It’s a time of transition in the world of Star Trek. The sci-fi franchise is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, but its future feels a whole lot more uncertain than such a significant milestone would normally imply. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has wrapped filming on its fifth and final season. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy won’t continue beyond its already filmed second outing. And while we technically still have full seasons of both those shows still to air, for the first time in over a decade, there’s no new Trek in the works. Nothing’s in production, nothing’s been announced, and nothing’s in development. Even talk surrounding potential projects, like the formerly buzzy James Kirk prequel going by the name Star Trek: Year One, seems to have stalled. (The dismantling of the Enterprise sets from Strange New Worlds certainly seems like a bad sign there, as well.) No one seems to know what’s next for the franchise, and that includes many of the folks who have starred in it. Jonathan Frakes is probably most recognizable for playing William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but he’s also made guest appearances in a half dozen subsequent series, from Star Trek: Voyager to Star Trek: Picard.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Speaking to TrekMovie.com’s All Access: Star Trek podcast, Frakes admits that the current state of Trek production — or lack thereof — is “unfortunate,” but points out that, after 60 years, the franchise is nothing if not resilient. “I think, sadly, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our incredible franchise, it seemed very unfortunate that they’ve chosen this moment to not have any new Trek in production,” he said. “It seems like a very unfortunate irony. I’m sure that Trek will resurface, it always has, and it always will. And the power that Roddenberry invested in it seems to have made it through six decades.” If anyone would know, it would probably be Frakes. He’s been around this franchise for decades, helmed episodes across seven different Trek series, and directed two feature films. Most recently, he directed an episode of Starfleet Academy, and has a rather frank read on the multiple reasons why modern Trek may be struggling at the moment. “Some people who either didn’t like or didn’t approve or didn’t support the latest endeavors, for whatever reason,” he says. “Perhaps it’s the changing of the guard at Paramount+ and CBS [Studios]. Perhaps it’s indecision. Perhaps it’s the amount of money it costs to make how beautiful the show is; the level of the production has become this sort of “shoot to thrill” cinematic phenomenon that when we did the show back in the ’80s, we counted on storytelling and acting and the occasional camera move [laughs]. It’s a different beast now, and that beast is very expensive, and as we know, it’s called show business.”In the end, however, Frakes remains “optimistic” about Star Trek’s future, though he admits to some frustration about the lack of any news about where the franchise might be headed next.“I’m very optimistic about the future. I just wish that something was percolating now,” he says. “I know that there’s talk of another movie. I don’t think it’s going to be one of the J.J. movies. It seems it’s going to be a brand-new [idea]. I know that there’s also a percolating idea about the Paul Wesley [Star Trek: Year One], which would be the origin of Kirk, but that’s all I’ve got. All I’ve got is rumor and innuendo, and none of it is encouraging… But in truth, there will be a Star Trek on the air through 2027. That gives us a lot of time to get something else in the oven, if you will.”The post Jonathan Frakes Weighs In on the State of Modern Star Trek appeared first on Den of Geek.