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Louis gossett jr. (1936-2024).

Best known for his powerful performance as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in "An Officer and a Gentleman," which earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and is widely recognized for his role as Fiddler in the groundbreaking miniseries "Roots," as well as the "Iron Eagle" series.

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Beyond appearing in movies like Inglourious Basterds and Beginners , French actress Mélanie Laurent has also directed several films, including the quiet, unsettling Breathe , about a high schooler who begins to realize that the cool, worldly presentation put forth by her new best friend isn't entirely on the level. (Available on Netflix) - Chris Steffen

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13 Best Places to Watch Free Movies Online

Tubi and YouTube are the best sites for streaming free full-length movies, but you've got lots of other options

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Watching free movies online is a convenient and frugal way to see the films you love right from the comfort of your own home. Yes, there are plenty of sites where you can get movies "for free" but I've taken the time to confirm that the ones listed below, although ad-supported, are clean from viruses and, importantly, 100% legal to use .

Our Top Picks

Best Overall: Tubi

Tubi has thousands of free movies and shows, including big titles and a kid-friendly area.

Best for User Feedback: YouTube

Among the millions of videos on YouTube are free movies with ads, curated by YouTube staff.

Best for High-Quality Movies: Fandango at Home

Fandango at Home's high-def movies are organized into unique sections like Blast From the Past, Hidden Gems, and Big Time Movie Stars.

Best for Popular Titles: Freevee

Amazon's free movie streaming service includes tons of well-known films.

Best for a TV Experience: Pluto TV

It's like cable TV, but totally free. Watch on-demand movies and TV, plus live videos 24/7.

Best for a Variety of Movies: Popcornflix

Jump right into watching free movies on your TV, phone, or computer without even setting up an account.

Best for Finding Movies Around the Web: Yidio

Yidio doesn't host any content, but it has a robust search feature that finds where you can watch films and shows for free online.

There's a huge variety of freely available movies on these sites, from comedies and dramas to horror and action films. There are movies from big-name studios, but also many older and independent movies that you'll love to watch over and over again. Just be sure you have the best TV you can to ensure a great viewing experience.

I spend some time each month looking for the best free movie sites on the internet. This list was last updated in March to confirm that they still work, are still free, and are still worth your time.

Most of these sites have a mobile app for watching their movies. Take a look at our list of the best free apps for streaming movies so you can take the films with you wherever you go.

High quality, popular movies.

Lots of categories.

Subtitles can be enabled for most movies.

Has a section just for kids.

You don't need to log in to start watching.

Genre categories don't separate movies from shows.

You don't want to miss the thousands of free movies and TV shows you can stream right now at Tubi.

I like to visit the Leaving Soon page to catch freebies before they start to cost somewhere else, but my favorite part of this website for inspiration is Trending Now — I often have no clue what I'm in the mood for, so to see what everyone else is watching right now is awesome.

For example, a few of the more popular titles people have been streaming over the last month include Paddington 2, Hot Tub Time Machine, Penelope, Special Forces, Dheepan, Girl Next , and A Little Help.

There are dozens of other genres and collections to pick from, too, like exclusives in Only Free on Tubi , and Black Cinema, Foreign Films, Based on a Book, Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes, and Cult Classics. There's also a Spanish section and live TV.

Tubi Kids is a section of this site perfect for streaming just kid-related films. It's available from the top of the website and has categories just for preschoolers and other kids, including Toon TV, LEGO, Animé, and Friendly Monsters films. There are also parental controls you can set through the normal website.

You don't even need a user account to watch this stuff. Just follow this link below, click something you're interested in, and enjoy!

Movies are rated by real viewers.

You can leave comments.

Single, easy-to-scroll-through list.

Most movies have subtitles.

No ads for Premium subscribers.

Many aren't in HD.

Relatively few genres.

No easy search tool for just the free movies.

I was shocked the first time I found out YouTube has free movies . And no, these aren't poorly filmed videos without subtitles that were uploaded by someone random. I'm talking full-length, totally legal movies, uploaded and managed by YouTube.

Recently, I was able to watch A Walk to Remember and Bram Stoker's Van Helsing ; both movies included captions and were available in 1080p. Here are some other examples of free films I saw listed on YouTube this past month: The Longest Yard, Transcendence, Knowing, The Last Song, Hugo , and Donnie Darko .

Something you can't get with YouTube, but that is supported by most of these movie sites, is the ability to search through just the free titles. However, here's a trick that has saved me loads of time: Open the full list of movies and use your browser's Find function to search by year, genre, or title.

YouTube's curated list (the link below) is the best way to find all their new and popular free movies. Some companies, like Cineverse , list movies in their own profile.

Fandango at Home

Lots of high quality movies.

Several useful ways to find just the free movies.

Most are popular and well known, and include subtitles.

Films can be filtered and sorted in a number of ways.

Also supports buying and renting movies.

Some movies here cost.

You must log in (it's free).

There are thousands of movies on Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) that you can watch right now. All you have to do is put up with a few commercials.

It's a great movie site whether you do or don't have an idea about what you want to watch. Films can be filtered by genre, and you can browse by most-watched or release date. All the basic genres are available: action, comedy, crime, romance, and a few others.

While it's true that the genres aren't interesting, Fandango at Home makes up for it with their curated lists. Check these out: Most Watched Movies , Critically Acclaimed , Hidden Gems , and Big Time Movie Stars . There are a few hundred videos in each section.

Something unique about this site is that not only does it let you look through the newest releases, but you can do so on a single page for every genre. Some examples of 2024 titles include Calber Island, Much Ado, Ember in the Woods, and Everything is Both .

One great thing about Fandango at Home's movies is that some of them are in 1080p, so you don't have to sacrifice quality just to watch some free movies.

