In an episode of the official Star Trek podcast "The Pod Directive" Tawny Newsome revealed that she thought she was auditioning for a funny side character. It was not until she had landed the part of Beckett Mariner and received the full scripts at a table read where she was seated center with Jack Quaid that she realized she would be the lead.
The name of the series comes from a popular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (Lower Decks (1994)), which it also was focused on the lives of junior officers aboard Enterprise NCC-1701-D commanded by Picard.
Tawny Newsome said in an interview with Wil Wheaton that one of the few things her parents had in common was Star Trek and because of her childhood experiences with the series, there was no other franchise she'd rather be a part of. She was also influenced by the positive portrayal of the black father and son on screen in Star Trek: Espacio profundo nueve (1993).
Half of the first season was done remotely because of Covid19 pandemic. The score was recorded remotely and the second season was written over Zoom sessions.
Series writer Mike McMahan named Beckett Mariner after his sister Beckett McMahan (full name Beckett Mariner McMahan).