ground in Prime Trek, the Kelvin writers would have centuries upon centuries of unwritten history to explore.

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Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk in Star Trek (2009)

It’s no secret some longtime Star Trek fans aren’t fond of the Kelvin Timeline, but regardless of whether you love or hate the stories, you have to admit this news does create a potential problem; will new fans get confused between the Kelvin show and Prime Trek? Until now, it’s been easy with the Kelvin stories sticking to the big screen and the newer Prime shows staying on the small one. But what happens when the narratives share the same medium along with the same platform?

This news likely also gives us one big puzzle piece in regards to a recent confirmation from Star Trek head honcho Alex Kurtzman. At July’s San Diego Comic-Con, Kurtzman was asked about the possibility of bringing a deaf actor into the Trek family, just as Bruce Horak–a blind actor–was tapped for the first season of Strange New Worlds. Kurtzman responded, “It’s a terrific idea and it’s definitely something that we’ll take into the next two Star Trek shows that we are currently developing.” That was the first time it had been confirmed that two Trek series were in development, and the Star Trek Kelvin series could be one of them. But, we don’t know exactly when development on the Kelvin show began, so it’s possible–if development began between SDCC and now–there are now three new Trek shows on the way.

If we assume the Star Trek Kelvin show was one of the series announced at SDCC, then there are some pretty solid guesses out there about the other. While we’ve heard precious little word about it since news of it first surfaced, at some point before the actual 24th century, Michelle Yeoh is supposed to reprise her role as Philippa Georgiou–which she originated in Discovery–in a series focusing on the clandestine Starfleet organization Section 31. But with news of the project getting scarcer and Yeoh’s schedule filling up, there are doubts in the fandom about whether the series will ever materialize.

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Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou on Star Trek: Discovery

Considering the timing of Kurtzman’s announcement, it’s also a solid guess that the second show in development is a Picard-style series starring Kate Mulgrew and most, if not all, of the lead cast of Star Trek: Voyager. Mulgrew has made a number of comments in the last few months about a possible revival series, including telling Den of Geek she was talking with her former castmates about a return.