Once you settle on something to watch, you might be given the option to buy or rent it, but so long as you found it through one of the free pages, there will be a button you can use to stream the movie without paying. You can also pay for movies here ( some are even still in theaters ).

Great collection of newer free films and shows.

Browsing for movies is easy.

Includes original videos.

Locate movies with subtitles in your language.

Uncluttered video player.

User account required.

Most in-video ads are long.

Unhelpful search tool.

For US users only.

Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) is Amazon's collection of free movies. I use this a lot from my TV, but it's just as easily accessible from their website or mobile app. Everything I watch here is easy to find and seems to be high-quality.

Something I like about this site is how the genres and movie collections are organized. For example, if I'm looking through the most popular movies or recently added list, I can filter by genre and/or subtitle language to make sure I find a movie that's a good fit for me.

The video player lets you turn on subtitles, adjust the way the captions show up on the screen, change the video quality, and go into full-screen mode.

Here are some of the most popular movies you can watch at Freevee: The Homesman, Tidal Wave: No Escape, F9: The Fast Saga, Serenity , and Overcomer .

Has the same feel as a TV's channel guide.

Includes thousands of on-demand movies.

Streams TV shows, news, music, and more.

No user account necessary.

Has only a dozen or so channels for just movies.

Live-streamed movies can't be watched again on demand.

There's always a video playing; you can mute, but not stop it.

Pluto TV is the closest thing I've found to free cable TV. It's owned by Paramount and fully supported by ads, so there's no worry that you might accidentally buy something.

My biggest joy about using this service is that I can just turn it on and let it play. There are hundreds of live channels, so some of them feature news, reality TV, or game shows, but there are also some with full-length movies.

Not everything is live, though, which is good. If I'm in the mood for something specific, I can look through thousands of movies and TV shows that are available on demand.

The unique categories for their on-demand films are a huge plus because most movie sites just stick to the traditional few genres. Examples include The Black Collective: Black Cinema, 00s Replay, Godzilla, Award Winners, Directed by Women , and Comfort Movies .

These are some of the most watched movies on Pluto TV this last month: Norbit , Mean Girls, Conic the Hedgehog, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harlem Nights, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Top Gun , and She's the Man.

In my experience, running Pluto TV through a TV makes it easier to use because the always-on video player gets in the way on smaller screens. But, there is a mobile app and a desktop player if you'd rather go that route.

Popcornflix

Includes subtitles.

Has a one-page list of every movie available.

'Continue watching' section.

Can't sort by date or popularity.

Strange site navigation.

Popcornflix is another great place to watch free movies online. Their constant flow of new titles from Screen Media Ventures means they have lots of movies being added all the time.

Right off the bat, I appreciate that I don't need an account to use it. I also like that resume playback is supported so I can pause and watch the rest of the movie later.

However, there are a few things I don't like. While the website is definitely very modern looking, it's not super user-friendly. Along that same line, I would love to have sorting options within each genre list because it's way more fun to see which documentaries, for examples, were added recently so I'm not scrolling over all the same movies I always see.

There are several hundred movies here that include comedy, drama, horror, action, romance, family, documentary movies, and foreign films. They also feature web and film school originals, and list some titles by a common theme. I've seen Disaster Movie Madness, Edgy Comedies, Behind Bars, Space Invaders, Pulse-Pounding Thrills , and Fear Factory .

Makes it easy to find free movies around the web.

Lots of unique filtering options.

Sort by popularity and date added.

Can be helpful for renting and buying, too.

Films are streamed through other sites.

Movies are DVD quality.

Incorrectly labels some paid movies as free.

Shows the wrong synopsis and photo for some films.

I'm so happy I stumbled on Yidio years ago! It's like a search engine for all these other movie sites. It's incredibly handy because it shows where on the internet a movie is available for free.

A search box would be enough, but Yidio goes above and beyond with lots of other sorting and filtering options. These include MPAA rating, decade, genre, IMDb score, and others. Just fill out any of that information to get a list you can comb through, with links to free movie sites.

For example, I asked Yidio to find me free animation movies released since 2020 and to sort the list by IMDb rating. The top several results provided links to watch those films on Tubi, Roku, Pluto TV, and other free streaming sites.

This isn't a perfect service, but it works great nearly every time I use it.

The Roku Channel

Provides high quality movies.

Includes newer films.

Works on computers, mobile devices, and TVs.

Offers customizable captions.

No user account needed.

Can't filter or sort any genre list.

Doesn't separate movies from shows in category lists.

Lists paid videos next to free ones.

You might already know about Roku's free movies if you have a Roku TV or streaming player. But even if you don't, you can still watch all the same free movies, TV shows, and live TV from a computer, phone, tablet.

There are some ads in these movies, but the trade-off is really high-quality videos and well-known movies.

On the home page are handy categories I have yet to find on another free movie site. They often change, but some that I've seen include Reality Romance, Undercover Agents, Film Noir, Environment, UFO Phenomenon, Teen Dramas, and Mexican Action.

While there are also typical genre lists you can browse through, none of them let you sort by popularity or filter by rating or year. This is by far my biggest issue with the service. That, and both TV shows and movies are mixed into the same lists, and said lists must be browsed horizontally in a carousel-like menu. It's just not super user-friendly.

However, I do like that you can search for actors and directors to find movies they're associated with. I also appreciate the Continue watching section.

Most if not all movies have subtitles.

Doesn't require a user account.

Several ways to browse the films.

Create a queue for easy passive watching.

Mostly uninteresting genres.

Lists shows alongside the movies.

Huge lists of videos that can't be sorted.

Plex is an interesting service because it's actually a much bigger package than it might seem at first. In addition to its massive collection of free full-length movies and TV shows, Plex also has live TV and associated software that serves as a really cool at-home media server .

