More new Star Trek TV writers and production details

The writing room for the new Star Trek TV series is starting to fill out. Continue below for all the details.

The most recently announced came via another of the writers, Kemp Powers, who I found about thanks to TrekFM's new Stage Nine podcast. Powers himself is new to TV, but has a wide range of writing credits, including stage-plays, journalism, and his own memoirs revolving around a terrible event from his childhood.

Powers tweeted two new names to add to the the writing room. One of those is Aron Coleite, a writer and producer of several TV series, including Heroes, where he worked alongside new Star Trek showrunner Bryan Fuller who also produced season one of that series.

They are also joined by Joe Menosky, who also will have worked with Fuller, and pre-dated him in the Star Trek world, as writer and producer on many episodes of TNG, DS9, and Voyager. Some of Menosky's most notable episodes include Darmok, Year of Hell, and Timeless.

Jesse Alexander in his dangerous work uniform

Another name which appears to be in the room, as highlighted by TrekFM's Commentary Trek Stars, is Jesse Alexander another Heroes alumni, who has also worked with Fuller on Hannibal, and with another of the producers of the new Star Trek series, Alex Kurtzman, on Alias, as well as producing episodes of Lost. Alexander certainly seems happy about this role, posting some fun images from the production offices on his social media.

In addition to all these writers, the series' production designer has also been revealed, that will be Mark Worthington. His CV lists him as designer for the pilot and series. The CV also suggests Bad Robot have some involvement in the series (which is either new or an error, activate speculation machine). Worthington has previously worked on Lost, Once Upon a Time, and Ugly Betty, among many other shows and movies.

That document also reveals Alex Kurtzman will also be serving as director for the pilot episode. Kurtzman doesn't hasn't directed that much before, just an episode of Alias and a film called People Like Us (starring Chris Pine), but he is lined up for more, including Universal's reboot of The Mummy.

Two further producers have also been announced, in fact they were back when the teaser trailer came out, in press releases then. They are writing partners Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, who have worked as writers and producers of numerous TV series, including Fuller's Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls.

Finally, the latest rumour regarding the setting of the series swings us back towards the nuTrek timeline. According to 1701 News, a source says there are people in CBS pushing for this due to the new reality being what current audiences (not just trekkies!) relate Star Trek too:

There is apparently a contingent within CBS that views the prime universe closed for business. And there is something to that. The last hour of prime universe Star Trek was filmed 12 years ago. Meanwhile, there have been three films set in the new universe. The faction says it would be ludicrous to return to the shackles of the prime universe and confuse new viewers.

Shackles seems a good word choice; the new movies could have been a straight reboot, but instead they chose to tie the new timeline directly to every bit of Trek that came before, while still opening up all the options a reboot allows. The new films are free to tell whatever stories they like, and come up with whatever (contemporary) design they like, while also being free to pull whatever they like from the old shows. Much is made about the rights issues surrounding Trek, but it boils down to this: Paramount can make movies, CBS can make TV (and also deal with all Trek merchandise), certainly as I understand the rights split, either could choose to make their new productions in any timeline they like. So the decision will ultimately come down to which reality CBS thinks will make the most profitable TV series.

There are people working on the new show from many eras of Trek production, so it's hard to read much in from that, and there are solid arguments to made for works being created in either reality. Of course, like the previous rumours about an anthology series, and post The Undiscovered Country setting, these are right now, very much just rumour.

The new Star Trek series is due to start in January next year. The first episode will air in the US on the CBS Television Network, but subsequent episodes will be available exclusively on the the CBS All Access on demand streaming service. International distribution has yet to be detailed. To keep track of all the latest details from the new show, visit my Star Trek (2017 TV series) Guide page.