We know that there will be a few more entries to the Star Trek: Discovery “Short Trek” series this spring — but now we know one will be directed by Star Trek Kelvin Timeline composer Michael Giacchino!
Announced today by Alex Kurtzman at the Television Critics Association press tour, the composer of Star Trek ’09, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond will be taking the reigns of one of the upcoming animated “Short Trek” tales set to debut after Discovery wraps up for the year.
Giacchino has been involved with plenty of animated presentations through his work with Disney and Pixard – most recently with last summer’s Incredibles 2 – and of course has been behind the memorable scores of dozens of features from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Mission: Impossible and many television shows along the way.
"We are doing two more short treks, they're going to be animated, different than the lower decks" #AlexKurtzman #StarTrekDiscovery — "One will be directed by @CenterWillHold and the other directed by @m_giacchino"
— Star Trek (@StarTrek) January 30, 2019
As for his directing background, to date he’s only been credited with a short film — Monster Challenge starring Patton Oswalt — but as a long-time Trek fan, the “Short Treks” arena may be a nice arena for some experimentation.
Also joining Giacchino for some “Short Trek” action will be mainstay Discovery director and producer Olatunde Osunsnami, who will be taking on the other planned animated short.
In other Discovery news out of the TCA presentation — where Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Ethan Peck, and Anson Mount were joined by producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin — a number of topics we’ve already heard about were discussed — from Kurtzman on the showrunner changes last year to recasting Pike and Spock for the series.
They wouldn’t say just when we’ll see Spock on the show — the first production photo of the character is noted for Episode 207 — but Kadin described the Vulcan’s arrival to be “different than what you would have expected.”
Kurtzman also pointedly avoided answering a question regarding the possibility of seeing the Romulans in Discovery — an issue due to the first face-to-face Federation / Romulan conversation not occurring until “Balance of Terror.”
Alex Kurtzman says he won't answer a question about Romulans appearing in #startrekdiscovery–a very Romulan answer #TCA19
— Joe Otterson (@JoeOtterson) January 30, 2019
His lack of response may mean that seeing the shadowy empire isn’t out of the question, though — as we know that Section 31 will play a large role in this year’s story, a group who could potentially interact with Romulus and keep it off-the-books (but that’s just our speculation).
In addition to all the Star Trek news, CBS confirmed today that the third season of The Good Fight will be back on March 14, and the Twilight Zone reboot from producer Jordan Peele will be arriving on April 1.
They also announced a newly-revealed adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, the classic novel depicting the apocalyptic destruction of society after the release of a “superflu” virus, will be coming as a 10-episode limited event series in 2020, last adapted for television in 1994.
There’s still no news on an official renewal for Discovery Season 3, but as we reported earlier this month, the producers are already thinking about where the story will lead if another year is green-lit by CBS.
As for this season of Star Trek: Discovery, the show returns with “Point of Light,” the third episode of the year, this Thursday on CBS All Access and Space (and on Netflix this Friday).