Interview by Avery and Ollie Kaplan
In Star Trek (2026) #1, a relaunch of IDW’s flagship Franchise title timed to the sixtieth anniversary, readers will follow the voyages of the freshly rechristened U.S.S. Enterprise-G as they boldly go beyond the third season finale of Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek (2026) Cover A by series artist Dennis Menheere.
Before the legacy of Captain Seven and her crew continues in September 2026, Comics Beat caught up with series writer Christopher Cantwell (Star Trek: Redshirts) over email to gather data on what might be in store. We got plenty of hints at what’s to come, and he even answered a question for us in Tamarian.
AVERY AND OLLIE KAPLAN: Can you tell us about your personal history with the Franchise? And since you’ll be writing Captain Seven, any specific history you may have with Star Trek: Voyager?
CANTWELL: I’ve been a deep fan of Star Trek ever since the age of 10 when I saw the 25th anniversary special that aired the 10 best episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series on the Paramount Network in 1991. I was transferring schools at the time so it was a highly anxious period of my life.
Trek became a kind of security blanket for me in 4th grade. It took time to make friends, so I spent those quieter earlier months reading Enterprise by Vonda McIntyre. And then I jumped headlong into Star Trek: The Next Generation. Then Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It got to the point where I was watching syndicated TNG episodes every night of the week, then a syndicated episode of TNG followed by the NEW episode of TNG on Sunday nights, which was then followed by DS9.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was the first movie I watched in the theater by myself. My birthday party when I was an awkward middle schooler was making all my friends go see Star Trek: Generations. They didn’t understand it at all.
I had a sleepover at a friend’s house and I made him and his family watch the series finale of TNG live. So… My history is deep. Obsessive. Technical manuals. Card games. The works. I watched the premiere of Star Trek: Voyager when it aired. I was in.
Hell, my wife and I even quote the Seven internet meme from Star Trek Out of Context to each other almost every Friday: “It’s the weekend baby, fun will now commence.”
KAPLANS: Previously, you’ve worked on titles like Star Trek: Defiant and Star Trek: Redshirts. How does writing Star Trek (2026) #1 compare?
CANTWELL: I feel the weight of trying to make it the best thing I could ever possibly write about Star Trek. Not that I didn’t bring my A game to those other books. But those books got to play in the shadows of the more load-bearing comic series at the time, the first run of Star Trek written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and Star Trek: The Last Starship, also written by those guys. Those books felt “more important” (and they’re also phenomenal comics and Trek stories, the bar they set is HIGH) and like they were in the spotlight, so I could be over here having Worf compete in a Bloodsport-style deathmatch or blowing Red Shirts away with phaser rifles. I still brought my love of Trek.
I think I have to be careful with this new flagship book that I don’t take it TOO seriously. But the narrative scope and stakes are much higher than they were in my previous Trek books. Not that those books were “side quests.” But this is the Enterprise. We’re the only Enterprise story being told in the 60th anniversary year besides Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I need to get it RIGHT.
So there’s pressure. The issues take me longer to write and I agonize. I got handed a captain’s chair. I used to be the grumpy doctor or the funny android XO or something. But Heather Antos is still the Admiral, so she keeps me on track. She’s like my Janeway at this point. And my other editor Cassandra Jones constantly has a Type II phaser pressed into my lower back, so I can’t screw around. Cas is maybe my Tasha Yar. Or maybe she’s my Captain Speirs from Band of Brothers. Does anyone still get that reference? I’ll need to see if Cas got that reference.
KAPLANS: How does Star Trek (2026) #1 pull in plot threads, characters or other elements from previous IDW Star Trek comics?
CANTWELL: What I loved about our last go-round of shared universe comics was that we kind of did Fantasy Football for Star Trek with each crew. I wanted an element of that in Star Trek #1. I didn’t want it to just be the Picard crew. I wanted it to speak to other Trek stories.
