SDCC 2024: Star Trek Universe Panel (Recap)

Star Trek came to San Diego Comic-Con ready to let fans know where the franchise is boldly going next! It’s a pivotal time in the franchise, as some familiar series (Star Trek: Discovery, Picard) have ended, while others are just hitting their best strides (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks). Of course fans were eager to hear more about some of the exciting new things that are on the way, including the new Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, and the highly-anticipated Section 31 movie that’s coming to Paramount+ streaming! 

Star Trek Universe SDCC 2024 Panel Recap (LIVE) 

Hosting the panel was Justin Simien. He teased the panel covering shows like Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Section 31. Strange New Worlds stars Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck along with Star Trek Universe producers  Akiva Goldsman Henry Alonso Myers and Alex Kurtzman took the stage Kurtzman thanked fans for their continued support, promising some fun updates from the upcoming slate.

Goldsman apologized for Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount being absent due to personal reasons, but he sent his love to fans. Speaking of love, Goldsman teased Star Trek’s “Love Stories in Space,” and teased a romantic triangle with the arrival of Dr. Korby. Romijn teased seeing a softer side of her character Una/Number One in the upcoming season. She can’t quickly choose an emoji that can express it…Kurtzman addressed the fact that Strange New Worlds is already getting Seasons 3 and 4, saying the “secret sauce” is mixing old school r and new in the best way.

A clip shows the crew getting shots from Nurse Chapel, after a few seconds they all seem to lose control of their physical and emotional control. Carol Keene’s character feels nothing – as the rest of the crew is turned into Vulcans. Keene speculates that her race may have kept her from transforming and kept her from enjoying LSD for years. Spock is a bit perturbed to see his crewmates acting and feeling like Vulcans, but they get an epic slow-motion walk down the halls of the ship in Vulcan warrior garb. Pike beams them down, calling it four and a half Vulcans to beam down – Spock takes that personally Scotty loves the new look.The team returns and are unbothered by the challenge the faced; Spock is not so happy with suddenly being the least Vulcan guy in the room. A twist is thrown in when the serum to make them Vulcan doesn’t wear off – and Spock is suddenly facing his worst nightmare.

Peck talks about filming the episode and the experience of seeing his co-stars play as Vulcans. He loved seeing them do the Vulcan eye mannerisms and of course the ears. Rebecca teases the joy of getting back into the captain’s chair in Season 3. Goldsman teases the variety of storytelling they’re borrowing from for Season 3 – including a Hollywood Murder mystery. He says that their ability to reframe and redefine genre is key to the series. A Q&A has one fan request to see a plush toy he has in Lower Decks -but we’re still just talking SNW. A second question was about how Star Trek can teach conflict resolution in a divided world – and Kurtzman says we can’t define ourselves by not being the opposition, there needs to be more unity. A third fan thanks Star Trek’s modern makers for taking up the torch, and helping fans like himself get through hurdles like coming out to his family.

The question is what about Star Trek makes the creators watch over and over? Goldsman takes the answer as just watching the elements of Star Trek that pull us out of binary thinking. Myers wants to bring DS9’s Odo back, Romjin wants Jack Ransom to come back.

Myers answered a fan question about the musical episode and how the singing reinforced so much emotion and story. Goldsman teases the musical episode becoming an actual stage production. Peck and Rojmin are SHOCKED. Shocked.

Twney Newsome Jack Quadi Noel Wells Jerry O Connell Mike Mcmahan and Alex Kurtzman came out for the Star Trek Lower Decks panel. Simien ask Newsome to spoil the new season – which Quaid pretends to endorse. Newsome jokes the new season is in her top 5 of Lower Decks; McMahon says he calls every season the best one – but this one is the BEST ONE. Boos from the crowd over the mention that Lower Decks is the final one on Paramount+ leads to BIGGER BOOS. McMahon says because they knew it was ending, they really could make it a celebration of all things Star Trek. 

