After years of being a Star Trek fan, actress Tawny Newsome now gets to contribute to the franchise on multiple fronts. Since 2020, she’s been voicing Beckett Mariner on Star Trek: Lower Decks, and earlier this year, she portrayed the character in live-action for the first time in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover episode “Those Old Scientists.” Then in March, Newsome announced that she’s also one of the writers attached to the upcoming Star Trek TV show Starfleet Academy. Even this early on in the creative process though, she is well aware of her added responsibility, noting to CinemaBlend that “it’s one thing to fuck up an actress,” but another to do that while on a writing staff.
While the majority of my recent conversation with Newsome revolved around Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, which can be watched in its entirety with a Paramount+ subscription, I also inquired with her about how things are coming along with Starfleet Academy. She started off by saying this:
Yeah, I can only speak to what they’ve already said in the press because it’s one thing to fuck up and say some shit that you’re not supposed to as an actor, but as a writer, it’s no good. You get in a lot more trouble. So I’ll be very careful and say that yes, we are back. It is great, it is fun, we have a great group of people.
I don’t blame her for being more cautious now that she’s one of the creative minds behind breathing life into a Star Trek story rather than just reading the lines others have written for her. If she spills the beans on story details that aren’t supposed to be shared with the public for a long time, the consequences would be more severe. So while obviously Newsome has to be on her guard when it comes to talking about Lower Decks, it’s even more important when it comes to Starfleet Academy.
Still, given that this upcoming show is expected to revolve around younger protagonists, I wanted to get Tanwy Newsome’s thoughts on being part of expanding the Star Trek franchise into a more young adult space, similar to what was done with Prodigy, which has now been set up at Netflix. The writer clarified that hasn’t given that as much thought as bringing humor to the project, saying:
I don’t know the answer to that. I know that the type of Star Trek I always like seeing and making are things that feel very… I always gravitate towards funny. My whole career has been in comedy, so that’s definitely what I bring to anything I write, and any room that I’m in I’m always trying to bring the funny, so I hope I can do that here. Yeah, it’s been great to just make Star Trek with a bunch of very lovely people.
Newsome certainly does know her way around the comedic block, because along with Star Trek: Lower Decks, her other credits in that field include Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, Space Force and the recently-released movie Quiz Lady, which is accessible to Hulu subscribers. So because she brought up bringing “the funny,” I asked her if we can expect Starfleet Academy to feature the same kind of humor Lower Decks does, and she responded:
I can’t say that. And honestly, because it’s so early. Anything I say, it could not be the case by the time you see the thing. So I really don’t want to give any false hope. I can say that it will be a very cool show that I think audiences are going to love, and that I am a funny person, so I’m always trying to put funny shit in all of my scripts. That’s my very careful answer (laughs).
Along with Tawny Newsome, other behind-the-scenes talent on Starfleet Academy include Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau as the co-showrunners, and they’re also executive producing alongside Gaia Violo (who’s written the premiere episode), Aaron Baiers, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa and John Weber. Specific plot details are being kept secret for now, but since it’s said in the announcement that the Academy has reopened admission for the first time in “over a century,” this has prompted speculation that it will be set sometime in Star Trek: Discovery’s 32nd century time period.
As soon as the picture concerning what to expect from Starfleet Academy becomes clearer, we’ll let you know. Until then, keep track of our continuing coverage on the entire Star Trek franchise, and be sure to read why Tawny Newsome thinks Lower Decks Season 4 big bad Nick Locarno and classic Trek baddie Khan are similar.