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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is an American television series created by Akiva Goldsman , Alex Kurtzman , and Jenny Lumet for the streaming service Paramount+ . It is scheduled to launch in 2022 as part of Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe . A spin-off from Star Trek: Discovery and a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series , it follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise .

Anson Mount , Rebecca Romijn , and Ethan Peck respectively star as Pike, Number One , and Spock , reprising their roles from Discovery . These characters were introduced in the original Star Trek series, and these actors were cast in the roles for the second season of Discovery in 2019. After a positive fan response, Kurtzman expressed interest in bringing the actors back in their own spin-off series. Development had begun by March 2020, and it was officially ordered in May. The lead cast, title, and creative team were confirmed then, including Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers as showrunners . Babs Olusanmokun , Christina Chong , Celia Rose Gooding , Jess Bush, Melissa Navia, and Bruce Horak also star in the series. Filming took place at CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga , Ontario , from February to October 2021, with additional filming in New Mexico.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set to premiere on Paramount+ on May 5, 2022, and its first 10-episode season will run through July 7. A second season was announced in January 2022, and began filming a month later.

• 2 Cast and characters
• 4.1 Background
• 4.2 Development
• 4.3 Writing
• 4.4 Casting
• 4.6 Filming
• 5 Marketing
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Premise [ ]

The series follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy during the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series . [1] [2]

Cast and characters [ ]

• Anson Mount as Christopher Pike : Captain of the USS Enterprise . [1] To help develop the character beyond his small role in the original series, the writers took Mount's own leadership style as inspiration. Co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman said Mount likes to find consensus with a group, and this led to a table being added to Pike's quarters in the series where he can get the crew together and cook for them. [3]
• Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley / Number One : First officer of the Enterprise and second-in-command to Pike [1] [4]
• Ethan Peck as Spock : Science officer aboard the Enterprise [1]
• Babs Olusanmokun as M'Benga : A doctor aboard the Enterprise [4]
• Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh: A relative of Ricardo Montalbán 's Star Trek villain Khan Noonien Singh . [4] [5]
• Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura : A cadet on the Enterprise [4]
• Jess Bush as Christine Chapel : A nurse on the Enterprise [4]
• Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas [4]
• Bruce Horak as Hemmer: An Aenar officer aboard the Enterprise . Aenar are an albino subspecies of Andorians that are generally depicted as blind, and Horak is blind in one eye with limited sight in the other. [4]

Additionally, Paul Wesley has been cast in the role of James T. Kirk for the second season. [6]

Episodes [ ]

Template:Episode table Akela Cooper & Bill Wolkoff wrote the third episode, and the fourth was written by Davy Perez & Beau DeMayo. [7] Sydney Freeland directed the seventh episode and Amanda Row directed the eighth. [8] Additional directors for the first season include Leslie Hope and Andi Armaganian. [8]

Amanda Row also directed the third eposode of the second season. [9]

Production [ ]

Background [ ].

The first season finale of the series Star Trek: Discovery set-up the second season by introducing the USS Enterprise , the starship from Star Trek: The Original Series . [10] Then co- showrunner Aaron Harberts wanted to explore Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike , feeling that he had not been seen much in Star Trek previously. Harberts was less interested in exploring another Enterprise crew member, Spock , given his many appearances throughout previous iterations of the franchise, [11] and was reluctant to have an actor other than Leonard Nimoy or Zachary Quinto portray the character. [12] However, Spock was confirmed to be included in the season in April 2018. [13] That month, Anson Mount was cast as Pike, [14] and he revealed in July that Rebecca Romijn would portray original series character Number One . [15] Mount and Romijn both signed one year deals for the series as part of an attempt by the producers to closer align Discovery with the wider Star Trek continuity. [16] In August, Ethan Peck was announced as portraying Spock in the season. [17]

Development [ ]

Template:Multiple image In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of Star Trek: Discovery , Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. [18] After Mount was revealed to be leaving Discovery with the second season finale, fans of that series began calling—including through online petitions—for him to reprise the role of Pike in a spin-off series set on the Enterprise , alongside Romijn as Number One and Peck as Spock. Mount and Peck both responded positively to the idea, [19] [20] though Mount said his return would involve "a lot of creative conversations." [21] Kurtzman also expressed interest in the idea, saying, "The fans have been heard. Anything is possible in the world of Trek . I would love to bring back that crew more than anything." [22]