Newsome teases how Mariner has grown a bit, and is now going to be giving people sh*t from a mature leadership angle. McMahon tees up a new teaser trailer. Voiceover teams how the last five years have shown the epic journey of Star Trek greats, while a sizzle reel of footage from Lower Decks plays. The narrator keeps extolling their greatness, and the one last adventure coming – then the video freezes, as the Lower Decks again wonder if the narrator is even talking about them. He is. Quaid confirms they are important. Sizzle reels of actual scenes tease an alternate universe Captain Becky appearing, and a lot of other shenanigans – like a “Klingon as hell” episode with Brad and Mariner having to enter some crazy Klingon ritual. 

Quaid talks about how Brad has changed after getting into the captain’s chair – and how he meets a new alt-dimension role model who he starts to shadow, leading to real hijinks. Newsome messes with Quaid, trying to get out of him if its icons like Kirk or Khan. Quaid won’t crack.

O’Connell almost lets a spoiler fly b/c he mistakenly thought it was in the footage. He won’t share because he wants Season 6. He teases Emotional growth and not just peck growth this season, saying he was getting teary-eyed making this Final Season. O’Connell remembers 5 years back announcing the series at SDCC and fans being… “Frosty” on the idea at first. Now he thanks them for coming around so far with their love and celebration for the series. Quaid adds an anecdote about the moment he went to a convention and saw the crowd cheering “Lower Decks!” Before the fans. O’Connell jokes he wears his uniform at home to let his wife (Romijn) know she’s not the only Number One.

Kurtzman calls Lower Decks‘ secret sauce the love of Star Trek being the core of the comedy – not making fun of the series. McMahan teases something really special coming for fans, born out of the realization that it’s the last run. He teases Star Trek icons making guest appearances, and a big event fans will love to see air. 

A fan question says Lower Decks grew into his fav Star Trek show. He asks if there could be another chance after Lower Decks for its characters to “collab” on another show. O’Connell says he wants an ep where he meets the hottest Number One in Starfleet. Noel wants to be painted green for the crossover ep.

Another fan gets the crowd chanting “Lower Decks!” One last time – O’Connell steps in saying it’s weird for him since he spends time on the bridge. The crowd won’t chant bridge. A fan dressed as Brad asks which character inspires the cast. Quaid is touched – until Newsome mocks him. Newsome likes Ben Sisko; Wells reps the Lower Decks roster; O’Connell loved Jon Frakes b/c his character is “California Ryker”. McMahan also says Frakes, b/c Frakes kept leaning on him to be in Season 1. Quaid also goes with Frakes, sharing how his The Boys co-star Karl Urban introduced them at a convention, which ended in “Convention Steaks with Frakes.” McMahan goes back and throws in George Takei, out of deep guilt for not doing so originally.

McMahan and Kurtzman tell fans if they want to save the show, watch the final season a million times. Kurtzman praises the fan petitions, telling them to do for Lower Decks what they did for Prodigy.

Newsome is asked about being the most badass character in Star Trek – she loves the love, but also says that as an older black female actress the true joy is getting to be a character who is a mess, and not the sassy superwoman she gets type cast as. O’Connell shares his friendship with Wi Weaton and how Star Trek made that happen. He thanks fans for accepting him into the franchise.

An older fan asks the franchise not to make her wait decades for another set of strong female characters like Burnham and Mariner. A younger fan says he doesn’t really mess with Star Trek, but wants some good concept pitches for films or series. Newsome says she wants to go to a Marvel panel and ask the same.

A fan thanks Kurtzman for the new universe and celebrates the inclusionary themes of the series. Being in a wheelchair, she asks if the franchise will offer more disability inclusion. Kurtzman reveals they just built a Delta wheelchair for a character in Starfleet Academy. So definitely.

Simien and Newsome do a bit about the fan who indirectly asked about black Star Trek. Kurtzman tees up Newsome as a writer saying she’s “crazy good.” They joke about the unplanned nature of the announcement and Simien reveals they are pregnant… with a new Star Trek show. Simien credits Star Trek: TNG (Q’s Paradox ep) for inspiring him to make Dear White People. Newsome thanks Kurtzman for his words and talks about the anxiety of joining the Starfleet Academy writers’ room. She jokes about coming from Second City performer’s background and how she found a voice (along with a drinking problem) that has helped her write Star Trek. She stops the panel to tell fans to be nicer to Kurtzman, who personally paid the Starfleet Academy writer through the strike, out of pocket. 

