With five Star Trek shows streaming on Paramount+, Roddenberry Entertainment is busy as executive producers, as well as creating new content in the form of podcasts and their new partnership with Streamily.
Of course, CEO Rod Roddenberry and COO Trevor Roth are Star Trek fans themselves, and they are part of the development of shows like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Prodigy.
Screen Rant sat down with Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth at San Diego Comic Con 2022 to talk all about Star Trek, Roddenberry Entertainment’s panels at Comic Con, how Paramount+’s shows are continuing Gene Roddenberry’s vision, and their own wish list for the future of Star Trek.
Screen Rant: You have a couple of big panels here at Comic Con. Can you talk a little about what you guys are gonna present?
Trevor Roth: Yeah, later today at 1:30 in Room 24ABC, we have the Roddenberry Presents panel. We’ll be talking a lot about Star Trek, the various different shows that we’re producing, as well as a lot of the podcasts and sort of supplementary things we’re doing and [we’re] very excited to talk about those things leading into tomorrow’s panel with Streamily.
They’re a partner that we’re actually on the floor with. We have a booth with [them] this week. And we’re really focusing with them on sort of our area of fandom and bringing fandom up to a new level, utilizing technology to kind of provide an experience that hasn’t been provided before to fans everywhere. And then the big Hall H panel on Saturday, that will be again talking about Star Trek. You’ll hear lots of things that you haven’t heard before. You’ll see lots of cast members that will be great. All that.
Rod Roddenberry: Plenty of teasers, I’m sure.
Rod, you and I spoke last year over Zoom for the 55th anniversary of Star Trek. And since then, I mean, Lower Decks, Picard, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds. Star Trek has blown up. It’s bigger than it’s been since the 90s. Bigger.
Rod Roddenberry: It’s really incredible. For a while people have been talking about sort of doing — Listen, I hate to use another name, but I actually don’t hate to use it – Marvelizing Star Trek. Marvel has done a great job with all of their different franchises and all their different content stories. And it’s about time that Star Trek did that. And they have done it. They’ve done an incredible job. And I love the fact that all of these stories are threaded together on some level.
And they’ve done a great job representing Star Trek and bringing it into the modern day. You know, they have to walk that line of doing something new and different, but still connecting to the old. And the great thing about these five shows that we have out is that they’re all very different. And some of them really harken back to the old days. And some of them are almost completely new, and are totally new.
Prodigy is a whole new way of seeing Star Trek that I think many people, including myself, initially didn’t really think could be done. And they have blown it out of the water. It’s one of my new favorite Star Treks. So I’m very proud of what everyone has done with these new shows. And I think they’re just going to keep doing more and more I can’t wait.
Trevor Roth: Remember when it was a question of whether Deep Space Nine and Voyager could be on at the same time? Two Star Trek shows on at one time? That’s crazy!
Rod Roddenberry: That’s crazy talk.
Yeah, and now we just went through like 40 straight weeks of brand new episodes. From four shows? Amazing. Rod, your father is Gene Roddenberry, and Strange New Worlds, which I absolutely love, really just harkens back to that vision of his that he created back in the 60s. How do you think he would have reacted to seeing Strange New Worlds?
Rod Roddenberry: I think he’d be very proud of it. Again, I think something that surprised me a bit is the uniqueness of each episode of Strange New Worlds. I’m impressed that they’re doing that. It kind of shocked me at first, because we’ve got some comedic episodes – or at least, certainly some comedic moments. And these things I would initially say when reading scripts that I don’t know how this is going to play out. I don’t know how the audience is going to receive this.
You don’t like hi-jinks, Spock?
Rod Roddenberry: But they’ve nailed it. And fans are going crazy for it. And I’m so proud of all the creators. They’ve done an incredible job with Strange New Worlds. And I’m thrilled for them.
Trevor Roth: I can’t say enough good things about all the shows. Strange New Worlds definitely being one that has recently hit quite a nerve with fans. And, you know, it harkens back to the episodic way of telling Star Trek stories, of course. It brings what was Gene’s original incarnation to light 56 years later. I think that is the longest pilot to pickup ever, and we just couldn’t be prouder to be witnessing and being part of all the Star Trek that’s going on these days.
Jess Bush plays Nurse Chapel on the show, which is a character that your mother, Majel, innovated. How do you enjoy that character?
Rod Roddenberry: And Rebecca Romijn plays Una, who was Number One in “The Cage” back in the day. My mother is sort of an unsung hero, because my father went through hell, to be honest, like anyone in Hollywood really does these days, getting a new show out there. And the amount of times that he was turned down, or his idea was twisted, or taken or whatever the case is. All business is rough, but it certainly can be a rough business to content creators.
