Back in October, Star Trek franchise boss Alex Kurtzman told us that he was working on a five-year plan for Trek projects, and during today’s Star Trek: Picard press tour today, he told us — just barely — about what we’ll be hearing about next as the Star Trek universe continues to expand.

Speaking to an assembled group of reporters (including TrekCore.com) during CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Picard press tour in Pasadena, CA this morning Kurtzman — along with Trek executive producing partner Heather Kadin — spoke about the state of the upcoming Section 31 series, their view on the ongoing Short Treks project, and more.

Star Trek: Picard is the second live-action series that this producer team has launched, after the somewhat calamitous start of Discovery which resulted in multiple showrunner changes, premiere delays, and other behind-the-scenes issues during first two years of its run.

We had the chance to ask Kurtzman what lessons his team took from the early days of Discovery which influenced the way they’ve approached getting Star Trek: Picard off the ground — and expanding into a second season of episodes.

ALEX KURTZMAN:

We’ve started working on Season 2 [of ‘Picard’], and we have a really excellent story, I think — and a very surprising one. But I think it’s really important for us to take it piece by piece. Part of this, too, is getting reactions from people.

Before we lock things, down it’s terribly important to listen to fans, and hear what they like — and what they didn’t respond to — or what wasn’t clear, and make sure we’re tacking accordingly. I learned when I started working in the ‘Star Trek’ world that that’s a really essential part of making these shows.

You have to listen carefully and understand that sometimes when people are complaining about things, they’re actually complaining about something else; there’s a different problem [below the surface] and you have to get to the root of that problem.

So I want to give a little room to learn from people’s reactions.

The obvious on-screen reaction response in Discovery‘s second year was the return of hair to the Klingon species, radically redesigned for the show when it was still under Bryan Fuller’s purview; hopefully nothing quite rises to that level when Star Trek: Picard debuts on January 23.

The conversation then made its way from Star Trek: Picard to the overall state of the Star Trek Universe, as the brand was titled at this year’s Comic Con events; Heather Kadin took the lead in giving an update on the Georgiou-centric Section 31 show.

HEATHER KADIN: 

[‘Section 31’ is] in active development. So that’s obviously a huge priority; Michelle [Yeoh’s] character [Georgiou] is so unique, and you’ve never seen that before. Again, it has to fall under the guise of, ‘is this [show] a unique space we haven’t explored yet?”

And then also, the animated shows [‘Lower Decks’ and the untitled Nickelodeon project] are also really going to provide that too. For someone like me, who gets to work on these shows — and then two nights a week, go watch a cut of ‘Lower Decks’ — it’s a blast.

So I hope we continue to find those new avenues.

ALEX KURTZMAN:

There are two more live action shows that haven’t been announced yet.

While Kurtzman declined to expand on the focus of those two newly-revealed series — which are in addition to Discovery, Picard, and Section 31 — we’re sure that this single sentence will generate a tornado of speculation as to what may fill those slots.

We’ve known for nearly 18 months that the shows we know about aren’t the only ones which have been rumored; all the way back in June 2018 we first heard reports in the Hollywood trades that a Starfleet Academy-based series was under consideration as part of Kurtzman’s overall Trek franchise deal, which could certainly still be in the mix for one of these new shows.

In addition, Kurtzman and team have been clearly acknowledging the fan demand for a Captain Pike series — with Anson Mount reprising his role from Discovery in a show of his own — which also seems to be a likely candidate for the second slot.

Until CBS All Access makes any official announcements on the Star Trek franchise’s next move, however, it’s up to us — and to you — to discuss the possibilities these additional shows may bring for Trek as Kurtzman’s “five year” plan rolls ahead.

Regarding the just-wrapped second run of Star Trek: Short Treks, Kurtzman also noted that some of the new behind-the-scenes talent fostered in those short productions are continuing on with the franchise as well.

ALEX KURTZMAN:

I’ve loved the ‘Short Treks’ because they’re a really interesting testing ground both for different kinds of stories, and also different talent. Breaking new directors, new writers, younger writers, composers, and we’ve taken one of the composers and now put them on one of the series. So it’s very interesting and it’s been educational for us.

I love making them. I think there’s something so satisfying just from a pure creative point of view of figuring out how to tell a full story in ten to fifteen minutes or sometimes even less. I go back to the Pixar shorts — the shorts make you cry in two minutes. That’s a talent. That’s a real art to doing that.

They tell very emotional, very fulsome stories in such a short period of time, so it’s just another way of telling really interesting ‘Star Trek’ stories.

We also asked him about the status of international availability for viewers outside of the US and Canada — who have not been able to see any of the 2019-2020 Short Treks as of this writing, to which Kurtzman would only comment that he expects that they will make their way to Netflix “at some point.”

Hopefully this year’s slate of Short Treks will make their way overseas sometime soon, but for now we’ll have to keep waiting, along with all of the international fans who are in the same boat.

Star Trek: Picard launches January 23 on CBS All Access and January 24 internationally.