At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con , Kurtzman announced that the second season of companion series Star Trek: Short Treks would include three shorts starring the Enterprise actors. He said this was a way to bring those characters and actors back after Discovery jumped into the future for its third season , but this would not preclude a spin-off series featuring the Enterprise cast from being made. [23] In January 2020, Kurtzman said active discussions regarding a spin-off series featuring the actors had begun, and he had been "tossing ideas back and forth" with Akiva Goldsman who already served as an executive producer on other Star Trek series. Kurtzman said he would prefer for a potential spin-off starring the Enterprise cast to be an ongoing series rather than a miniseries, and said it could explore the seven years between Discovery ' s second season and the accident that seriously injures Pike in The Original Series . [24] Kurtzman soon stated that two unannounced Star Trek series were in development for CBS All Access , [25] and the spin-off was reported to be one of them in March. [26] [27]

CBS All Access officially ordered Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to series in May 2020, with Mount, Romijn, and Peck confirmed to be reprising their roles. [1] Kurtzman and Goldsman were confirmed to be executive producing alongside their fellow Star Trek producer Jenny Lumet , Henry Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin of Kurtzman's production company Secret Hideout, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, and Rod Roddenberry (the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry ) and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment. Aaron Baiers, Akela Cooper, and Davy Perez were set as co-executive producers. [1] [2] Goldsman wrote the script for the series' first episode based on a story he wrote with Kurtzman and Lumet, and was set as showrunner alongside Myers. Goldsman would also remain an executive producer on Star Trek: Picard . [1] Myers joked that " The Cage " (1965), the first pilot episode of The Original Series which stars the same main characters, could be considered the pilot for Strange New Worlds as well, making the series "the longest pilot-to-series pickup in the history of television." [28]

In September 2020, ViacomCBS announced that CBS All Access would be expanded and rebranded as Paramount+ in March 2021. [29] A second season of Strange New Worlds was reported to be in development in November 2021, [30] which frequent Star Trek director Jonathan Frakes confirmed a month later. [31] Paramount+ officially announced the second season order in January 2022. [32]

Writing [ ]

Goldsman had written the first episode by the time of the series' official announcement in May 2020, [1] and said the series would be more optimistic and episodic than Discovery and Picard , a style closer to the original series. He did note that the series would continue to take advantage of serialized storytelling to develop character arcs. [34]

A writers room for the series was underway by July, with stories for 10 episodes already broken by the end of that month. [35] In August, Kurtzman said "we have actually been able to get quite ahead in scripts" for the series due to the COVID-19 pandemic preventing the start of production. [36] He felt what audiences had responded to when watching the characters on Discovery was their "relentless optimism", and said the spin-off would explore how Pike remains an optimistic leader despite learning about his tragic future during the second season of Discovery . [33] Myers elaborated on the series' approach to episodic storytelling, explaining that the writers wanted to "bring a modern character sensibility" to " Star Trek in the way Star Trek stories were always told. It’s a ship and it’s traveling to strange new worlds and we are going to tell big ideas science fiction adventures in an episodic mode. So we have room to meet new aliens, see new ships, visit new cultures." [37]

Casting [ ]

Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and Ethan Peck reprise their respective roles from Star Trek: Discovery in the spin-off. [26] [1] Their characters were first introduced in "The Cage", which starred Jeffrey Hunter as Pike, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, and Majel Barrett as Number One. [14] [34] Peck said the characters will evolve in Strange New Worlds from their portrayals in Discovery to be closer to their original incarnations, which he described as a "whole new challenge". [34] Perez described Pike and Number One as the "parental figures" of the Enterprise , particularly to Spock since he is "not the wise, old Spock from The Original Series , [he is] still finding himself". [37] Babs Olusanmokun , Christina Chong , Celia Rose Gooding , Jess Bush, and Melissa Navia were announced as additional series regulars with the start of filming. [2] Their roles were revealed in September 2021, with Bush cast in Barrett's other original series role of Nurse Christine Chapel , Gooding taking over the role of Nyota Uhura from Nichelle Nichols , and Olusanmokun replacing Booker Bradshaw as Dr. M'Benga. Chong and Navia were respectively cast as new characters La'an Noonien-Singh and Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak was revealed to be cast in the role of Hemmer. [4] [38]