Currently, there are tens of thousands of free movies and shows here. They're sectioned off in traditional genres like action and crime, but you can also browse by actor or channel. Plex has its own unique collections, too, including Women Making History, Til Death Do Us Part, Cheap Thrills, Midnight Movies, and Best of the West.

On a movie's watch page are similar titles and additional details that help build a total picture of the film, like the full cast list, reviews, and trailers. I love this because it makes it easy to find other movies on Plex with the same stars.

See which movies on Plex are leaving soon to catch them before they go! Plex's Most Popular page lists these titles and more: To Kill a Mockingbird, Joy Ride, Collide, The Whole Truth, Men, Spree, and Scary Movie 4.

If you can't find what you want on Plex, the title you're interested in might still show up in the results, and you'll be given links to places you can buy/rent it (sort of like Yidio, listed above).

You don't need a user account.

Also has TV shows.

Save movies to a 'Watch Later' list.

Includes movie trailers.

The ads help fund the project and filmmakers.

Can't sort or filter any genre list.

Really distracting ads.

No age verification for NC-17 films.

Filmzie is built for streaming movies from independent filmmakers and both small and large studios. The site and app are well-designed, and there are plenty of great titles to stream.

Here are some collections I've seen here that are rare to find on a movie site: Festive Films, Undiscovered Gems, Asia's Top Cinema, Cuddle-Up Comedies , Short Movies, and Independent Cinema .

Of course, over 20 traditional genres, like drama and thriller, are also available. Trending, new, and most-watched movies each have their own section as well.

Filmzie does a great job organizing its movies. This is the main reason I use it. That, and there are so many videos here that I have never even heard of, so it's the perfect place to find something brand new.

Some of this site's most watched movies are Machete Language, The Trolls, Afterlife, Words, and Play Hooky.

I've used the website and the mobile app, and both work more or less the same as these other movie sites.

Supports 'resume watching.'

Clearly shows which titles are leaving soon.

Genre lists can't be sorted.

Few unique genres.

Redbox is known for its DVD rental kiosks, but they also have free movie streams available through their website and mobile app. No matter where you use it, the user interface is quite bland, and you can't sort any of the lists. Still, I'll end up here from time to time if I can't find something good through these other services.

Like most movie sites, Redbox's collection can be browsed by genre to help you find dramas, kid movies, romance films, comedies, etc. Faith-Based is one category I haven't seen elsewhere.

Redbox also makes it super simple to see which movies are the most popular and which ones will be leaving the site soon. Some of the latest movies added to their streaming collection include Autumn Road, Repeat, Night Night, Megan , and Infinitum: Subject Unknown .

Big selection, including recent films.

Good video quality.

Really great mobile app.

Can't sort films by popularity.

Available only in the US and its territories.

Crackle is a no-brainer for this list. I always come back to it to watch free movies online because of its list of hundreds of full-length films and original programming. These are big-name movies with stars I'm sure you know.

Although you have to sit through commercials, I find them to be relatively short, with only a few breaks during a movie.

Another reason I choose Crackle is because of its unique categories like Foreign Language, Stand-Up, British, Variety/Talk/Games, and Unidentified/Unexplained . It's fun to look through interesting genres like this.

A closed captioning toggle is available directly from the video player for all users, but if you sign up for an account (it's free), you can also enable parental controls (options are kids mode, teen mode, and grown-up mode).

Here are some examples of the most popular movies on Crackle: Blitz, Far Cry, Pursued, It Came From the Desert, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Includes thousands of free videos.

Adds new movies often.

No ads display within the movies.

Loads of genres to pick from.

Unique movies.

Must have a supported library card or school account.

The Kanopy movie streaming site is different from these other choices because you need a valid library card or university login before you can watch anything. However, there are zero commercials in the movies, and new films are added every month.

Use the Kanopy signup page to search for your library, whether it's a public library or one attached to a school. You can start watching movies after you've been approved.

Kanopy does a great job providing useful categories to look through. There's Short Film, History - Ancient, LGBTQ Cinema, War & Action, Sociology, Performing Arts, Human Rights, Everyday Health, and K-12 Lessons .

A few of the more popular movies here include Memento, The Girl on the Train, and Maurice.

There's also an entirely separate section for Kanopy kids movies . My son's old enough now to watch non-kid movies, but if he weren't, I'd be thrilled with this. There are subsections like Story Time and Read-Along Storybooks . You can also set up parental controls to force only age-appropriate content.

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The 15 Best Sites to Watch Movies for Free (Legally!)

Looking for the best free online movie streaming sites? Here's where you can watch free and legal movies anytime you like.

Although free movie streaming might sound synonymous with piracy, there are loads of legal free movie websites on the internet. These are packed full of movies you can stream for free without breaking the law.

Whether you're looking for movies or TV shows, finding free videos to stream is totally feasible; it just requires that you know where to look. With that in mind, here are the best free online movie streaming sites to check out.

What to Expect From Free Movie Streaming Sites

There are a ton of free, legal videos online, so you'll find a great mix of options on the below services. A healthy amount of the movies available to stream for free are in the public domain. Because these films have lapsed in ownership and fallen into common property, many sites host such video treasures.

But it isn't just B-movies available to stream online; you'll also find many big-budget releases. Usually, these are ad-supported, so like watching a movie on TV, you'll have to sit through limited commercials. Nevertheless, the movies are usually presented uncut.

You shouldn't expect to see the latest releases. Instead, you'll mostly see movies dating back anywhere from a few months to many years. Additionally, some sites include original productions and amateur films.

To watch on the go, don't forget to also install some of the best free movie apps on your phone.

It's no surprise that YouTube ranks among the best free movie streaming sites you can find. It offers a ton of free films to pick from, including many public domain films from channels such as the aptly titled Public Domain Films .

