With Discovery Season 2 set to launch January 17th being supplemented with Short Treks and the untitled Picard Project, CBS has announced another extension to the Star Trek universe with the first CBS All Access adult animated series, Lower Decks.
Focusing on the lowest ranking members of one of Starfleet’s least important ships, Lower Decks is a new half hour adult comedy series being penned by Rock & Morty’s head writer Mike McMahon.
“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.’” Star Trek overlord Alex Kurtzman told Deadline, “As we broaden the world of ‘Trek’ to fans of all ages, we’re so excited to include Mike’s extraordinary voice.”
Rick & Morty fans won’t be surprised to know that McMahon is a huge fan as he described the new job as “a surreal and wonderful dream come true.” Once upon a time McMahon was the man behind the popular Next Generation Season 8 twitter account, posting comedic season 8 episode plots and more recently was involved in writing Rain Wilson’s Harry Mudd-centric episode of Short Treks, due for release later this year.
Already commissioned for a two-season run, Lower Decks joins Discovery, Untitled Picard Show and potentially a few more as CBS continues to invest in the revival of Star Trek to lead their subscription service. With Discovery covering the 23rd century and the Picard show returning to the late 24th (and potentially early 25th) century, there’s no real indication on where Lower Decks will fall just yet.
Star Trek: Lower Decks will be written by ike McMahon and produced by Secret Hideout Productions and CBS Eye Animation Studios. No release date or information on international distribution has yet been set.
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