10 Times Star Trek Refused To Give Fans What They Wanted

Seth Macfarlane, the creator of Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show, has openly been a huge Trekkie for decades. He's included dozens of Trek references in his shows and, in 2011, mentioned to the Hollywood Reporter that he was eager to revive the franchise on TV, but didn't know who would 'give him the keys to that car.'

The studio would have been smart to give him his own Trek show because, in addition to showing off his love of science through his work on the rebooted Cosmos show, in 2017, Macfarlane released his new show, The Orville, a comedy/drama sci-fi series based heavily on Star Trek, and Trekkies all around the world fell in love with it.

Star Trek: Discovery ended up airing right around the same time as The Orville, and, much to everyone's surprise, Macfarlane's new show actually received much more love from the fans than the official new Trek. Fans saw The Orville as an homage to everything they loved about The Next Generation: smart stories, interesting characters, and, most of all, optimism. Discovery, by comparison, was much darker and more action-oriented.

It's gotten to the point where some fans are actually petitioning Paramount to take Macfarlane on as the new creative lead for Star Trek. This may be a bit far, but it's fair to hope that Macfarlane gets the chance to write an authentic Star Trek series some day.