new 'Star Trek' animated comedy series coming from 'Rick & Morty' writer

There’s a new animated series coming to the Star Trek universe that takes a Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead approach to the Starfleet crew members you normally only see in the background. Star Trek: Lower Decks is being created by Mike McMahan, who has been a writer on Adult Swim’s hugely popular Rick & Morty, and will air on streaming service CBS: All Access (where Star Trek: Discovery also airs). Entertainment Weekly reports that the series will focus “on the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships.”

“Mike won our hearts with his first sentence: ‘I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end,’” executive producer Alex Kurtzman told EW. “[McMahan’s] cat’s name is Riker. His son’s name is Sagan. The man is committed. He’s brilliantly funny and knows every inch of every Trek episode, and that’s his secret sauce: he writes with the pure, joyful heart of a true fan. As we broaden the world of Trek to fans of all ages, we’re so excited to include Mike’s extraordinary voice.” McMahan also used run a Twitter account dedicated to episode plot synopses on a nonexistent Season 8 of Star Trek: The Next Generation which then got turned into a book.

This is not the first animated Trek show. Original series creator Gene Roddenberry launched Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1973 that, while featuring cheapo Filmation Studios animation, sported voice work from most of the original cast and stories by some of the series’ writers.