Furthermore, channels like Popcornflix host full movies via YouTube, and you'll find an official Free to Watch section in YouTube's Movies & Shows hub. There's a fantastic mix, with everything from classic comedies to sports and much more. It's a far cry from channels that only offer movies from the 1950s you've never heard of.

You may have to dig a bit for what you want to watch. But for those with patience, YouTube is a treasure trove of free, legal movies to stream.

Boasting a solid array of syndicated content and its own productions, Crackle is a must for any film buff . Its rotating selection varies, but you'll find quality movies across genres here.

Aside from films, Crackle features television shows, including original programming. And by making a free account, you can enjoy Crackle on your TV too.

CONtv, formerly known as Viewster, features live TV, shows, and movies. Among the TV shows on offer, you'll still find some free movies to enjoy here, including a lot of horror B-films. Some of it requires a subscription, but a lot of the content is available to watch for free.

While Vudu is known for its digital video rentals and sales, it has a sizable selection of free movies to stream too. With a comprehensive array of movies and TV shows, plus fresh additions arriving regularly, it's a fantastic service.

Vudu's free section operates similarly to Crackle by providing full movies with limited commercials. Through hosting films with ads, Vudu is able to offer free movies and TV shows legally.

You need to register for a free Vudu account to use this service, but it's worth doing so. Once you do, you can use your account to activate digital copies of movies and shows, as well as buy and rent movies from Vudu.

5. Popcornflix

Like Crackle, Popcornflix presents full movies with limited ads. Here, you'll find a range of movies in a rotating selection, and there's no account required to start watching. The service even offers some original content, to boot.

Flicks are segmented into genres that are more unique than the standard ones, such as Out for Revenge and Medieval Action . With a beefy lineup and easy navigation, Popcornflix is an awesome choice for free, legal movie streaming.

Providing free movies and shows, Tubi is another fantastic service for legal movie streams. Here, you'll be able to view newer movies from as recent as 2022, as well as older favorites.

Helpfully, Tubi offers a Leaving Soon category. This lets you prioritize your streaming queue so you can catch movies and shows before they disappear. Be sure to check out the First Time on Tubi collection, too.

7. Pluto TV

Pluto TV has a lot to offer. You'll find a Live TV section where you can switch between channels, much like traditional cable. Switch to the Live TV section on the left side to jump to channels that only play films, though they may be in the middle of something depending on when you start watching.

If you can't find something that you like on the live stations, switch to the On Demand section at the top. Here you'll find tons of free movies you can start streaming right away.

8. Classic Cinema Online

As the name suggests, Classic Cinema Online focuses on older content. Even its website aesthetic captures a decidedly retro vibe, using a backdrop of red theater curtains. You can walk through the decades here with films from the 1930s to the 1960s. There are even some silent films on offer, if you're interested in those.

Some of the inclusions may have you calling the definition of "classic cinema" into question. Nevertheless, Classic Cinema Online is pure gold for old-school movies and one of the best sites for public domain films .

Hoopla has one barrier to entry, but is still an easy way to legally watch movies online for free. To use Hoopla, you'll need to create an account and link your supported public library card.

Once you do, you can use Hoopla to borrow movies and TV shows, plus audiobooks and ebooks, from your library's collection. The service is available on the web as well as apps for all your devices and TV streaming boxes.

If you don't have a library card or your library doesn't support Hoopla, you won't be able to use it. But if you can, it's a service worth checking out.

Although Yidio isn't a video host, it does act as an excellent aggregator of free streaming movies and TV shows. The way Yidio works is by redirecting you to third-party services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, and others. As such, certain films and shows here do require a subscription.

Using the Free filter on the left side will help you find movies and TV that come at no cost. Unfortunately, not everything in the free categories is actually free. Clicking on some titles prompts you to sign up for a free trial.

Still, Yidio makes finding free movie streams far easier than checking individual sites manually. You can filter by rating, genre, and more to find something to watch.

11. The Roku Channel

Don't be fooled by The Roku Channel's name. While it's available for Roku streaming devices via an app, you can watch on the web too. With a few clicks, you can stream Roku Originals, popular TV shows, and new-arrival movies.

The selection rotates, and there are categories on the main page to help you find something you'll enjoy. As expected, you'll have to sit through ads, but ad-supported means free, right?

Libraries are most often associated with books, but that's not all they provide. Kanopy, like Hoopla mentioned above, lets you stream tons of "thoughtful entertainment" movies for free, making it another great way to get free content with a participating library card (or university login).

With either of those, you can watch hundreds of free movies. These include a lot of documentaries and international films, so this is a great fit for those who want something a little different.

13. Amazon Freevee

Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) lets you enjoy free movies on Amazon Video. The service launched in 2019 and while its name has changed, the experience has remained the same. It allows anyone with a free account to watch a selection of free movies and TV shows. In addition to watching online, you can enjoy this content on your Fire TV, Xbox, PlayStation, and other streaming devices.

Alongside the movies, you'll also find some TV series (including live channels) and originals to enjoy.

14. Free Movies Cinema

As the name suggests, Free Movies Cinema features legal free movie streaming. Unlike many sites, the selection touts not only general categories like action and comedy, but also short films and features.

There's also a collection of fan-made movies, such as Portal and Watch Dogs, based on video games of the same names.

15. Top Documentary Films

If you're looking for free documentaries, you'll find plenty at Top Documentary Films. It packs a varied selection, including amateur documentaries you might not have heard about before.

Browse the Top 100 documentaries to find something that's popular, or take a look at recently added movies or the various genres to drill down a bit.

The Best Free Movie Sites for Everyone

With these free online movie streaming sites, you now know where to look for hundreds of free movies. Enjoy these legal films anytime, anywhere so you never go without something to watch.

