Star Trek is preparing to boldly go somewhere genuinely new again.
And this time, the biggest threat might not be Klingons, Romulans, the Borg or another extremely angry bloke with a massive spaceship.
It could be Starfleet itself.
The next theatrical Star Trek movie is being developed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the filmmaking duo behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and the pair have started revealing what they have planned for this completely fresh corner of the franchise.
Rather than bringing back Kirk, Spock or another familiar Enterprise crew, the new Star Trek reboot is being designed around new characters and is expected to take us further into the future than we’ve previously travelled in the franchise.
That’s already interesting.
But the potential villains make it even more so.
The Star Trek Reboot Is Starting With New Characters
One of the biggest decisions behind the new movie is to move away from established characters.
That means this isn’t simply another version of Kirk and Spock following the Chris Pine films.
Goldstein and Daley have described their intention as creating something audiences can enter without needing decades of Star Trek knowledge.
For longtime fans, that might initially sound terrifying.
We like our history.
We like our canon.
We also like pointing out continuity errors from episodes broadcast approximately 47 years ago.
It’s part of the job.
But there’s something exciting about entering a completely unknown period of Star Trek history.
No Kirk.
No Picard.
No familiar Enterprise crew.
Suddenly, anything can happen.
Could Starfleet Actually Be The Villain?
This is where things become really interesting.
The filmmakers have discussed the idea that even an institution built around incredibly strong ideals can contain people who don’t necessarily live up to them.
Daley has specifically talked about there being “bad apples” within institutions and the damage those individuals can cause.
That could mean the new Star Trek movie isn’t going to give us another traditional alien villain trying to destroy Earth.
Instead, our new heroes could discover that the danger is coming from inside Starfleet.
And Star Trek has been here before.
We’ve seen corrupt admirals, questionable Starfleet decisions and, of course, Section 31 operating in the shadows.
But making that idea central to a completely new theatrical adventure could give the reboot a very different identity.
A Star Trek Version Of Training Day?
One of the most intriguing comparisons surrounding the project is Training Day.
If that’s genuinely influencing the structure, imagine being introduced to Starfleet through the eyes of somebody who believes everything the Federation represents…
Only to discover that the person teaching them how the system works isn’t quite the hero they thought they were.
That’s a fantastic premise for Star Trek.
The Federation has always represented an optimistic vision of humanity’s future.
People have moved beyond many of the divisions that define our world today and instead spend their time exploring space, discovering new civilisations and occasionally getting turned into something weird by a transporter.
You know. Normal Tuesday aboard a Starfleet vessel.
Putting a new character into that seemingly perfect organisation and slowly revealing that something isn’t right could make for a brilliant mystery.
Going Further Into The Star Trek Future
Another major detail is the setting.
Goldstein and Daley have said the movie will travel further into Star Trek’s future than we’ve previously seen.
That’s a pretty massive statement.
Star Trek: Discovery already jumped into the 32nd century, showing us a Federation dramatically different from the organisation we’d previously known.
Going beyond that gives the filmmakers an almost completely blank canvas.
What does Starfleet look like hundreds of years later?
What technology exists?
What happened to the Federation?
Which species are now part of it?
And perhaps most importantly…
Has Starfleet lost its way?
A new era means the writers aren’t restricted by knowing where everything eventually needs to end up.
That freedom could be exactly what Star Trek needs.
New Villains Could Give Star Trek A Fresh Start
There’s obviously still a huge amount we don’t know.
The script remains in development, characters haven’t been properly introduced and we certainly don’t know exactly who the movie’s main antagonist will be.
But the idea of exploring corruption within Starfleet immediately has our attention.
Star Trek has given us some incredible villains over the decades.
Khan.
The Borg Queen.
Gul Dukat.
General Chang.
Shinzon.
And more Tribbles than any sensible civilisation should ever allow near a food supply.
But the most interesting Star Trek stories aren’t always about defeating a giant enemy ship.
They’re about challenging what these characters believe.
If the new Star Trek reboot introduces a generation of heroes who discover that the organisation they’ve spent their lives believing in isn’t as perfect as they thought, there’s a lot of storytelling potential there.
And importantly, that doesn’t necessarily mean turning Starfleet evil.
The much more interesting story would be watching good people fight to protect what Starfleet should represent.
Star Trek Is Heading Into Uncharted Territory Again
After 60 years of Star Trek, creating something that genuinely feels unexplored isn’t easy.
We’ve travelled through time.
We’ve visited alternative universes.
We’ve encountered gods, artificial intelligence, cyborg collectives and enough versions of the Enterprise to fill a particularly expensive car park.
Starting again with completely new characters in an unexplored future might therefore be exactly the shake-up the movie franchise needs.
We’re still early in development, so there’s plenty that could change before cameras start rolling.
But new characters, a distant future and a threat potentially emerging from inside Starfleet?
We’re listening.
Because if you’re going to reboot Star Trek again, don’t just give us another Kirk.
Take us somewhere we’ve never been before.
What do you think about the new Star Trek reboot? Would you like to see Starfleet itself become part of the conflict, or would you rather see the new crew face an entirely new alien villain? Let us know.
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