From the looks of this trailer, documentary series The Centre Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek will consist mostly of interviews with cast and crew members across the beloved, long-running franchise — providing sort of an oral history of the show. A spicy oral history of the show, if the intriguingly fun soundbites in its new trailer are any indication. It only makes us want to see more.
Created by the Nacelle Company (Netflix’s The Movies That Made Us and The Toys That Made Us; Disney+’s Behind the Attraction) and the History Channel, the series is narrated by Dr. Beverly Crusher herself, Gates McFadden, and directed by Nacelle Company founder Brian Volk-Weiss.
Here’s a bit more on the documentary series from a press release:
“The series will be released this fall just in time for Star Trek’s 55th anniversary, each episode focuses on a different chapter in the groundbreaking program’s history, ranging from its inception at Lucille Ball’s legendary production company Desilu, to its later iterations Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Interviews with cast, crew, and experts reveal never-before-seen backstage stories and offer fresh insights. No stone is left unturned, including lesser-known aspects of the franchise like The Animated Series and Phase II. Star Trek is the most iconic television science-fiction saga of all time and remains more popular than ever. The Centre Seat details how it began, where it’s been, and how it’s boldly going where no television series has ever gone before!”
The interview list is rather staggering, with Nichelle Nichols, Brent Spiner, Kirstie Alley, Walter Koenig, Kate Mulgrew, Denise Crosby, Wil Wheaton, John De Lancie, Nicholas Meyer, Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, Nana Visitor, Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Diana Muldaur, Nicole de Boer, Roxann Dawson, Robert Beltran, Tim Russ, John Billingsley, John Dykstra, D.C. Fontana, Rick Berman, and F. Murray Abraham all sharing their stories. It appears that The Centre Seat won’t be touching too much on the current Star Trek series, like Discovery, Picard, and Lower Decks — but those all have new episodes currently airing or soon to air, so they’re still adding to the show’s legend. (Maybe there’ll be a Centre Seat part two including cast and crew from those titles when it’s time for the 60th anniversary?)
The press release doesn’t specify how many episodes (it was initially touted as an eight-part series when announced back in March) or give a release date other than “this fall,” but it seems likely that the Nacelle Company’s New York Comic Con panel tomorrow might reveal more specific details on how we can dig into this one.