Meanwhile, you should also know how to legally download movies for offline use, so you can enjoy them on your next flight or long trip.

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The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

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The Future of ‘Star Trek’: From ‘Starfleet Academy’ to New Movies and Michelle Yeoh, How the 58-Year-Old Franchise Is Planning for the Next Generation of Fans

“I can’t believe I get to play the captain of the Enterprise.”

“Strange New Worlds” is the 12th “Star Trek” TV show since the original series debuted on NBC in 1966, introducing Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a hopeful future for humanity. In the 58 years since, the “Star Trek” galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date. Even compared with “Star Wars” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Star Trek” stands as the only storytelling venture to deliver a single narrative experience for this long across TV and film.

In other words, “Star Trek” is not just a franchise. As Alex Kurtzman , who oversees all “Star Trek” TV production, puts it, “‘Star Trek’ is an institution.”

Without a steady infusion of new blood, though, institutions have a way of fading into oblivion (see soap operas, MySpace, Blockbuster Video). To keep “Star Trek” thriving has meant charting a precarious course to satisfy the fans who have fueled it for decades while also discovering innovative ways to get new audiences on board.

“Doing ‘Star Trek’ means that you have to deliver something that’s entirely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time,” Kurtzman says.

The franchise has certainly weathered its share of fallow periods, most recently after “Nemesis” bombed in theaters in 2002 and UPN canceled “Enterprise” in 2005. It took 12 years for “Star Trek” to return to television with the premiere of “Discovery” in 2017; since then, however, there has been more “Star Trek” on TV than ever: The adventure series “Strange New Worlds,” the animated comedy “Lower Decks” and the kids series “Prodigy” are all in various stages of production, and the serialized thriller “Picard” concluded last year, when it ranked, along with “Strange New Worlds,” among Nielsen’s 10 most-watched streaming original series for multiple weeks. Nearly one in five Paramount+ subscribers in the U.S. is watching at least one “Star Trek” series, according to the company, and more than 50% of fans watching one of the new “Trek” shows also watch at least two others. The new shows air in 200 international markets and are dubbed into 35 languages. As “Discovery” launches its fifth and final season in April, “Star Trek” is in many ways stronger than it’s ever been.

“’Star Trek’s fans have kept it alive more times than seems possible,” says Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., who executive produces the TV series through Roddenberry Entertainment. “While many shows rightfully thank their fans for supporting them, we literally wouldn’t be here without them.”

But the depth of fan devotion to “Star Trek” also belies a curious paradox about its enduring success: “It’s not the largest fan base,” says Akiva Goldsman, “Strange New Worlds” executive producer and co-showrunner. “It’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s certainly not Marvel.”

When J.J. Abrams rebooted “Star Trek” in 2009 — with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña playing Kirk, Spock and Uhura — the movie grossed more than any previous “Star Trek” film by a comfortable margin. But neither that film nor its two sequels broke $500 million in global grosses, a hurdle every other top-tier franchise can clear without breaking a sweat.

There’s also the fact that “Star Trek” fans are aging. I ask “The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes, who’s acted in or directed more versions of “Star Trek” than any other person alive, how often he meets fans for whom the new “Star Trek” shows are their first. “Of the fans who come to talk to me, I would say very, very few,” he says. “‘Star Trek’ fans, as we know, are very, very, very loyal — and not very young.”

As Stapf puts it: “There’s a tried and true ‘Trek’ fan that is probably going to come to every ‘Star Trek,’ no matter what it is — and we want to expand the universe.”

Every single person I spoke to for this story talked about “Star Trek” with a joyful earnestness as rare in the industry as (nerd alert) a Klingon pacifist.

“When I’m meeting fans, sometimes they’re coming to be confirmed, like I’m kind of a priest,” Ethan Peck says during a break in filming on the “Strange New Worlds” set. He’s in full Spock regalia — pointy ears, severe eyebrows, bowl haircut — and when asked about his earliest memories of “Star Trek,” he stares off into space in what looks like Vulcan contemplation. “I remember being on the playground in second or third grade and doing the Vulcan salute, not really knowing where it came from,” he says. “When I thought of ‘Star Trek,’ I thought of Spock. And now I’m him. It’s crazy.”

To love “Star Trek” is to love abstruse science and cowboy diplomacy, complex moral dilemmas and questions about the meaning of existence. “It’s ultimately a show with the most amazing vision of optimism, I think, ever put on-screen in science fiction,” says Kurtzman, who is 50. “All you need is two minutes on the news to feel hopeless now. ‘Star Trek’ is honestly the best balm you could ever hope for.”

I’m getting a tour of the USS Enterprise from Scotty — or, rather, “Strange New World” production designer Jonathan Lee, who is gushing in his native Scottish burr as we step into the starship’s transporter room. “I got such a buzzer from doing this, I can’t tell you,” he says. “I actually designed four versions of it.”

Lee is especially proud of the walkway he created to run behind the transporter pads — an innovation that allows the production to shoot the characters from a brand-new set of angles as they beam up from a far-flung planet. It’s one of the countless ways that this show has been engineered to be as cinematic as possible, part of Kurtzman’s overall vision to make “Star Trek” on TV feel like “a movie every week.”

Kurtzman’s tenure with “Star Trek” began with co-writing the screenplay for Abrams’ 2009 movie, which was suffused with a fast-paced visual style that was new to the franchise. When CBS Studios approached Kurtzman in the mid-2010s about bringing “Star Trek” back to TV, he knew instinctively that it needed to be just as exciting as that film.

“The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,’” says Frakes, who’s helmed two feature films with the “Next Generation” cast and directed episodes of almost every live-action “Trek” TV series, including “Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds.” “Every department has the resources to create.”

