Let's take a look at the most popular theories and see how well they hold up.
The show will be set in the JJ-verse
During an interview with Crave in 2013, Bryan Fuller (the showrunner for Star Trek 2017) was asked about whether or not he had pitched a new Star Trek show to CBS. He denied having made a pitch but had let it be known he was interested in creating a Star Trek TV show.
“I would love to create a Star Trek show, so that’s on my dream docket. I think there’s something very exciting about the new J.J. Abrams-verse, and there’s also kind of an interesting reinvention. How would The Next Generation evolve from that? Where would that be? Where would that go?"
"Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed."A pretty clear indication there from Fuller than he is interested in exploring the JJ-verse but would that even be possible? The Star Trek film rights are owned by Paramount and the TV show rights are owned by CBS and the two have an awful track record of cooperating, would Paramount let CBS into their private Star Trek reality? That said would the agreement between the two actually limit that?From a brand perspective it sort of does make sense for there to be one shared Star Trek reality, two different Star Trek series (a film series and a TV series) coexisting at the same time but being in separate realities could be a barrier to entry for your average viewer and it's those viewers that both are courting. It is no secret that the JJ films have been an effort to broaden the appeal of Star Trek and the box office numbers have shown that to be a success, likewise CBS needs Star Trek 2017 to appeal to a lot of people if it is to help CBS All Access hit it's projected figures. Just because something make sense though doesn't make it a reality.
The font used for the words Star Trek is at first glance pretty reminiscent of that used for the JJ films but I think that is mainly because of the 3D effect and the texturing they have gone with, when you look at the lettering itself it does look pretty retro Star Trek which makes sense and does explain away similarities to the font used for the reboots after all they are meant to be retro Star Trek, some similarity makes sense.
Birth. Movies. Death. editor-in-chief Devin Faraci has claimed to have no less than four inside sources stating that the new show won't be set in the JJ-verse. Without wanting to question Devin Faraci's integrity or journalism standards it is only fair to draw attention to the fact that he had confirmation from inside sources prior to the release of 'Into Darkness' that stated Khan would not appear in the film, to be fair though the studio were trying to keep that a secret so that it would be a surprise reveal for the movie hence the John Harrison persona, it wouldn't really make much sense to lie about what reality the series will take place in in the hopes that it would result in a plot twist.
Regardless of what anyone 'in the know' is saying, in all likelihood the relationship and agreements between CBS and Paramount would likely prevent this one from ever happening even if CBS wanted to do it which I suspect they wouldn't, whilst it makes sense from a branding perspective CBS just aren't likely to want to allow Paramount any control or influence (whether direct or indirect) over their Star Trek product.
The USS Enterprise won't be the focus of the story the USS Reliant will
This rumour again starts off with a Bryan Fuller interview from 2013. This time with Den of Geek, the question is again one asking what Fuller would want to do for a new Star Trek show.
Perhaps Reliant will get the last laugh on poor old Enterprise?Back in 2013 during an interview with Den of Geek, Bryan Fuller when asked about what he would want to do for a new Star Trek show he said "I would love to do something on the [U.S.S] Reliant… I want Angela Bassett to be the captain, that’s who I would love to have, you know Captain Angela Bassett and First Officer Rosario Dawson. I would love to do that version of the show.”Besides being fans of the actors named no-one actually thought to ask Fuller why specifically he wanted the U.S.S. Reliant. Going back to his Crave interview though he did state "I have a very specific idea that I would love to do. We’ll see if I ever get the opportunity." To me the USS Reliant with a Captain and First Officer already decided on seems pretty specific to me. Was he talking about the same thing?
When asked about the USS Enterprise his answer was "I think let that be the movies and let that be their story." The specific reference to the Enterprise just being a focus for the movies could actually reinforce the rumours about the JJ-verse setting, I think it's more likely that he is simply saying that the movies always focus on the stories of the Enterprise, regardless of which version, where as the shows have the scope to explore the stories of far more characters and ships.
Devin Faraci's sources have apparently confirmed that the Enterprise won't be the setting for the new show. Again though, take from that what you will.
It seems pretty clear that Fuller wanted the USS Reliant but that was three years ago, things change and even if he still does want it that doesn't necessarily mean he gets what he wants, using the Reliant would surely limit the story telling opportunities as well, sure there would still be enough but in terms of continuity there isn't as much breathing room as other options would have allowed for. Not having the Enterprise as the focal point for the show would allow Fuller much more creative freedom, that definitely sounds plausible.
The show will feature different ships in different time periods
Ladies and gentleman it's Mr Devin Faraci again. Apparently a trusted source has told him that the new show will be "a seasonal anthology", the first season will take place after The Undiscovered Country but before The Next Generation (which would rule out the original USS Reliant since that was destroyed in The Wrath of Khan) but all bets are off for the subsequent seasons "After that the entire Star Trek universe is potentially open.".
To me the idea sounds a bit messy, if you want the show to appeal to casual audiences is it going to be difficult to jump in to if your, cast and setting keep changing year in year out? "What happened to Angela Bassett I thought she was the Captain?" "Angela Bassett? Her character's been dead 200 years at this point!" "How many episodes did I miss???"
Space... The final frontier. These are the 11pm to 7am voyages of the Enterprise's night crew.On the other hand one of the things that some viewers found difficult to follow with Deep Space Nine and later Enterprise was the fact that they had far longer story arcs than the other Star Trek shows.I would have thought this would be unlikely, not only because it would be a big departure from everything we've seen on Star Trek before but because it really isn't the norm for most TV shows, interestingly Bryan Fuller did work on Heroes which tried to go with a new cast each season, this promptly failed though as audiences wanted to see the original characters come back resulting in the show quickly being re-written to shoehorn in characters whose stories were meant to be over, the show did end up going downhill fast but how much of that was as a result of the audiences not being willing to have the focus change is hard to say.
The teaser trailer did specifically state new crews, plural. Yes a single crew would encounter other crews but still you wouldn't say it like that would you? This does seem to strongly state that the new show will focus on different crews rather than the stories of a particular ship and crew.
If you are going to focus on several different crews then you could do this all in one time period but would that get messy? Quite possibly. It also might limit the story telling opportunities, "we can't explore over there because Dave and his crew explore over there!".
Different time periods solves this problem with a literally infinite canvas for story telling you do have to wonder though how invested the viewers will be in the crews if they get swapped out every year. Whilst it certainly wouldn't be impossible to generate buy-in from the audience if you look at the first seasons of most Star Trek shows how deeply invested were you in any of the characters by the end of the first season? Ok generally speaking the first seasons were the weakest seasons of probably every Star Trek show as the cast and crew struggled to really nail down their own unique identity but still it does create a bigger challenge for all involved.
What rumours do you think hold up or are just the ramblings of crazy internet people? Do you have any theories you want to discuss? Tell us!
