It was during San Diego Comic-Con back in 2014 when Star Trek fans first got to see PRELUDE TO AXANAR. Now in 2026, twelve years later(!!!), the first of the two Axanar sequels, THE GATHERING STORM, will make its debut with a special press screening in San Diego on July 26, the Sunday of this year’s Comic-Con!
The venue will be the Digital Gym Cinema—one of the only nearby theaters available for rental—which is located less than a mile from the San Diego Convention Center where Comic-Con happens. The first press screening will start around 2pm (and yes, I plan to be there!) with additional screenings taking place afterwards to allow more people into the 54-seat auditorium. Showings of Prelude to Axanar and The Gathering Storm will run continuously between 2pm and 6pm and will be free for anyone who shows up. Members of the cast and production crew will be in attendance, as well, hanging out to talk with donors, supporters, fans, or anyone who decides to show up.
Back in January of this year, after attending a sound-mixing session for The Gathering Storm in Encino, CA (northwest of L.A.), I confidently blogged that the first of the completed Axanar sequels would finally be released before springtime. The observant amongst you may have realized that July 26 is not the beginning of spring. So what the heck happened?
I decided to ask Alec Peters directly…
JONATHAN – Alec, you told me that the release of The Gathering Storm would happen in early March. I saw the entire fan film completed during the audio mixing session. It was frickin’ DONE, Alec! Why the extra four-month delay?
ALEC – We had some delays in the color correction process, which should have been two weeks, and it turned into three months! Our post-production pipeline wasn’t really efficient, and so we basically started over. And thankfully, DANA WAGNER once again came through for us and took over the color correction, and it worked out great in the end.
JONATHAN: And it’s really, really done, right? It’s a two-hour drive from L.A. down to San Diego—and there’s gonna be ridiculous traffic because of Comic-Con. Each way! This could be 6-7 hours in my car that day! Please tell me I’m not gonna make that drive just to be disappointed…
ALEC – Oh, trust me, you will NOT be disappointed. Yes, The Gathering Storm is completely done. And yes, the theater has been rented and the contracts signed.
JONATHAN – Yay…finally!!! But I heard there might be some issues with releasing The Gathering Storm onto YouTube. I thought you had a legal settlement with CBS and Paramount. What’s the issue?
ALEC – I don’t want to go into too much detail because there are lawyers involved, but those lawyers are being a-holes. And yes, we have a settlement agreement. And it looks like Paramount is happy to honor that agreement, but certain people on the CBS side are deciding to be pricks.
JONATHAN – Are you trying to resolve it?
ALEC – Yes, but I can’t go into specifics just yet.
JONATHAN – What if you can’t get permission to post The Gathering Storm on YouTube or Vimeo or the other online video platforms by July 26? How will fans and supporters and donors be able to finally see it?
ALEC – We will be uploading The Gathering Storm and give it away as a free download to EVERYONE. We are starting to do that with the two other films CBS illegally had taken down last year: THE ICARUS MANEUVER and DAEDALUS. CBS can’t remove it from a site that we ourselves own.
Don’t worry, fans will be able to see this amazing film online. It just might take a little extra time for it to get to YouTube.
JONATHAN – Speaking of time, what about the second of the two sequels? What’s that one going to be called, and when will fans have an opportunity to see it?
ALEC – The final installment in the Axanar trilogy will be calle CRUCIBLE. Prelude to Axanar was episode 3 of “The Four Years War”; The Gathering Storm is episode 4; and this final one will be episode 5. And before anyone asks, there is no episode 1 or 2. When we made Prelude, it was supposed to be a proof-of-concept one-off. So we pretended it was one of a series of documentaries detailing the events of the Four Years War between the Federation and the Klingons, which culminated with the Battle of Axanar. But since we’re only allowed to make two more Axanar fan films, we decided that episodes 1 and 2 will just have to be left to people’s imaginations.
As for a date of release, we’re hoping for December of this year. But nothing is set in stone yet. I will say that all of the actor footage for that film is in the can, but we’re still working on compositing and the VFX shots. That finale is going to blow people away with how much VFX is in it!
JONATHAN – Will you be having a special theatrical premiere for that release, as well?
ALEC – Yes, but we’re not sure where yet. It’s possible it won’t even be in the U.S. As you know, Axanar fans are international. But we’ll see.
JONATHAN – You mentioned in a recent podcast that the incredible USS Ares bridge set will finally be coming down after nearly a decade. Why now?
ALEC – Over the last twelve years, I’ve put hundreds of thousands of dollars of my own money into this project on top of what we raised from fans. And we’ve had our amazing angel producers, DAVE LANYON and GUDNI GUDNASON generously helping Axanar get over the finish line. But the studio itself still has monthly rent in the thousands that I have to pay out of pocket, and with the project finally completed, I just can’t justify the ongoing expense of keeping Ares Studios open.
JONATHAN – So what will happen to these awesome set pieces? Is there any way to save them? Or are they all going into the dumpster or some big bonfire?
ALEC – I’m not sure yet, honestly. Maybe someone wants to take them off my hands and will pay to transport them somewhere they can store them. Maybe I’ll try to keep just a small portion of the set pieces so fans can film the helm, captain’s chair, and a few of the back consoles and turbolift. But we won’t have space to keep an entire 360-degree bridge set intact, I’m sorry to say. All good things…
JONATHAN – Okay, to finish up, from inception in 2010 until now, this project has has taken up nearly one-quarter of your 65-year life, Alec. With all of the emotions that I’m sure you’ve felt over these past dozen years, how does it feel to finally be able to say to everyone, “Yeah, it’s finally done…”?
ALEC – Short answer: it feels great. As you said, this has been like a mythical quest for the last twelve years, with mountains to climb, dragons to slay, and two Fortune 500 corporations suing us for a full year trying to kill our production. We had to deal with a move across the country, finishing construction on the bridge set, a COVID shutdown, two fired directors, and more obstacles than I can count. But through it all, I never gave up on the dream, and neither did you or thousands of fans and supporters all over the world. And now, all of that patience and dedication and hard work is coming to a completion.
Prelude to Axanar set the Star Trek world on fire in 2014 when there was no official Star Trek on TV anymore. With the end of the divisive ALEX KURTZMAN era at hand, I think the next two installments of Axanar are coming out at the perfect time. I truly believe that people will watch these two sequel films and be reminded of how good Star Trek can be.
And that, to me, is the thing that matters the most at the end of this long journey.