In March 2022, Paul Wesley was revealed to have been cast in the role of James T. Kirk for the second season, taking over the role from The Original Series star William Shatner . [6]

Design work for the series had begun by August 2020, [37] with Jonathan Lee serving as production designer. [3] Myers said they looked for ways to keep continuity with past Star Trek series and wanted to "keep some of the amazing design elements from the 60s that were incorporated in [ The Original Series while] updating it for a modern audience." [37] Goldsman elaborated that the costumes and sets would keep continuity with Discovery , but would be adjusted slightly for the new show to bring it closer to The Original Series ; [39] for instance, the Enterprise bridge set for Strange New Worlds is more compact than the one built for Discovery to bring it closer to the size of the original series' set. [3] Goldsman described this approach as doing one more design iteration on top of what had been done for Discovery . [40] The sets were designed to function like a practical starship, with moving components and pre-programmed monitor graphics that reacted to the actors on set. [3]

Filming [ ]

With the series' announcement in May 2020, Goldsman said he was unsure when production would begin due to the COVID-19 pandemic, [34] but Kurtzman stated on August 12 that filming would take place in 2021. [36] Pre-production began on August 24, [41] [42] with Kurtzman saying in October that filming would be a "systematised, militarised operation" due to the pandemic. The crew experienced this approach to filming first working on Discovery . He elaborated that filming would function in "pods" to minimize the potential spread of the virus, and added that, due to the pandemic delays, the series would begin filming with more completed scripts than is usual for Star Trek . [43]

Filming began on February 18, 2021, [44] [45] at CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga , Ontario , under the working title Lily and Isaac . [44] Despite feeling that he was not a "visual director", Goldsman wanted to establish the tone of the series by directing the first episode because he had been thinking about it since he started working on Discovery . Goldsman worked with cinematographer Glen Keenan, [40] who was the lead director of photography for the series after serving the same role on the second and third seasons of Discovery . [46] Magdalena Górka also served as a cinematographer for the first season. [47] Keenan brought back Cooke Optics ' Anamorphic /i Special Flare lenses from Discovery , and also used the Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus SF lenses. Coincidentally, cinematographer Philip Lanyon chose to use the full frame format lenses as well on the fourth season of Discovery around the same time that Keenan selected them for this series. [46]

Due to pandemic restrictions, scenes on the bridge were the only time that the whole main cast could film together. Mount played music on set those days to help them bond. [3] Paramount+ constructed a video wall to allow for virtual production on the series as well as the fourth season of Discovery , based on the StageCraft technology that was developed for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian . [48] [49] The new virtual set was built in Toronto by visual effects company Pixomondo , and features a 270-degree, 70 feet (21 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m) horseshoe-shaped LED volume with additional LED panels in the ceiling to aid with lighting. The technology uses the game engine software Unreal Engine to display computer-generated backgrounds on the LED screens in real-time during filming, which visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman noted was especially useful for creating the planets that are visited in the series; [49] additional filming for the series to support these visual effects took place in New Mexico. [50] Zimmerman oversaw the installation and use of the volume remotely from Los Angeles. [49]

Goldsman finished filming the pilot episode by early April 2021, except for scenes requiring large groups of extras that could not be filmed due to limits on the number of people allowed on set during the pandemic. He hoped to finish those scenes soon after. [39] Later in April, a guest actor for the series flew from Vancouver to Toronto before testing positive for COVID-19. They had been in contact with a few crewmembers during a costume fitting before the positive test was returned, and those people were quarantined per the studio's protocols. Filming for the series was not impacted by the incident, [51] with frequent Star Trek director Maja Vrvilo beginning production on the second episode by April 26. [52] Filming for the seventh episode took place in the week of May 31 with Sydney Freeland directing, followed by Amanda Row directing the eighth episode in the week of May 7. [8] Filming for the season finale began on July 7. [53] Principal production concluded on July 24, [54] with additional photography for the season taking place later and wrapping on October 11. [55]

