Star Trek: Picard Creator Has Pitch for Anthology Series Starring Classic Characters

After Star Trek: Picard's game-changing third season, co-creator Akiva Goldsman wants to tell stories starring other classic Star Trek characters. Goldsman is a longtime Star Trek fan who's already given new life to two past Star Trek captains. Star Trek: Picard follows the next chapter in the life of Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also co-created Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, following the USS Enterprise under Capt. Christopher Pike's command during the years before Capt. Kirk's five-year mission. But not every classic character can support an ongoing television series. Goldsman tells SFX magazine that he has a pitch to get around that. 

"There's something that I like, which I think Robert Kirkman is doing right now with The Walking Dead, which is a kind of... I'll call it Tales Of The Federation, where you would just do one-offs, right?" he explains. "So you could bring George Takei back for an hour, and do a show about Sulu as an older man, or find Jonathan Archer having now retired from his Enterprise and being on Earth, just do these certain really interesting ones."

He continues, "You could grab anybody, from all the shows, because it's really hard to find enough for a series, but there are an endless amount of episodes, as anthology series are finding their way back. They were sort of a staple when I was a boy. A Star Trek-based one of those I think would be super fun."

Star Trek dipped its toe into the anthology format with Star Trek: Short Treks. Short Treks offered 10-15 minute shorts released over two seasons, mostly focusing on minor characters from Star Trek: Discovery or experimenting with new genres. It sounds like Goldsman's Tales of the Federation pitch would take that idea in a different direction more tied to the previous Star Trek canon.

There are plenty of Star Trek actors who have expressed an interest in reprising their roles in the franchise. Michael Dorn, who played Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation, has been pitching his Captain Worf ideas for years, and characters from Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: Voyager, in particular, still feel like they have unfinished business to address. 

What do you think of Goldsman's Tales of the Federation pitch? Let us know in the comments section. Star Trek: Picard returns for its second season on Paramount+ on March 3rd. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres on Paramount+ on May 5th.