‘Star Trek’ Animated Comedy In Development With ‘Rick and Morty’ Writer

It seems the Star Trek series is ready to boldly go into the land of comedy. Thanks to a new announcement, fans have learned CBS All Access has ordered an animated comedy set in the Star Trek universe, and it will show a whole new side of Starfleet.

According to reports, the new series will be called Star Trek: Lower Decks. It will contain half-hour episodes focusing on the support crew of one of the Starfleet's least important ships. So, fans can expect plenty of replicator hijinks to come around.

The show is being developed by Mike McMahan who will also act as executive producer. He will be joined by Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry, Katie Krentz, and Trevor Roth.

In a new statement, Kurtzman broke down how McMahan's vision won over the team and pushed Star Trek: Lower Decks into production.

"Mike won our hearts with his first sentence: 'I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end.' His cat's name is Riker. His son's name is Sagan. The man is committed."

As for McMahan, the Emmy-winning writer from Rick and Morty said working on this show is a surreal dream come true.

"As a life-long Trekkie, it's a surreal and wonderful dream come true to be a part of this new era of Star Trek. While Star Trek: Lower Decks is a half-hour, animated show at its core, it's undeniably Trek — and I promise not to add an episode at the very end that reveals the whole thing took place in a training program."

So far, there is no casting information connected with the new series, and story details are sparse. However, Trekkies will notice something special about the show's title. After all, "Lower Decks" is the name of a famous episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The episode follows four junior Starfleet officers on the Enterprise as they gun for promotions, and numerous sci-fi series like Doctor Who have referenced the title in its own episodes.

For now, there is no word on when Star Trek: Lower Decks will go live. CBS All Access is slated to bring Star Trek: Discovery back to fans for a second season, and a new show is in the works featuring Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard.

So, what do you think of this big announcement? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!