There is little doubt that Star Trek is currently on a roll, thanks to Alex Kurtzman. The co-creator of Star Trek: Discovery has spearheaded the franchise's awesome new shows on CBS and isn't showing any signs of slowing down. Interestingly, Kurtzman admitted that he had pitched his plans directly to the network and confessed that Star Wars had influenced the direction he is taking.
Kurtzman recently discussed his plans with the Deadline's CrewCall podcast (via Trek Core). The executive producer of Star Trek: Picard shared how he had approached CBS with a blueprint on his long-term plans.
"I went to CBS and I said, 'I think you have a universe here that is very under-utilized, and a fan base that I think is hungry for a lot more.' And I walked them through the plan of what I saw for the next five to ten years of Trek.
"Part of it was, kind of, premised on the idea that it was going to take time. What I said was, 'Don't expect us to put the first thing out, and suddenly, you know, you have 100 million new fans. That's not gonna happen.' Trek has been around for too long for that to happen — but what we do have is new generations, and what I can tell you is that Trek, in general, finds people when they're about between nine and twelve.
"It's never reached younger than that; it's never tried to, and to me that's a hugely missed opportunity, especially because what you're really trying to do is influence hearts and minds with really positive messages — messages about who we can be as a species and as people and what our future is. So why not start young, you know? And not for a cynical reason. Not because you know, hey, let some more toys, but because if you really want Star Trek to reach people, then you've got to start young."
Speaking of starting young, Kurtzman then admitted that seeing Star Wars as a child helped influence his plans for Star Trek.
"And this is where I guess the Star Wars influence on me really mattered because as a kid at four years old, I could imagine myself starting up with a twin suns of Tatooine and wondering what my life was. Trek didn't give me that same thing — it gave me Wesley Crusher, it gave me different characters, but again, those are older characters.
"But we are definitely seeing just metric proof that the fan base is growing, and it's growing younger — and yet, we're keeping our current fans, and that's great."
There is little doubt that Kurtzman had the right plan all along. We're certainly looking forward to all the new Star Trek shows in the future.
Related: Star Trek: Jonathan Frakes Celebrates Captain Picard Day With Awesome Message
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