The year-long celebration for the 60th anniversary of “Star Trek” continues with The Eternal City arriving this week for Rome’s MIA Market, but the iconic science-fiction franchise is at a turning point, according to Trevor Roth, COO and president of development at Roddenberry Entertainment.
“Right now, ‘Star Trek’ is at a crossroads with the end of the current series, along with the fact that it’s been a long time since a movie was released and decisions need to be made about what the franchise will be,” said Roth, who appeared on Wednesday in conversation with MIA’s head of Doc content — and self-proclaimed Trekkie — Marco Spagnoli.
“Also, we’ve had a lot of changes on the studio front. Skydance bought Paramount and now Warner Bros. has been bought, so that also [raised] The question is what the future of ‘Star Trek’ will be.”
It’s been a banner year for Trekkies around the world, with numerous fan events, screenings and partnerships taking place around the world as part of the historic anniversary. These included a limited theatrical release across the US of 4K restorations of the classic “Star Trek” films with episodes from the original series and a tribute to the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
Celebrations reached a peak on September 8 – the 1966 date when “Star Trek” first premiered on television – when 934 Trekkies gathered together at an event in London to set a Guinness World Record for the largest Vulcan salute.
Yet the celebration takes place against the backdrop of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, and questions are rising about what it will mean for “Star Trek” and other properties in the studios’ respective vaults. Even before the merger, the franchise appeared to be in a transitional phase. Earlier this year, Paramount Skydance announced it was putting “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” on hold, a series originally picked up to Paramount+ in 2023 after its upcoming second season. Meanwhile, the fifth and final season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” will arrive on the streamer next year.
Roddenberry executives are now trying to ensure that the company built on one of the world’s most beloved and recognizable IPs can survive and prosper for a long time.
“We have very specific designs in mind for what ‘Star Trek’ will be in its next incarnation,” Roth said. “I think the ability of ‘Star Trek’ to move through television, where it went from the original series to ‘The Next Generation’ to ‘Deep Space Nine’ and ‘Voyager’ and ‘Enterprise,’ really shows its ability to evolve.”
This growth extends to Roddenberry, which was founded by Gene Roddenberry and is now run by his son, CEO Rod Roddenberry. The company is currently developing both additional “Star Trek” projects — including an upcoming feature film, which Paramount Skydance executives confirmed at CinemaCon this year — as well as a series of “new science-fiction, fantasy and genre entertainments … that break out of the ‘Star Trek’ world,” according to Roth.
He added, “One of the reasons we come to MIA is to introduce ourselves to people from all over the world who we want to work with.”
Although Roth declined to comment on whether future installments of the franchise might include an Italian captain at the helm of the starship Enterprise – dashing Spagnoli’s hopes – he insisted that Roddenberry’s leadership “feels confident that there will be an amazing future for the beloved property”.
“I think this is a franchise that’s been around for 60 years and will be around for another 60 years,” he said. “But I think what it looks like, and how it addresses all the things that ‘Star Trek’ needs to be, its next phase, but also in terms of the economy, consumers, viewing habits and such a new universe — it will need to evolve, as it always has over the years.”
The 12th edition of Rome’s MIA Market will run from October 19 to October 23.