Naver Webtoon said on the 18th that it joined the global campaign "Space for Everybody," which the renowned U.S. science fiction (SF) series Star Trek is running to mark its 60th anniversary this year, and produced original webtoons.
On its English service, Naver Webtoon will begin releasing, in sequence starting today, the original webtoons Stargazers and Recollection, set in the Star Trek universe.
Since its first TV series aired in 1966, Star Trek has expanded its intellectual property (IP) across films, novels, games and animation for more than 60 years, but this is the first time the IP is being presented in a webtoon format optimized for smartphones. With the existing Star Trek fandom aging, the move is seen as a choice to secure younger users. In fact, about 75% of North American users on Naver Webtoon's global platform WEBTOON are Gen Z (born after 1995).
Amy Jarascho, head of global publishing at Paramount, which holds Star Trek's IP, said, "Through the new platform of webtoons, we will deliver a differentiated sense of immersion to readers."