The creator and showrunner of our favorite Star Trek animated show, Lower Decks, just signed a deal with CBS. This new agreement will keep Mike McMahan under CBS’s watchful eye for the next two years. The network will have exclusive rights to shows and other content that McMahan creates during this time.
According to the story in Variety, Alec Botnick, senior vice president of comedy development and head of animation at CBS Studios, says that McMahan’s vision is a valuable one.
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“We feel so fortunate that Mike chose to partner with us for this next stage of his career,” said Botnick in the Variety article. “He is a true savant whose passion for and knowledge of animation is inspirational. Being able to be a part of his journey and helping him realize the stories he wants to tell, and how he wants to tell them is the reason many of us got into this business.”
McMahan’s Star Trek show ran for ten episodes earlier this year and was the first Trek show to feature comedy. Some feel that those ten episodes might compose the very best first season for any Trek show, outside of The Original Series.
Updates on Lower Decks’ second season
Just a few days before this new announcement was made public, McMahan appeared on Nick Ketwolski’s popular YouTube channel to talk about a whole bunch of topics.
Ketwolski broke form during this video interview, which was much more like a podcast, and McMahan gave us a bunch of information on what we can expect for Season Two of Lower Decks. Here are just a few McMahan quotes from the interview:
“I can tell you right now, we are so deep in production. Not only is it all written, but I’ve got episode 209 to watch over this week in animatic format. And we have already sent the first four episodes to coloring departments.”
“We call them (the ships seen during the first season finale) Pakled Battle Harpies, and they are involved in the second season, with a lot of good world-building.”
“I was very surprised with how long [international distribution] has taken, but we are aware of it. It is clearly something we want to have happen and there should be news about it fairly soon… but these are conversations that I’m involved in, but not in charge of. We totally hear you, we are desperately working on it and we are completely invested in getting it done.”
“Riker is back in the second season, with Boimler serving onboard the Titan, and you’ll hear some more Jazz (puns) in the upcoming season.”
“The new head of security is… I’m really just excited for (everyone) to see how it is. I’m really proud of everything we did with the character there.”
Thanks to Ketwolski for this great interview! We all learned a lot about Lower Decks’ future. Watch them both below:
Star Trek: Lower Decks’ first season is available to stream on CBS All Access.
