The Ready Room
The Ready Room is an American aftershow on CBS All Access in which a host discusses episodes of a first-run Star Trek television series on the service with cast and crew members from that series. It replaced After Trek, an aftershow for the first season of Star Trek: Discovery.
In January 2019, CBS revealed plans to re-imagine After Trek for the second season of Discovery. The Ready Room was announced shortly after, with Naomi Kyle as host. In January 2020, Star Trek actor Wil Wheaton was named as host for a second season of The Ready Room, serving as an aftershow for the first season of Star Trek: Picard. Wheaton returned to host aftershow episodes for each season of Star Trek: Lower Decks ; the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of Discovery ; the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy ; the second and third seasons of Picard ; and the first and second seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The Ready Room was also released on Facebook Live, IGTV, and YouTube. Wheaton indicated in December 2024 that the series had ended.
Development
CBS announced an aftershow companion series to its CBS All Access television series Star Trek: Discovery in May 2017. Titled After Trek, it was hosted by Matt Mira and streamed live on All Access following the release of Discovery episodes. By June 2018, with production on the second season of Discovery underway, CBS was "reimagining" After Trek for the next season. The network said the next iteration would "continue to have all the fan-driven elements that Star Trek: Discovery viewers enjoyed this season and more."In January 2019, CBS announced that After Trek had been canceled and was being replaced by weekly Facebook Live events to be streamed the day after each Discovery episode was released. These Facebook Live events were soon revealed to be a new interview-style aftershow named The Ready Room, hosted by Naomi Kyle. The title comes from the captain's private room onboard many Star Trek starships. In January 2020, CBS announced a second season of The Ready Room would serve as the aftershow for its new series Star Trek: Picard, with former Star Trek: The Next Generation cast member Wil Wheaton taking over as host for the season.
Wheaton returned for a bonus episode, recorded remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that focuses on the making of the first season of Picard. It was released in July 2020. Wheaton then hosted several special episodes of The Ready Room that accompany key episodes of the new animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, before hosting a new season of The Ready Room with aftershows for each episode of the third season of Discovery.
In 2022 Wheaton returned as host for the second season of Picard. He also hosts aftershows for the third season in 2023, though was omitted from the season's announced Next Generation cast reunion. He has preferred writing and hosting to acting, and said in 2020 that he only takes "incredible" roles he "feels really good about". Wheaton returns as Wesley Crusher in Picards second-season finale, which he discusses in the aftershow for the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The aftershow episode for Lower Decks final season, released in December 2024, ends with comments from Wheaton which were interpreted as a farewell and an indication that the series had ended.