A new science lab set for Season 3, for example, boasts a transparent floor atop a four-foot pool of water that swirls underneath the central workbench, and the surrounding walls sport a half dozen viewscreens with live schematics custom designed by a six-person team. “I like being able to paint on a really big canvas,” Kurtzman says. “The biggest challenge is always making sure that no matter how big something gets, you’re never losing focus on that tiny little emotional story.”

At this point, is there a genre that “Strange New Worlds” can’t do? “As long as we’re in storytelling that is cogent and sure handed, I’m not sure there is,” Goldsman says with an impish smile. “Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!”

This approach is also meant to appeal to people who might want to watch “Star Trek” but regard those 668 hours of backstory as an insurmountable burden. “You shouldn’t have to watch a ‘previously on’ to follow our show,” Myers says.

To achieve so many hairpin shifts in tone and setting while maintaining Kurtzman’s cinematic mandate, “Strange New Worlds” has embraced one of the newest innovations in visual effects: virtual production. First popularized on the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the technology — called the AR wall — involves a towering circular partition of LED screens projecting a highly detailed, computer-generated backdrop. Rather than act against a greenscreen, the actors can see whatever fantastical surroundings their characters are inhabiting, lending a richer level of verisimilitude to the show.

But there is a catch. While the technology is calibrated to maintain a proper sense of three-dimensional perspective through the camera lens, it can be a bit dizzying for anyone standing on the set. “The images on the walls start to move in a way that makes no sense,” says Mount. “You end up having to focus on something that’s right in front of you so you don’t fall down.”

And yet, even as he’s talking about it, Mount can’t help but break into a boyish grin. “Sometimes we call it the holodeck,” he says. In fact, the pathway to the AR wall on the set is dotted with posters of the virtual reality room from “The Next Generation” and the words “Enter Holodeck” in a classic “Trek” font.

“I want to take one of those home with me,” Peck says. Does the AR wall also affect him? “I don’t really get disoriented by it. Spock would not get ill, so I’m Method acting.”

I’m on the set of the “Star Trek” TV movie “Section 31,” seated in an opulent nightclub with a view of a brilliant, swirling nebula, watching Yeoh rehearse with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and her castmates. Originally, the project was announced as a TV series centered on Philippa Georgiou, the semi-reformed tyrant Yeoh originated on “Discovery.” But between COVID delays and the phenomenon of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there wasn’t room in the veteran actress’s schedule to fit a season of television. Yeoh was undaunted.

“We’d never let go of her,” she says of her character. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry: The enormity of the revelation that Garrett is being brought back is meant only for fans. If you don’t know who the character is, you’re not missing anything.

“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” says screenwriter Craig Sweeny. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”

Nevertheless, including Garrett on the show is exactly the kind of gasp-worthy detail meant to flood “Star Trek” fans with geeky good feeling.

“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Kurtzman says. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”

On its face, that maxim would make “Section 31” a genuine risk. The titular black-ops organization has been controversial with “Star Trek” fans since it was introduced in the 1990s. “The concept is almost antagonistic to some of the values of ‘Star Trek,’” Sweeny says. But he still saw “Section 31” as an opportunity to broaden what a “Star Trek” project could be while embracing the radical inclusivity at the heart of the franchise’s appeal.

“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” he says. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”

For Osunsanmi, who grew up watching “The Next Generation” with his father, it boils down to a simple question: “Is it putting good into the world?” he asks. “Are these characters ultimately putting good into the world? And, taking a step back, are we putting good into the world? Are we inspiring humans watching this to be good? That’s for me what I’ve always admired about ‘Star Trek.’”

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.” The franchise’s gung-ho sojourn into streaming movies, however, stands in awkward contrast to the persistent difficulty Paramount Pictures and Abrams’ production company Bad Robot have had making a feature film following 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” — the longest theaters have gone without a “Star Trek” movie since Paramount started making them.

First, a movie reuniting Pine’s Capt. Kirk with his late father — played in the 2009 “Star Trek” by Chris Hemsworth — fell apart in 2018. Around the same time, Quentin Tarantino publicly flirted with, then walked away from, directing a “Star Trek” movie with a 1930s gangster backdrop. Noah Hawley was well into preproduction on a “Star Trek” movie with a brand-new cast, until then-studio chief Emma Watts abruptly shelved it in 2020. And four months after Abrams announced at Paramount’s 2022 shareholders meeting that his 2009 cast would return for a movie directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”), Shakman left the project to make “The Fantastic Four” for Marvel. (It probably didn’t help that none of the cast had been approached before Abrams made his announcement.)

The studio still intends to make what it’s dubbed the “final chapter” for the Pine-Quinto-Saldaña cast, and Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) is writing a new draft of the script. Even further along is another prospective “Star Trek” film written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and to be directed by Toby Haynes (“Andor,” “Black Mirror: USS Callister”) that studio insiders say is on track to start preproduction by the end of the year. That project will serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise. In both cases, the studio is said to be focused on rightsizing the budgets to fit within the clear box office ceiling for “Star Trek” feature films.

Far from complaining, everyone seems to relish the challenge. Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman says that “working with Alex, the references are always at least $100 million movies, if not more, so we just kind of reverse engineer how do we do that without having to spend the same amount of money and time.”

The workload doesn’t seem to faze him either. “Visual effects people are a big, big ‘Star Trek’ fandom,” he says. “You naturally just get all these people who go a little bit above and beyond, and you can’t trade that for anything.”

In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.

But this is a “Star Trek” show, so there do need to be starships, and Kurtzman is discussing with Davies about how one of them should look. The issue is that “Starfleet Academy” is set in the 32nd century, an era so far into the future Kurtzman and his team need to invent much of its design language.