Filming for the second season began on February 1, 2022, [56] [57] again under the working title Lily and Isaac . [58] Frakes directed for the season after being prevented from doing so in the first season by the pandemic. [31] Production for the second season is expected to last until June 29. [57]

By December 2020, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard composer Jeff Russo had discussed Strange New Worlds with Kurtzman, including how it "should be treated musically", but whether Russo would be involved in the spin-off's score had yet to be determined at that point. [59] In February 2022, Russo was revealed to have written the main titles music for the series, with Nami Melumad composing the rest of the score. By the time of the announcement, Melumad—who previously composed the music for Star Trek: Prodigy and an episode of Star Trek: Short Treks —had been recording her music for several months at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios in California. [60] [61] A smaller orchestra was used for the first season than Russo used for Discovery and Picard . The orchestra was recorded together while still accommodating COVID-19 safety protocols. Melumad approached each episode of the series as if it was a feature film, was able to develop some recurring motifs, and included some references to past Star Trek music. [61]

Marketing [ ]

Kurtzman promoted the series during a virtual " Star Trek Universe " panel for the Comic-Con@Home convention in July 2020, [35] where Mount, Romijn, and Peck participated in a table read of Discovery ' s second season finale and teased details about Strange New Worlds . [62] [35] On September 8, 2020, CBS All Access streamed a 24-hour event for free to celebrate the 54th anniversary of the Original Series ' premiere. The event included a marathon of episodes from across the Star Trek franchise, with a break during the day for a series of panels about different Star Trek series. These included the first official Strange New Worlds panel, with Mount, Romijn, Peck, Goldsman, Myers, Cooper, and Perez discussing the series and their approach to developing it. [63] [37] In February 2021, Mount and Peck appeared in a marketing campaign for Super Bowl LV advertising the rebranded streaming service Paramount+. [64] A video introducing each of the series' main cast members and their characters was released during the Star Trek Day 2021 virtual event, celebrating the 55th anniversary of The Original Series . [4]

Cast and crew promoted the series at the Television Critics Association February 2022 event, where the first poster was revealed. [56] Later that month, as fan anticipation was "building towards the release of the official trailer", a teaser was revealed during a Paramount investors call. The company did not want footage from the call to be made widely available, and had several social media posts and fan accounts taken down for circulating screenshots of the footage. [65] In March, the first teaser was officially released online, with Amanda Kooser of c|net saying it was "pretty different" from the one that was shown during the investor call, with the official teaser taking a more "atmospheric approach". She compared its footage of Pike riding a horse in snow to the series Yellowstone . [66] Other commentators also noted the focus on atmosphere, especially highlighting Romijn's narration. [67] [68] [69] [70] James Whitbrook of Gizmodo speculated about the status of Pike at the beginning in the series and the impact that the second season of Discovery has had on him, [67] while Witney Seibold of /Film opined that, despite the series' title, the teaser indicated it was "not about being strange and new. It is about being traditional and comforting. After some of the more recent Star Trek shows... perhaps this retreat to the familiar is a wise move." [68]

Release [ ]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set to premiere on the streaming service Paramount+ in the United States on May 5, 2022. [71] Bell Media will broadcast the series in Canada on CTV Sci-Fi Channel on the same day as the U.S., before streaming episodes on Crave . [72]

References [ ]

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• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KhanConnection
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• ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DirectorsJun2021
• ↑ " Honestly, it’s almost more exciting the second time ?!? " (en) . Twitter (23 March 2022).
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• ↑ 14.0 14.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Mount
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• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Peck
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• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MountSpinoff
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• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SDCC2019Kurtzman
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanPGJan2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanTCJan2020
• ↑ 26.0 26.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WGTCReportMar2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GWWReportMar2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named LongestPilotPickup
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ParamountPlus
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named S2Report
• ↑ 31.0 31.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FrakesDec2021SR
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named STUJan2022
• ↑ 33.0 33.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanContendersAug2020
• ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SNWEpisodic
• ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ComicConHomeSNW
• ↑ 36.0 36.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanGDAug2020
• ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SNWStarTrekDay2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CastReveal2
• ↑ 39.0 39.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GoldsmanApr2021
• ↑ 40.0 40.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GoldsmanStarTrekDay2021
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DGCProductionDatesOct2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named OntarioFilmingSep2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanSFXOct2020
• ↑ 44.0 44.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FilmingStart
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named STUParamountPlusVariety
• ↑ 46.0 46.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named LanyonDiscoS4
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Gorka
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• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named RussoInverseDec2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Composers
• ↑ 61.0 61.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MelumadFeb2022
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• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CTVSciFi

