The Ready Room
The Ready Room was a companion series for the Kurtzman-era Star Trek series. It first premiered in January 2019 covering the second season of Star Trek: Discovery. It was the third companion Star Trek series, the second series to not be set in the Star Trek universe, and the overall Kurtzman-era replacement for Discovery's first season's companion show After Trek.
An aftershow interview series, at first with no predetermined run time, The Ready Room was from its second season onward intended to be viewed after watching a new episode of the main Star Trek series on the conglomerate's own streaming service, CBS All Access, which was subsequently rebranded to Paramount+.
The first "season", broadcast alongside Discovery Season 2, had a very limited format; only one or two interviews, featuring only a very simple set. This season was hosted by Naomi Kyle and streamed on Facebook Live the day after the debut of each Discovery episode, starting with "New Eden".
Starting with its second season, The Ready Room was hosted by Wil Wheaton. This covered the first season of Star Trek: Picard, with a new episode available on both CBSAA and Facebook Live the same day as the Picard episode it was covering. [1] Aware that Picard was eagerly awaited by fans, the Star Trek franchise opted to give the format a production upgrade by beefing it up with additional features, similar to the special features traditionally included on the DVD and Blu-ray home video format releases. However, most of these pre-recorded features (or rather "featurettes" as their run-times are typically under five minutes long) were ultimately not included on the various home video formats, so these featurettes remained Ready Room (or YouTube, where the franchise occasionally posted additional pre-recorded featurettes as well) exclusives. This particular practice was continued for the productions that came after Picard Season 1, and was indicative of the perceived diminishing value of the physical home media formats which had started with the advent of the streaming services. [2] Additionally, trivia questions and previews for subsequent episodes were included. The renewed enhanced formula therefore moved the aftershow format back closer to the one it was supposed to replace, After Trek.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all episodes which aired from July 2020 through October 2021 were shot remotely at Wheaton's home, with guests appearing via video link. Beginning with the episodes accompanying Discovery Season 4, The Ready Room was shot on a new, larger set, with a combination of in-person and remote guests.
Three episodes were produced in conjunction with the first season of Lower Decks. For Discovery's third season, new Ready Room episodes aired alongside each episode of Discovery. Two more episodes aired with Lower Decks Season 2, and one episode aired in conjunction with the premiere episode of Star Trek: Prodigy. New episodes aired alongside each episode of Discovery's fourth season until the premiere of Picard Season 2, when The Ready Room shifted its focus to that series.
Starting with the aftershow's sixth season, which dealt with the last season of Discovery, the episode runtime was cut in half and brought down to fifteen minutes at the very most to effect further cost-savings as Paramount+ battled severe financial adversity at the time and was forced to achieve these in light of the impending merger with Skydance Productions (see: main article). Exempt though were the last two episodes, conceivably to allow The Ready Room giving Discovery a proper send-off.
On 23 June 2023, Prodigy was cancelled by Paramount+ and three days later removed from all conglomerate platforms. As a result from this de facto franchise removal, The Ready Room was not allowed to pay any attention to its second season when it was after completion picked up by streaming service Netflix. This was something personal for host Wheaton as well, as he had reprised his Wesley Crusher legacy role in a major recurring second season part. [3]
Cancellation
Only a few months after Prodigy's July 1st 2024 season two debut on Netflix the issue became moot however, as the conglomerate appeared to have cancelled The Ready Room as well alongside its host. This was conceded by Wheaton himself when he thanked and bode his viewership a fond farewell at the end of the aftershow's final episode, the 19 December 2024 sixteen-minute (the extra minute was taken out by Wheaton for his farewells) Lower Decks Special. [4] And while the franchise itself has declined to make any official statement on the matter – nor would it ever – the mere fact that neither Prodigy's second season nor Star Trek: Section 31 afterwards has received any kind of aftershow coverage, despite the otherwise vigorous marketing campaign in other media to gain traction for the latter, only served to underscore the implication Wheaton made in the series finale.
The franchise's hitherto apparent decision to eliminate the aftershow phenomenon became a definitive fact-of-life when the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuted on 17 July 2025 which did not see any kind of aftershow treatment anywhere either, validating Wheaton's heartfelt 19 December farewell. The aftershow's cancellation was the inevitable conclusion of the cost-saving efforts initiated at the start of what had turned out to be the show's last season.
