New animated ‘Star Trek’ comedy series ‘Lower Decks’ headed to CBS All Access
The newest “Star Trek” series will officially be a comedy.
CBS All Access announced Thursday its two-season order of “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” a half-hour animated comedy about the support staff serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships.
The series will be developed by Emmy Award-winning “Rick and Morty” producer and writer Mike McMahan.
“As a life-long Trekkie, it’s a surreal and wonderful dream come true to be a part of this new era of ‘Star Trek,’” said McMahan in a press release. “While ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ is a half-hour, animated show at its core, it’s undeniably ‘Trek’ — and I promise not to add an episode at the very end that reveals the whole thing took place in a training program.”
“Lower Decks” will be produced by CBS Television’s new animation arm CBS Eye Animation Productions, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
McMahan will serve as executive producer along with Secret Hideout’s Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin, Roddenberry Entertainment’s Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth, as well as Katie Krentz. The show will also be co-executive produced by Aaron Baiers, who brought McMahan to the project.
“Mike won our hearts with his first sentence: ‘I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end,’” said Kurtzman in a press release. “His cat’s name is Riker. His son’s name is Sagan. The man is committed.”
He added: “He’s brilliantly funny and knows every inch of every ‘Trek’ episode, and that’s his secret sauce: He writes with the pure, joyful heart of a true fan. As we broaden the world of ‘Trek’ to fans of all ages, we’re so excited to include Mike’s extraordinary voice.”
“Lower Decks” is the second animated series of the “Star Trek” franchise. The first, “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 and won the franchise its first Emmy (the 1975 Daytime Emmy for children’s series).
The streaming service CBS All Access is already home to the live-action “Star Trek: Discovery,” which is slated to return for its second season on Jan. 17, 2019, as well as the short series “Star Trek: Short Treks.”
Twitter: @tracycbrown
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