NOVEMBER 3, 2023 - Last year we brought you an interview with the team at Chicago-based Otherworld Theatre Company. They had just announced their new ongoing Star Trek-inspired improvised comedy Starship Edsel. Given the success of that series, it’s not surprising that they have now announced a second season for the show.

Edsel’s plot is in many ways similar to that of Star Trek: Lower Decks:

While the famous flagship of the Federation, the USS Enterprise, is boldly going where no one has gone before under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Edsel and her crew have a less glamorous history.

The flawed USS Edsel, crewed by “disruptive and incompetent personnel,” began its adventure last season by being placed in a parking orbit around the vacation planet of Atlantis. Season 1 ran for 24 episodes, performing live every other Saturday at Otherworld’s theatrical headquarters in the “Windy City” of Chicago, Illinois. The season can now be streamed on YouTube.

Like any good series, season 2 promises to go bigger, with a new story and new cast members, including a brand-new “Jeffrey Combs Ensemble.” Combs, it will be remembered is the actor who portrayed nine roles across four different Star Trek series, including the Ferengi Brunt and all the Weyoun clones in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; the Andorian Shran in Star Trek: Enterprise; and, most recently, the megalomaniacal computer AGIMUS in (thus far) three episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks. “Like Combs,” according to the press release, “the Ensemble will portray many different aliens throughout Season Two, both recurring characters and one-time appearances.”

The first episode of Starship Edsel season 2 premieres on November 11, 2023, with episodes showing every other Sunday at 10 p.m. Tickets cost $20, with a limited number of pay-what-you-can tickets available for each performance, and can be purchased online.