“For me, this design is almost too Klingon,” Kurtzman says. “I want to see the outline and instinctively, on a blink, recognize it as a Federation ship.”

The time period was first introduced on Season 3 of “Discovery,” when the lead character, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), transported the namesake starship and its crew there from the 23rd century. “It was exciting, because every time we would make a decision, we would say, ‘And now that’s canon,’” says Martin-Green.

“We listened to a lot of it,” Kurtzman says. “I think I’ve been able to separate the toxic fandom from really true fans who love ‘Star Trek’ and want you to hear what they have to say about what they would like to see.”

By Season 2, the “Discovery” writers pivoted from its dour, war-torn first season and sent the show on its trajectory 900-plus years into the future. “We had to be very aware of making sure that Spock was in the right place and that Burnham’s existence was explained properly, because she was never mentioned in the original series,” says executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. “What was fun about jumping into the future is that it was very much fresh snow.”

That freedom affords “Starfleet Academy” far more creative latitude while also dramatically reducing how much the show’s target audience of tweens and teens needs to know about “Star Trek” before watching — which puts them on the same footing as the students depicted in the show. “These are kids who’ve never had a red alert before,” Noga Landau, executive producer and co-showrunner, says. “They never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

In the “Starfleet Academy” writers’ room in Secret Hideout’s Santa Monica offices, Kurtzman tells the staff — a mix of “Star Trek” die-hards, part-time fans and total newbies — that he wants to take a 30,000-foot view for a moment. “I think we need to ground in science more throughout the show,” he says, a giant framed photograph of Spock ears just over his shoulder. “The kids need to use science more to solve problems.”

Immediately, one of the writers brightens. “Are you saying we can amp up the techno-babble?” she says. “I’m just excited I get to use my computer science degree.”

After they break for lunch, Kurtzman is asked how much longer he plans to keep making “Star Trek.” 

“The minute I fall out of love with it is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says. “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

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Nicholas Kristof

The Online Degradation of Women and Girls That We Meet With a Shrug

By Nicholas Kristof

Opinion Columnist

Alarms are blaring about artificial intelligence deepfakes that manipulate voters, like the robocall sounding like President Biden that went to New Hampshire households, or the fake video of Taylor Swift endorsing Donald Trump.

Yet there’s actually a far bigger problem with deepfakes that we haven’t paid enough attention to: deepfake nude videos and photos that humiliate celebrities and unknown children alike. One recent study found that 98 percent of deepfake videos online were pornographic and that 99 percent of those targeted were women or girls.

Faked nude imagery of Taylor Swift rattled the internet in January, but this goes way beyond her: Companies make money by selling advertising and premium subscriptions for websites hosting fake sex videos of famous female actresses, singers, influencers, princesses and politicians. Google directs traffic to these graphic videos, and victims have little recourse.

Sometimes the victims are underage girls.

Francesca Mani, a 14-year-old high school sophomore in New Jersey , told me she was in class in October when the loudspeaker summoned her to the school office. There the assistant principal and a counselor told her that one or more male classmates had used a “nudify” program to take a clothed picture of her and generate a fake naked image. The boys had made naked images of a number of other sophomore girls as well.

Fighting tears, feeling violated and humiliated, Francesca stumbled back to class. In the hallway, she said, she passed another group of girls crying for the same reason — and a cluster of boys mocking them.

“When I saw the boys laughing, I got so mad,” Francesca said. “After school, I came home, and I told my mom we need to do something about this.”

Now 15, Francesca started a website about the deepfake problem — aiheeelp.com — and began meeting state legislators and members of Congress in an effort to call attention to the issue.

While there have always been doctored images, artificial intelligence makes the process much easier. With just a single good image of a person’s face, it is now possible in just half an hour to make a 60-second sex video of that person. Those videos can then be posted on general pornographic websites for anyone to see, or on specialized sites for deepfakes.

The videos there are graphic and sometimes sadistic, depicting women tied up as they are raped or urinated on, for example. One site offers categories including “rape” (472 items), “crying” (655) and “degradation” (822).

In addition, there are the “nudify” or “undressing” websites and apps of the kind that targeted Francesca. “Undress on a click!” one urges. These overwhelmingly target women and girls ; some are not even capable of generating a naked male. A British study of child sexual images produced by artificial intelligence reported that 99.6 percent were of girls, most commonly between 7 and 13 years old.

Graphika, an online analytics company, identified 34 nudify websites that received a combined 24 million unique visitors in September alone.

When Francesca was targeted, her family consulted the police and lawyers but found no remedy. “There’s nobody to turn to,” said her mother, Dorota Mani. “The police say, ‘Sorry, we can’t do anything.’”

The problem is that there isn’t a law that has been clearly broken. “We just continue to be unable to have a legal framework that can be nimble enough to address the tech,” said Yiota Souras, the chief legal officer for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Sophie Compton, a documentary maker, made a film on the topic, “ Another Body ,” and was so appalled that she started a campaign and website, MyImageMyChoice.org , to push for change.

“It’s become a kind of crazy industry, completely based on the violation of consent,” Compton said.

The impunity reflects a blasé attitude toward the humiliation of victims. One survey found that 74 percent of deepfake pornography users reported not feeling guilty about watching the videos.

We have a hard-fought consensus established today that unwanted kissing, groping and demeaning comments are unacceptable, so how is this other form of violation given a pass? How can we care so little about protecting women and girls from online degradation?

“Most survivors I talk to say they contemplated suicide,” said Andrea Powell , who works with people who have been deepfaked and develops strategies to address the problem.

This is a burden that falls disproportionately on prominent women. One deepfake website displays the official portrait of a female member of Congress — and then 28 fake sex videos of her. Another website has 90. (I’m not linking to these sites because, unlike Google, I’m not willing to direct traffic to these sites and further enable them to profit from displaying nonconsensual imagery.)

