Star Trek: Lower Decks Writer Compares the Show to Rick and Morty

The Star Trek universe has been getting a bit of a revamp on television, with an ever-growing number of series chronicling the adventures of the franchise. Among those is going to be Star Trek: Lower Decks, an upcoming adult animation TV series that will debut on CBS All Access. The series, which is set to follow the support crew on one of Starfleet's "least-important ships", has already drawn comparisons to other adult animation properties -- including Adult Swim's Rick and Morty. Lower Decks writer Mike McMahan, who previously wrote on Rick and Morty, recently chronicled the series' differences in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"It's definitely not a kids show, but only because it's a little bit more complex than a kid show would be," McMahan explained. "The fun of Rick and Morty is that it breaks down sci-fi tropes and is told through Rick Sanchez, who has a very specific, chaotic, nihilistic lens. Lower Decks treats mythological sci-fi things just as important as a regular Trek show, while finding new stories to tell — just from a different angle. It's not disassembling mythological sci-fi things. It's treating them as important for everybody on the starship as it would be in a regular star Trek show."

This reasoning certainly makes sense, and will certainly be a jumping-off point for some pretty amusing - and emotional - stories among the show's ensemble.

"The big stories are happening in the bridge crew and there's more kind of social-emotional stories happening to the Lower Deckers," McMahan revealed. "So it's like their job and the world they're in get affected by these sci-fi stories. But the funny thing too is that whatever menial job you have to do in Star Trek, it might be something that they do every day, but it's still sort of a fascinating look into stuff that happens onboard that haven't been highlighted in another series. So instead of being on the turbolift — the elevators in Trek — our guys are repairing the turbolift. We also spend a lot of time in the bar. You'll also see the Lower Deckers go on away missions doing things that the bridge crew doesn't have to deal with."

Lower Decks will feature the voice talents of Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noel Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman.

"It's way more adult, but it's so hilarious and surprisingly sweet and very Trek," Quaid told ComicBook.com late last year. "Fans of Star Trek will get little inferences and things that we sprinkled throughout the show, but also, I think it's very accessible for people who don't know a ton of lore as well. It's just like a fun show in space."

Are you excited to see Star Trek: Lower Decks? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!