Star Trek purists have good reason to feel optimistic about the newest series in the franchise: The CBS show will reach TV screens in 2017 sharing a lot of DNA with earlier, beloved Star Trek shows and films—literally. Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the 42-year-old son of original series creator Gene Roddenberry, has been hired as executive producer for the series, along with his Roddenberry Entertainment business partner, Trevor Roth, according to Deadline Hollywood.
“Moral dilemmas, human issues, complex characters and a genuine sense of optimism: These are the cornerstones of Star Trek and are what have made it such an influential and beloved franchise for the last 50 years,” Roddenberry said in a statement. “While I will always be humbled by its legacy and the legions of fans who are its guardians, it’s a genuine honor to be joining a team of imaginative and incredibly capable individuals whose endeavor it is to uphold the tenets of Star Trek’s legacy while bringing it to audiences in a new era and on a contemporary platform.”
Roddenberry previously served as a consulting producer for the fan-made series Star Trek: New Voyages, as well as producer for the documentary Trek Nation. He and Roth will work alongside fellow executive producers Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, and Bryan Fuller, the last of whom will also be taking up showrunning duties. Fuller, before creating the critically lauded series Hannibal, got his start in the TV industry writing for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. On top of that, Nicholas Meyer, the writer-director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and co-writer of two other Trek films (even-numbered ones), has recently come on board as a writer and executive producer. This seems to be a team full of non-redshirts.