So the crew functions like a kind of family tree of Trek. Seven is captain. Sidney La Forge is still there, as is Jack Crusher. Crusher’s been promoted. Those are TV characters that ALSO connect back to TNG and Voyager. But then Lily Sato is back, who was an original creation of Jackson and Collin and Ramon Rosanas. She’s 20 years older now. Her ancestry dates back to Sato from Star Trek: Enterprise. But she’s from the comics. Alexander, Worf’s son, is the first Klingon Chief Medical Officer. Alexander of course connects to TNG and DS9, but I wrote a massive arc for him in Star Trek: Defiant. I set out to really give Alexander this huge redemption arc that took nearly three years. So to me, Alexander is more a comics character in this book than a TV character. If you read his journey in Defiant, it makes complete sense why he’s a doctor now, in his 40’s and a healer.
So yes, lots of “nepo babies,” it’s always going to happen. But then also brand new characters. The XO is a brand new character named Atticus Cassady who has come in recently to replace Raffi Mussiker, who is now captain of her own ship (and the protagonist of our sister book Star Trek: Zero Point). He used to be head of Memory Alpha. That’s something that pulls from TOS. The ship’s counselor Rya is Bajoran and the security officer Keer is Cardassian. A Cardassian in Starfleet! And the Bajoran / Cardassian saga is a big part of DS9.
And the plot itself will actually pull from one of the most iconic TOS episodes of all time. So literally, this book is everything. Everything Trek, and more.
KAPLANS: Obviously, the Enterprise-G crew includes some pretty complicated individuals! How did you approach the psychology of the characters? Did any specific crew member (or relationship between crew members) pose a challenge for you while writing?
CANTWELL: Every character carries a burden, like we all do as humans. And when I say “burden” I just mean—our baggage, our experience, our perspective, our pathologies. I really dug deep on those for everyone in the ensemble.
The biggest thing for me is I have a lot of characters. I have an entire crew. I actually—and maybe this is a spoiler—have MULTIPLE crews. I’ve got colonist characters. Multiple captains. It’s a lot.
So I’m trying to service them all and where I think I’m most effective in that regard is their voices. They’re all pretty crystal clear to me in my head. But I am trying to tell a television series-sized story in comic form, while still having it be a comic first and foremost.
But it’s a saga among the stars. I want it to feel massive in scope and like a tapestry.
Art by Menheere.
KAPLANS: Can you tell us a bit about working with artist Dennis Menheere? What was your collaborative process like? Did you have any memorable reactions to his art?
CANTWELL: Dennis and I had a big session over zoom where we just talked about everything in order to kick it off. And I always defer to him in terms of the art and layouts. Often he figures out much better ideas to illustrate what I’m trying to convey and the best thing I can do is get out of his way. I love that he colors his own work. He has real ownership over this story and is making it his.
I think this book will really see him arrive on the uppermost echelon stage of comic artists working today. The art is THAT GOOD.
KAPLANS: Of course we don’t want any spoilers, but can you give us a hint about what’s in store when the series arrives? Optional: Please answer this question in Tamarian.
CANTWELL: Seven, Alone in the New Place. Crusher, with His Father Asleep, But Awake. Here and There in the Then and Now. All at Once. The Dark Ones from the First Time. The End of the Second Time. Crash, in the Crashing Nightmare. Silex, His Home Burned, His Fear Strong. The Ancient Astronaut Watching. The Borg Ones Who Say I, Me, and You. Decker, When He Screamed. When We All Screamed Again.
KAPLANS: If you had the opportunity to use the food replicator, what would you order?
CANTWELL: Al’s #1 Italian beef sandwich, extra hot giardinera, dipped, 0 calories.
KAPLANS: Is there anything else you’d like to share or for us to include?
CANTWELL: I’ll say that a big guidepost for me in writing this was “What if Jim Starlin did a Star Trek comic book in the ’80s?” But don’t mistake that for retro anything. THIS IS ALL NEW, LOOKING FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD, BOLDLY GOING WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE!
Also, Local Comic Shop Owners, please order big on #1. I’ll travel the country. I’ll sign them for you. I’ll dance for you. I’ll demean myself on FOC. No more small Trek comics tucked in the back corner. We’re going to deliver for you on this one. Maybe a nice little book stand by the counter and a little pitch to customers buying Absolute Batman, “Look at this f*cking art, bro, it’s crazy space sh*t, I mean it’s insane, I’ve never seen any Star Trek, but every issue something absolutely off the wall is happening and one of the villains is like, desiccated and impaled and sh*t.” SEE?! CMON!! WE CAN DO THIS!!!
Keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
