Daisy Ridley's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Reboot Has A Star Trek Secret Weapon
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is resurfacing, and it could revitalize a forgotten and foundational sci-fi franchise.
Before there was Star Trek, there was Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The sci-fi series created by Irwin Allen launched in 1964 and was based on the 1961 film of the same name. And, like Star Trek, a sci-fi story of the week and a teamwork-based crew structure propelled much of the storytelling. Over its four-season run, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea featured writing from various now-legendary science fiction talents, including Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, and Paul W. Fairman. In a sense, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was the 1960s sci-fi show that time forgot, with high-concept sci-fi stories, ranging from time travel to aliens and more, all of which are right in line with what sci-fi fans will find in vintage Doctor Who episodes or Star Trek. And now, it appears that a science fiction heavyweight, Daisy Ridley, is the new captain of the Seaview, with a twist.
On some level, it seems like the new Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series will be a reboot in the truest sense: This new series will be about rediscovering a retro-futuristic submarine, with Ridley at the helm as a female version of Lee Crane. Produced by Akiva Goldsman and directed by Matt Shakman, this show feels like it’s going to be a bit like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but underwater, and maybe in a good way. Here’s why.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea sounds like a pulpy throwback
Daisy Ridley in 2025
According to Variety, the premise of this new Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea seems to suggest a pulpy vibe, complete with the lost continent of Atlantis being central to the story. The official premise claims that: “At the center of the [series] is the USS Seaview, a retro-futuristic submarine found entombed in the ice, marked with symbols from a history that shouldn’t exist.”
The Seaview is the “high-tech” sub from the original 1961 movie and the 1964 TV series, and with Matt Shakman involved, it seems likely we’ll be getting something that evokes the style of Fantastic Four: First Steps, the most recent film he directed.
The rest of the premise also makes it sound possible this new Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea will deal with alternate timelines and hidden history. More of the synopsis from Variety reads:
“Lee leads Seaview on daring undersea missions to contain mysterious forces leaking into our world, all while uncovering a hidden truth about the oceans, an erased chapter of human history and the once-thought mythical city of Atlantis.”
Could the “mysterious forces leaking into our world” imply parallel realities? Is the new Lee Crane (Ridley) a parallel-universe variant of the original Lee Crane (David Hedison) from the classic series? Time will tell!
Why Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea feels like the next-best thing to a new Star Trek show
Lee Crane and an alien friend in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
For contemporary Trek fans, Akiva Goldsman’s work on that famous sci-fi franchise is extensive and transformative. Goldsman worked on Discovery Season 2, co-created Picard, and has been the co-showrunner of Strange New Worlds since 2022. Meanwhile, Matt Shakman was, at one point, tapped to direct a Star Trek film, but when that fell apart in 2022, Shakman moved on to direct The Fantastic Four: First Steps for Marvel Studios. Could Shakman be bringing any of his Star Trek-esque ideas to this series?
In 2025, it was reported that Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is just one of three Irwin Allen shows that Goldsman is rebooting — the other two are The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. With Shakman on board for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and contemporary sci-fi icon Daisy Ridley in the starring role, it feels possible that Paramount is building out a possible shared universe between these rebooted, vintage sci-fi shows.
Could it work? Other than the ill-fated 2024 series Nautilus, and not counting the excellent kids’ animated series Octonauts, there hasn’t been a mainstream sci-fi show based on a submarine since seaQuest debuted in 1993. In theory, with these Star Trek, Star Wars, and Marvel talents, combined with an underrated foundation of sci-fi storytelling, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea could be the next great hope for old-school adventure sci-fi on TV. If Ridley can’t return to Star Wars anytime soon, seeing her command the Seaview could be her greatest role yet.
