Star Trek: 60 Years Timeline
From Gene Roddenberry's 1964 pitch to the 60th anniversary in 2026: every Star Trek series and film, the people who made it, and the business behind it.
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Key events
Roddenberry pitches "Star Trek"
Gene Roddenberry dates his series proposal "Star Trek is...", pitching a science fiction adventure show sometimes summed up as "Wagon Train to the stars". Desilu Productions takes it on and sells it to NBC.
First pilot "The Cage" filmed
–The first pilot is shot at Desilu with Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike, Leonard Nimoy as Spock and Majel Barrett as the first officer, Number One.
Star Trek: The Original Series
–The original series premieres on NBC with "The Man Trap" and follows Captain Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise crew for three seasons and 79 episodes. Its ratings were modest, and it found its large audience later in syndication.
Kirk and Uhura kiss in "Plato's Stepchildren"
William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols share an on-screen kiss, often cited as one of the first interracial kisses on American network television.
Star Trek: The Animated Series
–Filmation's animated continuation of the original series runs for 22 episodes on NBC, with most of the original cast voicing their characters.
Space Shuttle Enterprise rolled out
After a fan letter-writing campaign, NASA's first orbiter, planned as Constitution, is named Enterprise; Roddenberry and most of the original cast attend its rollout in Palmdale, California.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Robert Wise directs the original cast's first feature film, which brings Star Trek to cinemas a decade after the series ended.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Nicholas Meyer's sequel brings back Ricardo Montalban as Khan from the episode "Space Seed" and ends with Spock's death; it is often ranked the best of the films.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Leonard Nimoy directs the third film, in which Kirk's crew risks their careers to restore Spock.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Nimoy directs the comic time-travel adventure in which the crew visits 1986 San Francisco to find humpback whales, one of the most commercially successful films of the series.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
–Set about a century after Kirk's era, the first-run syndicated sequel follows Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the Enterprise-D for seven seasons and 178 episodes.
Death of Gene Roddenberry
Star Trek's creator dies of cardiac arrest in Santa Monica, California, at 70, weeks before the release of the sixth film.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Nicholas Meyer's Cold War allegory about peace with the Klingons is the original cast's last film together; it is dedicated to Roddenberry.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
–The first Star Trek series set on a space station rather than a starship follows Benjamin Sisko's crew beside the Bajoran wormhole over seven seasons, with long story arcs culminating in the Dominion War.
Star Trek Generations
The first Next Generation film passes the torch from Kirk to Picard, as William Shatner and Patrick Stewart share the screen.
Star Trek: Voyager
–Voyager launches the new UPN network as its flagship show, following Captain Kathryn Janeway, the franchise's first female lead captain, and a ship stranded in the Delta Quadrant for seven seasons.
Star Trek: First Contact
Jonathan Frakes directs the Next Generation crew against the Borg in a time-travel story about humanity's first meeting with the Vulcans; it is the best-reviewed of the TNG films.
Death of DeForest Kelley
DeForest Kelley, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the original series and six films, dies at 79 in Woodland Hills, California.
Star Trek: Enterprise
–A prequel set in the 2150s, Enterprise follows Captain Jonathan Archer and humanity's first deep-space voyages aboard the NX-01. Its cancellation after four seasons on UPN left the franchise without a TV series for 12 years.
Star Trek: Nemesis
The Next Generation cast's final film underperforms at the box office, and the franchise does not return to cinemas until 2009.
Death of James Doohan
James Doohan, chief engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, dies at 85 at his home in Redmond, Washington; portions of his ashes were later flown to space.
Viacom splits from CBS
Viacom divides into CBS Corporation and a new Viacom, leaving the Star Trek television franchise with CBS and the film series with Paramount Pictures under Viacom.
Star Trek (2009 film)
J.J. Abrams reboots the franchise in an alternate "Kelvin" timeline with Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, alongside Leonard Nimoy as the original Spock; it is the series' biggest hit to that point.
Star Trek Into Darkness
Abrams's second Kelvin-timeline film reimagines Khan, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Death of Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy, the original Spock, who also directed two of the films, dies at 83 at his home in Los Angeles.
Star Trek Beyond
Justin Lin directs the third Kelvin-timeline film, released in the franchise's 50th-anniversary year; a planned fourth Kelvin film was never made.
Star Trek: Discovery
–The first new Star Trek series since 2005 premieres on CBS and then streams on CBS All Access (later Paramount+). Over five seasons it follows Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery from the 23rd century to the 32nd.
CBS and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS
The two companies recombine, reuniting Star Trek's television and film rights under one owner; the company was renamed Paramount Global in 2022.
Star Trek: Picard
–Patrick Stewart returns as a retired Jean-Luc Picard for three seasons; the final season reunites the Next Generation cast and ends with "The Last Generation".
Star Trek: Lower Decks
–An animated comedy about the junior support crew of the USS Cerritos, one of Starfleet's least important ships, running five seasons and 50 episodes.
William Shatner flies to space
At 90, the original Captain Kirk flies on Blue Origin's NS-18 suborbital flight, becoming the oldest person to reach space at the time.
Star Trek: Prodigy
–A computer-animated series for younger viewers about a band of alien teens who find an abandoned Starfleet ship, guided by a hologram of Kathryn Janeway; after Paramount+ dropped it, its second season premiered on Netflix.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
A Discovery spin-off following Captain Christopher Pike, Spock and Number One aboard the Enterprise in the years before Kirk's command, told in largely standalone episodes. Its fifth and final season is due in 2027.
Death of Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original series and six films, dies at 89 in Silver City, New Mexico.
Star Trek: Section 31
A streaming film on Paramount+ starring Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou on a Section 31 mission; it received poor reviews.
Skydance merger with Paramount completed
David Ellison's Skydance Media completes its merger with Paramount Global, creating Paramount Skydance, the new owner of Star Trek.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
A series about a new class of cadets at the reopened Starfleet Academy in the 32nd century, with Holly Hunter as its chancellor, premieres on Paramount+. Its second and final season is due in 2027.
Star Trek turns 60
Sixty years after the NBC premiere, Paramount marks Star Trek Day with planned screenings of "The Man Trap" in Los Angeles and London and a Vulcan salute world-record attempt, part of a year of anniversary releases under the theme "Space for Everybody".
Death of Walter Koenig
Walter Koenig, Ensign Pavel Chekov from the original series' second season and in seven films, dies at 90 at his home in Los Angeles. Most reports give Sunday, October 25; the Associated Press reported Monday, October 26.
Death of Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart, Captain Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation, four films and Star Trek: Picard, dies at 86 at his home in Los Angeles.
16 more in the interactive timeline.
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