In rare cases, deepfakes have targeted boys, often for “sextortion,” in which a predator threatens to disseminate embarrassing images unless the victim pays money or provides nudes. The F.B.I. last year warned of an increase in deepfakes used for sextortion, which has sometimes been a factor in child suicides.

“The images look SCARY real and there’s even a video of me doing disgusting things that also look SCARY real,” one 14-year-old reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. That child sent debit card information to a predator who threatened to post the fakes online.

As I see it, Google and other search engines are recklessly directing traffic to porn sites with nonconsensual deepfakes. Google is essential to the business model of these malicious companies.

In one search I did on Google, seven of the top 10 video results were explicit sex videos involving female celebrities. Using the same search terms on Microsoft’s Bing search engine, all 10 were. But this isn’t inevitable: At Yahoo, none were.

In other spheres, Google does the right thing. Ask “How do I kill myself?” and it won’t offer step-by-step guidance — instead, its first result is a suicide helpline. Ask “How do I poison my spouse?” and it’s not very helpful. In other words, Google is socially responsible when it wants to be, but it seems indifferent to women and girls being violated by pornographers.

“Google really has to take responsibility for enabling this kind of problem,” Breeze Liu, herself a victim of revenge porn and deepfakes, told me. “It has the power to stop this.”

Liu was shattered when she got a message in 2020 from a friend to drop everything and call him at once.

“I don’t want you to panic,” he told her when she called, “but there’s a video of you on Pornhub .”

It turned out to be a nude video that had been recorded without Liu’s knowledge. Soon it was downloaded and posted on many other porn sites, and then apparently used to spin deepfake videos showing her performing sex acts. All told, the material appeared on at least 832 links.

Liu was mortified. She didn’t know how to tell her parents. She climbed to the top of a tall building and prepared to jump off.

In the end, Liu didn’t jump. Instead, like Francesca, she got mad — and resolved to help other people in the same situation.

“We are being slut-shamed and the perpetrators are completely running free,” she told me. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Liu, who previously had worked for a venture capital firm in technology, founded a start-up, Alecto AI , that aims to help victims of nonconsensual pornography locate images of themselves and then get them removed. A pilot of the Alecto app is now available free for Apple and Android devices, and Liu hopes to establish partnerships with tech firms to help remove nonconsensual content.

Tech can address problems that tech created, she argues.

Google agrees that there is room for improvement. No Google official was willing to discuss the problem with me on the record, but Cathy Edwards, a vice president for search at the company, issued a statement that said, “We understand how distressing this content can be, and we’re committed to building on our existing protections to help people who are affected.”

“We’re actively developing additional safeguards on Google Search,” the statement added, noting that the company has set up a process where deepfake victims can apply to have these links removed from search results.

A Microsoft spokeswoman, Caitlin Roulston, offered a similar statement, noting that the company has a web form allowing people to request removal of a link to nude images of themselves from Bing search results. The statement encouraged users to adjust safe search settings to “block undesired adult content” and acknowledged that “more work needs to be done.”

Count me unimpressed. I don’t see why Google and Bing should direct traffic to deepfake websites whose business is nonconsensual imagery of sex and nudity. Search engines are pillars of that sleazy and exploitative ecosystem. You can do better, Google and Bing.

A.I. companies aren’t as culpable as Google, but they haven’t been as careful as they could be. Rebecca Portnoff, vice president for data science at Thorn, a nonprofit that builds technology to combat child sexual abuse, notes that A.I. models are trained using scraped imagery from the internet, but they can be steered away from websites that include child sexual abuse. The upshot: They can’t so easily generate what they don’t know.

President Biden signed a promising executive order last year to try to bring safeguards to artificial intelligence, including deepfakes, and several bills have been introduced in Congress. Some states have enacted their own measures.

I’m in favor of trying to crack down on deepfakes with criminal law, but it’s easy to pass a law and difficult to enforce it. A more effective tool might be simpler: civil liability for damages these deepfakes cause. Tech companies are now largely excused from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, but if this were amended and companies knew that they faced lawsuits and had to pay damages, their incentives would change and they would police themselves. And the business model of some deepfake companies would collapse.

Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat of Colorado, and others have proposed a new federal regulatory body to oversee technology companies and new media, just as the Federal Communications Commission oversees old media. That makes sense to me.

Australia seems a step ahead of other countries in regulating deepfakes, and perhaps that’s in part because a Perth woman, Noelle Martin , was targeted at age 17 by someone who doctored an image of her into porn. Outraged, she became a lawyer and has devoted herself to fighting such abuse and lobbying for tighter regulations.

One result has been a wave of retaliatory fake imagery meant to hurt her. Some included images of her underage sister.

“This form of abuse is potentially permanent,” Martin told me. “This abuse affects a person’s education, employability, future earning capacity, reputation, interpersonal relationships, romantic relationships, mental and physical health — potentially in perpetuity.”

The greatest obstacles to regulating deepfakes, I’ve come to believe, aren’t technical or legal — although those are real — but simply our collective complacency.

Society was also once complacent about domestic violence and sexual harassment. In recent decades, we’ve gained empathy for victims and built systems of accountability that, while imperfect, have fostered a more civilized society.

It’s time for similar accountability in the digital space. New technologies are arriving, yes, but we needn’t bow to them. It astonishes me that society apparently believes that women and girls must accept being tormented by demeaning imagery. Instead, we should stand with victims and crack down on deepfakes that allow companies to profit from sexual degradation, humiliation and misogyny.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

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Nicholas Kristof became a columnist for The Times Opinion desk in 2001. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes, for his coverage of China and of the genocide in Darfur. @ NickKristof