And my mother was there every step of the way. And I know many times my father was ready to walk out or leave or just throw his hands up. She stood by him and I’m so proud of her. And I’m proud that these characters are coming back, even in some small way to represent her and her character.
Absolutely. And this year is also the 40th anniversary of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Still one of the greatest movies. There’s just so much Star Trek. It’s just amazing to be a fan right now and have all this variety, plus all the legacy stuff still to just watch it endlessly. And also, speaking of that, we have two Kirks now. William Shatner and Paul Wesley are both here at the Con. And I think they had a photo op together this morning.
Trevor Roth: I was not aware of that. Yeah, I think it’s funny. I was talking to a writer not too long ago, about the idea that I think these characters are somewhat – dare I use this, but you’ll understand why – If you think about Hamlet, and these characters that can be interchanged with different actors. You know what I mean? I think that Star Trek is becoming a little bit like that, where there are different Kirks but they all represent, you know, this one being, this one character. And I think it’s very, very cool to see that, of course.
Absolutely. So I want to pick your brains a little bit more about Star Trek. As executive producers of the shows, do you have any stuff to share about the upcoming Star Trek movie?
Trevor Roth: We don’t have anything we’re able to share. We’re very excited for Star Trek to return to the big screen. And I know that a lot is being worked on over at Paramount in regard to that. Unfortunately, the details of which I’m not able to divulge, but I can say that it is definitely something that a lot of energy; a lot of focus is being brought to. And we’re very, very excited to continue to see what can happen when you’re talking about those large audiences in theaters when it comes to Star Trek. Because I think it deserves it, and that people enjoy it that way.
Next year, we’ve also got Star Trek: Picard season 3. Which, as a Next Generation fan, it’s got this big reunion. The cast is coming back together. Is there anything you can say about it?
Rod Roddenberry: I can say that I’m excited for that to happen. I’m just being a true fan, forget my last name. I look forward to seeing what they do in that situation, bringing the cast together, and seeing how that story is going to play out so much more in the future.
Trevor Roth: What I can say is that I think that in the vacuum of – if you know nothing, but you love Star Trek: The Next Generation, I think that you can definitely argue that it makes sense that those old, very deep relationships that Picard would have had with his crew would continue forward to any part of his life and come back around during certain circumstances, perhaps. And I think because of that, it allows for a lovely inclusion of these characters. And this reunion, as you call it.
As we just talked about, there’s so much Star Trek now. Basically, there’s a Star Trek show for every type of fan. And I think, you know, there’s more coming down the pipe. Do you guys have anything on your personal wish lists in terms of where Star Trek can go next?
Rod Roddenberry: Great question.
Trevor Roth: God. I mean, let me go get my list.
Rod Roddenberry: I can say it’s Strange New Worlds and, not to pick any one, [but] I’m a huge fan of Prodigy. If they can just keep doing Prodigy the way they’re doing Prodigy, which, for me, is knocking it out of the park. It’s phenomenal. The same thing for Strange New Worlds.
I am a huge fan of Anson Mount. When he came in season two of Discovery, the way he portrayed himself as Captain, sort of showing his career on the screen and talking about his faults, and basically suggesting that there’s no way they can do it unless they work as a team. Which, of course, was the exact opposite of Lorca [Jason Isaacs] the season before.
[Pike] represented Starfleet, Star Trek, and what a true leader is. That you don’t need to lead by saying, “I am the boss, you listen to me or else.” You earn that respect. And if they can keep doing that with his character and keep, as Trevor has said before, the family in Strange New Worlds a family. That is the closest to Next Gen, for me, since I’m a Next Gen fan, that I think they can they can get.
Trevor Roth: We love all the shows. Discovery and Picard and Lower Decks. I think that if we’re talking about what we hope for in the future, I think my hope is to do what I would call fill the gaps. I think that Star Trek has laid out this wonderful world, some of which we started to tell certain stories and not told the rest of them. In some cases, if you look back at canon. Other times where we’ve had time pockets and periods of time that have not yet been explored.
And I think really, it’s about filling those gaps and telling those stories that we have yet to know, or only know a little bit about, so that we can kind of fully expand on this whole universe of Star Trek, and get to see the big picture of it all together. And I think that’d be beautiful. That’d be a wonderful tapestry in my opinion.
About Roddenberry Entertainment
Roddenberry Entertainment is a science fiction leader, passionately providing thought-provoking, quality genre entertainment that sustains the legacy of our founder, Gene Roddenberry. We are devoted to producing viewer-centric entertainment that actively recognizes the integral role audiences play in the creation of any franchise, as well as the role substantive entertainment can play in bettering society. Our productions promote experience over observation; encouraging audiences to think, question and challenge the status quo of the world in which we live.
Check out our other SDCC 2022 interview with the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and catch our previous interview with Rod Roddenberry for the 55th anniversary of Star Trek.