Newsome and Simien and Newsome tease how much they can say with Kurtzman teasing that it’s not much. Newsome wants to feed the blogs with cryptic loglines. Newsome and Simien each pitch funny bad bloglines that are vague or outright ridiculous. 

“Vibes,” is the one Kurtzman likes – until he reveals that it’s Star Trek’s first live-action comedy show.

Starfleet Academy is up next, with Nova Landau and Kurtzman taking the stage. Kurtzman explains the show is set in the 32nd Century and Holly Hunter is a “very different kind” of chancellor and instructor at the academy. He tells fans to go watch Raising Arizona and her Oscar-winning The Piano performance. 

Kurtzman recounts learning Paul Giamatti is a Trek fan and how he wants to be a Klingon. He reveals Giamatti cried when they offered him a role. The Oscar-winning actor chose his own role and shocked Kurtzman and Landau when he jumped in to be the villain for the whole season. 

Kurtzman and Landau tease a very different kind of show – a hybrid chow that’s part about school and part classic Trek. They play a video of the cast each learning they got their roles, and their reactions over video calls – which are priceless. Lot of tears, shock, and validation, and the personality of each cast member really shows through. The panel praises the young cast of the show as both beautiful and talented. 

Kurtzman reveals that legacy cast members will be in Starfleet Academy: Tig Notaro, Aded Fehr, Mary Wiseman, and Robert Picardo will all be coming to Starfleet Academy. 

Landau leaves the stage, and Section 31 is announced. Latunde Osunsanmi, Sam Richardson, Kacey Rohl, and Omari Hardwick join Kurtzman onstage. Hardick’s pink leather jacket and chaps are a look.  Video interrupts the panel, and it’s Michelle Yeoh, saying that no one was talking Section 31 without her. She announces some new footage that will play. 

The SEction 31 footage opens with a desert, and a girl covered in blood standing in it, The Sizzle reel and narration tease this Young Georgiaou murdering villagers and getting her Terran Empire armor. And older Georgious is shown joining Section 31 and walking with her squall as Beyonce’s “Formation” plays. A sizzle reel of action espionage and comedy plays briefly, culminating in Richardson’s character at a table with the Squad, saying that they can’t trust her at all but hey, they gotta rely on her? 

The trailer hits so hard that they replay it.  Simien is marveling at how Beyonce giving them music. Kurtzman teases how well the film turned out, and what could happen if fans support it. Hardwick describes working with Michelle Yeoh and how dialed in and incredible she is – including the action. Richardson jokes about the fighting shooting and sitting down he did in the film, praising the stunt coordinators and Yeoh as a “Kung Fu Queen.” 

Director Osunsanmi talks about the shock of seeing Georgia killed off so quickly at first, and how took the character in a new direction with her Terran mirror variant. He says making the film with Yeoh was a pleasure and fans should love the result.

Rohl talks about playing canon character Rachel Garrett (Trish O’Neal) and being so happy with it. Hardwick is asked to spill tea and says he will go there: calling Section 31 “Guardians of the Galaxy on Steroids,” full of ass-kicking, humor, and indeed, sitting. He says the Star Trek expertise and acting talent allowed them to make a “beautiful mess” of an ensemble movie. He thanks fans for giving them a shot. Richardson’s breakout line from the trailer about a ship flight being “Bumpy and Bad” is going to be a meme for 2024. Richardson will play a Camoloid from Star Trek 6 – a shapeshifter. 

Q&A starts with a fan asking if we’ll get an official Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover. Kurtzman tells him to come to the Star Trek/Doctor Who panel to get that answer. 

Hardwick is asked if he’s coming back to Power. He jokes that in an alt-universe he was kidnapped by Kurtzman and leveled up by joining Star Trek. So probably not.