Star Trek entered its seventh decade this month facing a question that would have been difficult to imagine during its peak: What happens if there is no new Star Trek on the immediate horizon? NBC premiered the original series in 1966, with William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Although it ran for only three seasons, the show grew into a sprawling cultural franchise spanning television, movies, books, comics, games, conventions and merchandise. Its stories center on Starfleet, a future exploratory and peacekeeping organization whose crews travel among planets and species within the United Federation of Planets. The original program also made an explicit social statement by placing a Russian officer, a Black communications officer and a Japanese helmsman together on the bridge during the Cold War and the civil rights era. “Star Trek” has produced seven television series and a movie during the streaming era. But the two remaining series, “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” are both expected to conclude their runs. Paramount+ executives have said they want another version of the franchise, and a new writing team is reportedly developing a movie script for Paramount Pictures. Neither project has been formally announced. If no new production moves forward soon, 2027 could be the first year in roughly a decade without a new “Star Trek” television series or movie in production. That pause could give the franchise room to reassess its direction. Akiva Goldsman, co-creator and co-showrunner of “Strange New Worlds,” said streaming has changed how audiences consume television. Viewers may increasingly prefer one or two strong seasons before moving on, rather than following a single show for many years. Goldsman also defended the series’ willingness to take creative risks. “Strange New Worlds” has included a musical episode and another in which the Enterprise crew becomes puppet-like characters—choices that frustrated some longtime fans but, he argued, are part of keeping the franchise alive. Jeri Ryan, who played Seven of Nine on “Star Trek: Voyager,” said the franchise has endured because it uses science fiction to examine contemporary society. Its central message, she said, is that cooperation, empathy and respect for difference can help build a better future. Ira Steven Behr, who served as showrunner of “Deep Space Nine,” offered a more pessimistic explanation for the franchise’s current difficulties. He said “Star Trek” emerged when many Americans believed social movements and technological progress could produce a better world. In an era defined by online disinformation, political polarization and public anxiety over artificial intelligence infrastructure, that faith in technology has weakened. The franchise also faces a divided fan base. Some viewers object to recent shows’ emphasis on identity, social issues and serialized storytelling, while others want more of the political and moral questions that have long defined “Star Trek.” Behr said part of the audience is primarily looking for space battles and spectacle, rather than stories about the consequences of violence or the responsibilities of power. Anson Mount, who plays Capt. Christopher Pike on “Strange New Worlds,” said experimentation is preferable to simply reproducing familiar formulas. But he also identified a central business problem: The franchise’s audience is aging, and its current distribution strategy is not consistently introducing “Star Trek” to younger viewers. Older fans often discovered the series through broadcast reruns after school or on weekends. The last theatrical release, “Star Trek Beyond,” arrived in 2016, limiting one of the franchise’s traditional pathways to a broad new audience. The ownership and politics of Paramount have added another layer of uncertainty. Ryan questioned whether the company’s leadership is fully comfortable with a franchise built around diversity and inclusion. Paramount eliminated its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in 2025, and owner and CEO David Ellison has faced criticism over the company’s dealings with conservative President Donald Trump, allegations he has denied. A break would not be unprecedented. After “Enterprise” was canceled in 2005, four years passed before J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” film reached theaters. Behr said that earlier pause helped end a period of franchise overexposure and could serve as a useful model now. For a property whose defining promise has been that the future can improve, the challenge is not simply finding another spaceship or crew. It is determining how to make that promise meaningful to viewers who are less certain that technology, institutions or politics will deliver a better world.