Just days after the announcement that Alex Kurtzman would be taking over the helm at Star Trek: Discovery comes the news that he has renewed his overall deal with CBS Television Studios, signing a massive five-year, $5 million per annum extension with the studio.

Under the new pact, Kurtzman will serve as the Star Trek: Discovery’s lone showrunner after taking over from Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg, who were recently fired from the series.

Now for the really big news…Kurtzman will also expand the Star Trek franchise for the small screen, developing new series, miniseries and other content, including animation.

The new deal comes as rumblings about another Star Trek series, featuring Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, have been getting louder.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke this news, sources say Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, who left Discovery after season one, are attached to the Stewart-led reboot. CBS TV Studios declined to confirm the Stewart project as sources say a deal is far from completed and may not happen, despite the fact that the actor recently teased his potential return to the franchise.

“There is a very short list of writer-producer-directors that every film and television studio wants to be associated with, and Alex and his Secret Hideout team are always at the top,” CBS Television Studios president David Stapf said Tuesday in a statement.

“His talent, taste and ability to shepherd a successful project is unparalleled. Alex has done remarkable work for our studio, dating back seven years to the launch of Hawaii Five-0, and we are thrilled that he, [Secret Hideout president] Heather [Kadin] and their team will be partnering with us for a long time to come.”

Another rumoured new Trek show is one reportedly about the titular Wrath of Khan villain, which would give the makers of Star Trek a chance to not screw up Khan Noonien Singh…like they did with shockingly dreadful Star Trek: Into Darkness, which Kurtzman co-wrote incidentally.

It’s not the first report that a Khan series is in the works. Reports were circulating for some time that Nicholas Meyer would helm a Khan miniseries.

If you recall, Khan even gets a little mention in Enterprise “Cold Station” (season 4, episode 5) when the deliciously wicked Arik Soong – grandfather of Noonian Soong, the creator of Data – leads a band of genetically engineered humans, feared since the Eugenics Wars of the 20th century.

According to Variety, the fourth rumoured series – in addition to Khan, Captain Picard and the animated project – is a series set at Starfleet Academy from the creators of Gossip Girl.

Finally, CBS has realized that Star Trek quite literally offers a universe of potential. Why it’s taken this long will forever remain a mystery.

Now…if someone could just realize they can do it with 2000AD as well, we’d truly have some amazing sci-fi on television.

Related articles
• Star Trek: Discovery, sudden change in showrunners, again
• Star Trek: Discovery, a few words with Alan van Sprang, Agent Leland from Section 31
• Star Trek: Discovery, Kelvin Timeline and Prime Universe could merge
• Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek movie recruits The Revenant screenwriter
• Star Trek: Discovery – all episode reviews