On Sunday night, a mix of stars and producers of Star Trek gathered for the Peabody Awards, where the franchise was being honored this year by the prestigious institution.
Peabody Trek
The 2024 Peabody Awards ceremony was held Sunday night, June 9, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where Star Trek was presented with the Institutional Award, an honor which has previously been given to other groundbreaking media institutions like The Simpsons, 60 Minutes, Sesame Street, FRONTLINE, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
A number of Star Trek stars (past, present, and future) were on hand for the event, including Scott Bakula (Enterprise) Patrick Stewart (TNG, Picard), Jeri Ryan (Voyager, Picard), LeVar Burton (TNG, Picard), Tawny Newsome (Lower Decks), Anson Mount (Strange New Worlds), Ethan Peck (Strange New Worlds), Rebecca Romijn (Strange New Worlds), Wilson Cruz (Discovery), Doug Jones (Discovery), and Sam Richardson (Section 31). Also on hand were a number of producers, including J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Terry Matalas, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Akiva Goldsman, Jenny Lumet, Michelle Paradise, Noga Landau, and Trevor Roth.
The Institutional Award was the final presentation of the night, where many of the above accepted the award on stage after Abrams introduced the award and Alex Kurtzman, who oversees the Star Trek television franchise for Paramount, accepted the award on behalf of the franchise. Kurtzman spoke in part of Star Trek creator Gene Roddberry’s enduring vision of “hope that our better angels will lead us across the frontiers of space and ourselves with modesty, dignity and respect” and the conviction that “we are all made of the same stardust.”
You can see parts of Abrams and Kurtzman speaking below…
During the event host Kumail Nanjiani went into the audience to hear from Sir Patrick Stewart at one of the Star Trek tables. The actor spoke about how honored he felt being there, “unlike any award ceremony I have ever imagined.” You can watch his comments below …
In a nod to fans, Paramount invited Bjo Trimble to the event. She, along with her recently passed husband John Trimble, were instrumental in the campaign to save the original Star Trek from cancellation. Trimble joined Kurzman and the award for a special portrait as well (see below).
More photos
Here are more photos from the Peabody Awards show (via Getty images).
And here are more official portraits (also via Getty).
Official Peabody Award announcement
In case you missed it, here is the original release from the Peabody Awards from May on why Star Trek was being bestowed with the Institutional Award this year.
Here is the full text of the announcement for Star Trek:
The Institutional Award – Star Trek
The original Star Trek television series aired on NBC for only three seasons, from September 1966 to June 1969. It was fresh, prescient, and so ahead of its time that it couldn’t quite capture the mainstream audience required for hits during a particularly insipid time in television. But fast forward nearly 60 years, and creator Gene Roddenberry’s vision is alive and well, having spawned a media franchise of 13 feature films, 11 television series, and numerous books and comics, with a legendary fan following. Today Star Trek is more vibrant, imaginative, funny, entertaining, and progressive than ever. And these days, we’ve got the special effects to make it look stellar.
The original science-fiction series was set aboard a starship, Enterprise, whose mostly human crew encountered alien life as they traversed the stars, led by the iconic Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). It was groundbreaking for its diverse cast and for its unapologetically progressive values—exploration over colonialism, cooperation over violence. Its fandom grew over time, and the successors to the original series have updated the franchise without losing its moral core—the dream of a future free from human destruction, poverty, and bigotry. Subsequent captains have served as models of ethical and diverse leadership: The Next Generation’s Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Deep Space Nine’s Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), and Voyager’s Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) among them.
With every passing decade, new versions have proliferated, attracting new generations of fans. Film reboots directed by J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin revived Kirk and his crew with new, young actors, zippier dialogue, and vastly improved effects in the 2000s and 2010s. The Streaming Era has brought a raft of reimaginings with a variety of sensibilities, from the dark and complicated Star Trek: Discovery to the crowd-pleasing prequel Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (featuring a young Spock!) to the hilariously meta cartoon Star Trek: Lower Decks. As the latest versions of Star Trek invite in a new generation of viewers, the interstellar travelers still encounter danger and difficulty, of course. But the Starfleet crew always comes out on top— and without sacrificing essential values that seem quintessentially human: valor, self-sacrifice, curiosity, compassion, broadmindedness.
“From a groundbreaking television series to an expansive collection of films, novels, comic books and so much more, Star Trek has been delivering joy, wonder, and thought-provoking stories since the 1960s,” said Jones. “With powerful anti-war and anti-discrimination messages, it has blazed trails for all science fiction franchises while winning over passionate fans across the globe. We’re proud to honor Star Trek with Peabody’s Institutional Award.”
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe.
Will Archer return?
Please 『Star Trek Archer』
He’s looking great, ready for the part!
He was supposed to have become president of the UFP… I think a series focusing on him in that capacity might be fun… the post-Romulan War political environment could spawn a few good plot lines…
So totally agreed! Even though I don’t want more prequels an Archer streaming movie or show when he becomes Federation President would be the only real exception Outside of the Legacy show that would be my other choice for a future show.
I really just want Archer back!
Aww Scott.
Seeing Bjo arm-in-arm with Kurtzman feels really sweet and kind of made my day for some reason. Glad they thought to invite her.
The most wholesome thing I’ll see today, no doubt.
Me, too!
Agreed. Very sweet.
Now there’s a cast for a movie if I don’t say so myself..