Episode list
Star Trek: Discovery Season 2
TRR Season 1, 13 episodes:
Star Trek: Picard Season 1
TRR Season 2, 11 episodes:
Star Trek: Lower Decks Specials
TRR Season LD, 10 episodes:
| Title | Episode | Production number | Topic | Guest(s) | Runtime | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | ||||||
| "LD Season 1 Premiere Special" | LDx01 | 1 | Lower Decks creation | Mike McMahan and Barry Kelly | 31 | 2020-08-06 |
| "LD Season 1 Midseason Special" | LDx02 | 2 | Lower Decks cast and characters | Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero |
35 | 2020-09-10 |
| "LD Season 1 Finale Special" | LDx03 | 3 | Lower Decks Season 1 | Mike McMahan, Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, Gillian Vigman, and Jonathan Frakes |
31 | 2020-10-08 |
| Season 2 | ||||||
| "LD Season 2 Premiere Special" | LDx04 | 4 | "Strange Energies" | Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, and Mike McMahan | 25 | 2021-08-12 |
| "LD Season 2 Finale Special" | LDx05 | 5 | Lower Decks Season 2 and "First First Contact" | Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, Gillian Vigman, Mike McMahan, Tawny Newsome, Eugene Cordero, and Noël Wells | 31 | 2021-10-14 |
| Season 3 | ||||||
| "LD Season 3 Premiere Special" | LDx06 | 6 | "Grounded" | Mike McMahan & Dawnn Lewis | 35 | 2022-08-25 |
| "LD Season 3 Midseason Special" | LDx07 | 7 | "Reflections" | Tawny Newsome | 34 | 2022-09-22 |
| "LD Season 3 Finale Special" | LDx08 | 8 | "The Stars At Night" | Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Brett Grey, and Ella Purnell | 41 | 2022-10-27 |
| Season 4 | ||||||
| "LD Season 4 Finale Special" | LDx09 | 9 | Lower Decks Season 4 and "Old Friends, New Planets" | Dawnn Lewis and Jerry O'Connell | 31 | 2023-11-02 |
| Season 5 | ||||||
| "Celebrating 5 Seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks" | LDx10 | 10 | Lower Decks Seasons 1 – 5 and "The New Next Generation" | Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero | 16 | 2024-12-19 |
Star Trek: Discovery Season 3
TRR Season 3, 13 episodes:
Star Trek: Prodigy Specials
TRR Season PRO, 2 episodes:
| Title | Episode | Production number | Topic | Guest(s) | Runtime | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "PRO Season 1 Premiere Special" | PROx01 | 1 | "Lost and Found" | Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman, and Kate Mulgrew | 30 | 2021-10-28 |
| "PRO Season 1 Finale Special" | PROx02 | 2 | "Supernova, Part 2" | Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman, Kate Mulgrew, and Ella Purnell | 32 | 2022-12-29 |
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 / Star Trek: Picard Season 2 / Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1
TRR Season 4, 29 episodes:
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Specials
TRR Season SNW, 1 episode:
| Title | Episode | Topic | Guest(s) | Runtime | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "SNW Exploring Season 2" | SNWx01 | "The Broken Circle" | Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn (remote video link), and Ethan Peck (in person studio guest) | 22 | 2023-06-09 |
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 / Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2
TRR Season 5, 20 episodes:
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5
TRR Season 6, 9 episodes:
| Title | Episode | Topic | Guest(s) | Runtime | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery (Season 5) | |||||
| "Red Directive" | 6x01 | "Red Directive" and "Under the Twin Moons" | Doug Jones | 15 | 2024-04-04 |
| "Jinaal" | 6x02 | "Jinaal" | Wilson Cruz | 15 | 2024-04-11 |
| "Face the Strange" | 6x03 | "Face the Strange" | Anthony Rapp | 15 | 2024-04-18 |
| "Mirrors" | 6x04 | "Mirrors" | Callum Keith Rennie | 15 | 2024-04-25 |
| "Whistlespeak" | 6x05 | "Whistlespeak" | Alex Kurtzman and Anthony Tran | 15 | 2024-05-02 |
| "Erigah" | 6x06 | "Erigah" | Elias Toufexis and Eve Harlow | 15 | 2024-05-09 |
| "Labyrinths" | 6x07 | "Labyrinths" | David Ajala | 15 | 2024-05-16 |
| "Lagrange Point" | 6x08 | "Lagrange Point" | Blu del Barrio and Jonathan Frakes | 26 | 2024-05-23 |
| "Life, Itself" | 6x09 | "Life, Itself" | Sonequa Martin-Green and Michelle Paradise | 29 | 2024-05-30 |
Production
Production staff
- Naomi Kyle – Host (Season 1)
- Wil Wheaton – Host
Title cards
Star Trek television series | |
|---|---|
| Main series | |
| Aftershows |
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| Web content | |
| In development | |
External links
- The Ready Room at Wikipedia
- The Ready Room at the Internet Movie Database
- The Ready Room with Wil Wheaton at YouTube (US only)