Star Trek EP Confirms Harsh Reality About Captain Kirk Spinoff: “I Don’t See It Happening"

Published Sep 16, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

John Orquiola is a New & Classic TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds executive producer and co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman confirms that his proposed spinoff, Star Trek: Year One, is not going to happen.

During press for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 in 2025, Goldsman and co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers touted their idea for Star Trek: Year One, which would tell new stories about Captain James T. Kirk's (Paul Wesley) first year in command of the USS Enterprise. Goldsman and Myers kept hopes for Year One alive for the past year as Paramount+'s new owners, Paramount Skydance, canceled all of the streamer's original Star Trek series.

Image via Paramount+

Speaking to Radio Times about Star Trek's 60th anniversary, Akiva Goldsman shared a heartbreaking update about Star Trek: Year One, which Paramount+ never ordered. Worse, after Paramount+ canceled Star Trek: Starfleet Academy earlier this year, the Toronto sets for that series and Strange New Worlds were torn down, with pieces auctioned off. Read Goldsman's assessment of Star Trek: Year One's chances below:

Akiva Goldsman: "Nobody's called, the sets are gone, everybody else has started to take other jobs. It's never been officially yes, and it's never been officially no. But I don't see it happening.

Maybe somebody calls and says, 'Hey, do a two-hour movie,' or, 'We want the show.' Great! But there was a moment where it would have been the most expeditious, creatively and economically, to just continue because we had a lot of assets which are now no longer.

I would have loved to have done Year One and kept on with this group because they're my cohort now. I feel familial with them, and I understand the Star Trek that we made together. And should [Paramount] call tomorrow and say, ‘Let's do that,’ I'll come running."

As Goldsman noted, the prime occasion when Paramount+ could have ordered Star Trek: Year One was last year when the streamer announced it greenlit Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for a fifth and final season. After Strange New Worlds wrapped filming last December, there was still hope that Year One could happen, with cast and crew simply returning to the existing USS Enterprise sets.

"I do think that, at least for me, my time with Star Trek is over now," Akiva says. "I was really lucky – Strange New Worlds was everything I imagined when I couldn't even imagine it, as a little boy playing Star Trek. Now I got to be a bigger boy playing Star Trek with somebody else's toys."

Paul Wesley shared a similar sentiment, telling ScreenRant in an interview that "I don't know if Year One's ever gonna happen." Wesley, like the rest of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' cast and crew, is taking other jobs. However, Wesley also agreed with Goldsman that he would return as Captain Kirk if Paramount+ gave Year One a green light.

Image credit: Paramount+

The future of Star Trek is a question every Trekker wants answered. On the streaming TV side, Goldsman says Paramount+'s Executive Vice President and Head of Originals Chris Parnell "is in charge of" Star Trek and "will make that decision" about where Star Trek TV goes next. Akiva hails Parnell as "a real Star Trek fan. He is somebody who loves Star Trek. So I have faith that what he'll do will be real Star Trek."

Sadly, Goldsman admits, "I don't think it's going to be Year One, although I'd be thrilled if it was." Yet Akiva also gets Paramount's desire to do something new with Star Trek: "I also understand the value of renewal and whether it renews itself perfectly the first or the second or the third iteration of whatever the next – dare I say – generation of these shows are, [Star Trek will] find its way. It always does."

While Akiva Goldsman is no longer producing new Star Trek and doubts that Year One will happen, he still has the final episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 to promote, and the fifth and final season premiering on Paramount+ in 2027 for fans to look forward to.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is streaming on Paramount+

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