San Diego Comic-Con was this past weekend and as always, the Trekkies were there. This year several panels were covering Star Trek such as the Klingon Lifestyle Presentation, Boldly Exploring Comics, and the big one, the Star Trek Universe panel. Unfortunately, I live in the PNW now, not the desert southwest, so I am no longer three hours away from San Diego. Sorry guys. I wish I could have gone but hopefully, I can attend the Emerald City Comic-Con this year so I can catch up in person then. For now, I will have to content myself with the internet and what I can find there. Let’s see what I found.
It was said on X that the Star Trek booth had Lower Decks‘ menagerie at the booth. Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy was a hot topic at the Con. It was confirmed that season three of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is coming in 2025 SDCC got to see the first trailer for Star Trek: Lower Decks’ fifth and final season and the new movie, Star Trek: Section 31, was in the Star Trek Universe panel.
The Star Trek Universe panel moderator was Justin Simien from Dear White People. His panel was five different shows so the panelists changed often. With as many different panelists as there were, it was probably good they changed them out instead of trying to have them all up there. The executive producer, Alex Kurtzman, was present for all of the panel parts and there were teaser trailers for each endeavor.
From Strange New Worlds we got Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers, Rebecca Romjin, and Ethan Peck. Akiva was great up there, funny and personable but the rest felt stiff. When they were asked who was being shipped, Akiva was vague but funny and no one else really answered. They were also asked who they would like to bring in and Rebecca said Jack Ransom played by her husband, Jerry O’Connell. Season 3 brings Dr. Roger Korby, who I don’t know who he is. We also find out that Scotty will be there and that it is renewed for season four.
For Lower Decks, there was Mike McMahan, Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noel Wells, and Jerry O’Connell. When asked what characters inspired them most from Star Trek, Tawny answered Ben Sisko and Noel picked the characters from their show because they are inspiring and funny. Jack, Jerry, and Mike picked Jonathan Frakes/Ryker. Mostly because they respect and look up to Jonathan, but also because Ryker was awesome. When asked what the ending will be like Mike answered that the finale will be the ending of a chapter rather than the end all/be all for the characters. A kid, not that big of a fan (his words, not mine), wanted to know if an animated movie for Star Trek were to come out when would it be? A question that tickled Tawny and to which Jack answered what kind of animated show he would pitch. One lady, who started watching Star Trek with the original Ohura and named other noteworthy black women in Star Trek, asked when more strong black women would be depicted. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much said about it, which was disappointing.
From Star Fleet Academy we got Noga Landau, so she and Alex were the only two for this leg of the panel. They were quite vague and didn’t give anything away except they were looking for one more person. In the video for Star Fleet Academy, you got to meet the recruits but because I wasn’t there, I didn’t get to view any of the videos. We did get told about the legacy casting. They are Tig Nataro as Jet Reno, Oded Fehr as Admiral Vance, Mary Wiseman as Tilly, and Robert Picardo will reprise his role as the EMH from Voyager. And finally, from Section 31 we got Olatunde Osunsanmi, Sam Richardson, Kacey Rohl, and Omari Hardwick. Michelle Yeoh showed up on video but not as a panelist who is supposed to be the black ops spies of Star Fleet. This is the movie I was talking about earlier but is different from the ones with Chris Pine.
Last but not least, the authors were well-represented for autographs. The Star Trek authors that were available for autographs were Justina Ireland, Cavan Scott, Tessa Gratton, Alyssa Wong, and George Mann. That would have been where to find me.
Did you make it to SDCC this year? Who did you go see? Was it any of the Star Trek panels? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the Castle!