So this is me being a stickler and officious but shouldn’t the writers of this article have stated the following credits:
Anson Mount (Strange New Worlds), Ethan Peck (Strange New Worlds), Rebecca Romijn (Strange New Worlds)
as
Anson Mount (Discovery, Strange New Worlds), Ethan Peck (Discovery, Strange New Worlds), Rebecca Romijn (Discovery, Strange New Worlds)
After all, these versions of Pike, Spock and Una/Number One all started on season 2 of Discovery and if not for that, we never would have gotten “Strange New Worlds”.
Haha, and don’t forget Patrick Stewart (TNG, Picard and DS9)
For that matter: LeVar Burton (TNG, Voyager, Picard) and so forth… if there’s one thing this franchise knows how to do, it’s cross the streams with actors and characters. In the words of Khan, “Of course. We’re one, big, happy fleet!”
Is zippier dialogue what they call that modern Gen Z type speak?
Only if they high key got the rizz, fam.
I don’t care how the zoomers speak I just hope their humor is better than the millennials and gen x who write modern dialog – the humor is so forced and awkward it makes me want to barf. You thought that was gonna make people laugh? Please.
Zippier dialogue? Juvenile dialogue is a better adjective.
My understanding is that zippier dialog is more like Gilmore Girls cadence.
If Kurtzman could pass that trophy down three people to his right and then exit the photo, it would be a keeper.
To who? Which picture? Which right?
To His right.
Let me help you with this. Edit: Congratulations to everyone on this well deserved honor.
See, that wasn’t so hard….
Anson Mount is a gorgeous man…
For a second I thought, “No one’s there from the original series,” and then I remembered that barely anyone’s left from it, and they’re not young.
Well, Shatner is young, but you know what I mean. :-)
It’s a shame none of the people involved with making star trek (I may have missed the them) from TNG all the way through to ENT aren’t there. People like Rick Berman, Ronald D Moore, Michael Westmore, and others who made Star Trek so popular with its comeback from TNG onwards. Star Trek would most likely not have been as big or as popular as it is now if it wasn’t for the work done from TNG onwards.
It is possible many others were invited and simply could not (or chose not to) attend.
That’s a good point.
They help define what Star Trek is for millions of fans to this day. They created an era of shows that have become timeless to many of us fans and I been one since 1968.
It is good to see the new shows bringing back so many of those characters and storylines back today like Discovery just did both for TNG and Enterprise. Don’t forget the classic shows.
For that they do deserve tremendous credit.
Don’t Shatner and Takei both live in the LA area, so I would have thought they might have been able to make it? And no Rod Roddenberry? But happy to see that Bjp Trimble was part of it!
Congratulations to everyone on this well-deserved honor. It’s good to see a solid cross section of Trek talent at the ceremony.
Aww man I love this so much 🥰 I really love this Star Trek family that has been built over the decades. I agree with others saying it would’ve been nice to see some TNG producers and TOS people at the event, but really really glad they invited Bjo – without her and John, none of us would be here :)
It’s too bad that Shatner or Takei or Koenig weren’t there… at least one of the remaining from TOS representing that era. But it is nice to see so many of the previous casts there. And a great thing for the franchise to receive. Bravo!
It would be great if Archer at Bakula’s current age appeared in Strange New Worlds and met Pike, with a reference made to his older self having attended the launch of April’s Enterprise.
Congratulations to everyone involved with Star Trek, for a well-deserved award!
Is Jeri Ryan okay? She looks kind of strange in these pictures.
Wow this was such a great honor and so happy to see the wonderful Scot Bakula with Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan and Levar Burton among all the other actor who has given us this wonderful franchise for nearly 60 years now. Well deserved.
Saw Patrick Stewart give a small speech on YouTube talking about how honored he was at the ceremony. It was very touching.
And love to see Matalas and Roth there as well. They given me a beautiful season of Star Trek and easily my favorite since 2005 😊
I hope they give us a true celebration for the 60th Anniversary. Bring back Scott Bakula, William Shatner and some more.
Say what you want about Alex Kurtzman, but the speech was really good.
At least one of the remaining actors of TOS should have been here, I wonder why they couldn’t get at least one of Takei, Shatner or Koenig involved. Also it would be nice if Rod Roddenberry appeared. I know guys like Ron Moore could be busy. I found Bakula’s appearance here interesting, I wonder if its some sort of a tease as he seems to be only actor here who isn’t involved in the New Treks in some capacity. Also I wanted to shout out to how gorgeous Tawny Newsome is.
Chances are they asked some of these people but they could not make it (or they didn’t want to). For example, Trevor Roth (COO of Roddenberry Entertainment) was there, so it’s highly unlikely Rod Roddenberry wasn’t invited too.
Some potential observations/theories..
Scott Bakula is there bc hes going to guest star as Archer in SNW or in a Enterprise/Legacy P+ movie for the anniversary..
Patrick Stewart is there bc hes not yet done with Trek (ST Legacy movie?) same with Jeri Ryan
JJ Abrams is there bc hes coming back to direct the final Kelvin movie for 2026
Or they could be there because they were invited and decided to attend.
We’ll see ..
OK but I’m guessing that’s all it is since that’s usually the case at most award shows.
Archer Comeback?
They should bring the Rise of the Federation novel series to film.
the group picture up top with J J is great.
those old scientists, writers, directors, showrunners…
I would love to see Archer again in ANY capacity.
Why does it seem Shatner is never invited? Perhaps he turns it down, but it just seems like Trek is boycotting him
If that was the case I’m guessing Shatner would be complaining about it everywhere. It’s an awards show maybe he just didn’t want to go. I’m guessing he wasn’t alone either.
Love to see something with Archer