External links [ ]

• Official website
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on IMDb
• Memory Alpha
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Strange_New_Worlds
• 1 Dora the Explorer (2024 reboot)
• 2 Derek Morgan
• 3 List of companies owned by Paramount

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.

• Akiva Goldsman
• Alex Kurtzman
• Jenny Lumet
• Anson Mount
• Christina Chong
• 1K User reviews
• 38 Critic reviews
• 9 wins & 32 nominations total

Episodes 31

• Captain Christopher Pike …

• La'an Noonien-Singh …

• Lt. Erica Ortegas …

• Una Chin-Riley …

• Nurse Christine Chapel

• Nyota Uhura …

• Dr. M'Benga

• USS Enterprise Computer …

• Lieutenant George Samuel 'Sam' Kirk

• Jenna Mitchell

• Captain Batel …

• Admiral Robert April

• Captain James T. Kirk …

• T'Pring
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Bruce Horak , the actor who plays Hemmer, is legally blind, just like his character's species, the Aenar, who are also blind.
• Goofs There are some rank insignia mistakes. Number One is introduced as "Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley" yet she is wearing the rank insignia of a full commander: two full stripes. A Lieutenant Commander's rank insignia is a full stripe under a thin stripe (in TOS it is a full stripe and a staggered stripe). It is not uncommon for a ship's first officer to be a Lt. Commander if they have not been in the position long. Spock at this point is a Lieutenant but he is wearing Lieutenant Commander's stripes; a Lieutenant just has one stripe. La'an is the ship's chief of security and the ship's second officer. She is also wearing Lt. Commander stripes but is addressed as a Lieutenant, but it would make more sense for her to be a Lieutenant Commander. Either way both of their rank insignia are not matching the rank they are addressed by. Ortegas is addressed as a Lieutenant but is wearing Lieutenant Commander's strips. A Lieutenant Commander may be addressed as a Commander or Lieutenant Commander but never as just a Lieutenant, so either her rank insignia or the manner she is addressed by the rest of the crew is in error.

[opening narration]

Captain Christopher Pike : Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

• Connections Featured in Nerdrotic: Woke Hollywood is FAILING, and That's a Good Thing (2022)

Technical specs

• Runtime 52 minutes
• D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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Spock, Kirk, Gorn — Oh My! How ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Breathed Thrilling New Life Into the 56-Year-Old Franchise

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in several episodes of the first season of “ Star Trek : Strange New Worlds,” including the season finale, currently streaming on Paramount+.

As with any fandom, Trekkies can be a fickle lot, which makes the enthusiastic reception for “ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ” — the latest “Star Trek” TV series, which just concluded its first season — that much more remarkable. Not since J.J. Abrams’ 2009 feature film have fans been this near-unanimous in their appreciation, even adoration, for a new “Star Trek” venture, which is saying something in an era in which “Trek” fans have more viewing options than ever before.

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In its first season, “Strange New Worlds” ranks with “The Mandalorian” in striking a wildly successful balance for a new iteration of a legacy franchise between nostalgic fan service and bold, unexpected storytelling. Which isn’t to say that the series has pleased all the people all of the time.

Set on the U.S.S. Enterprise roughly a decade before the events of the original “Star Trek” TV series from the 1960s, “Strange New Worlds” includes vividly rendered younger versions of several classic “Trek” characters, such as Spock (Ethan Peck), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), and it’s breathed robust new life into characters from the original “Star Trek” pilot, namely Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his first officer, Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) — known as only Number One for decades until “Strange New Worlds” gave her a full name.

“When someone hands you a ‘Star Trek’ show, you can’t treat it like you’re going to break it all the time and only do what you think is safe,” Myers says. “If you do that, you’re not going to do a good show. That said, choosing to do things that might push the boundaries is going to bug people. I just don’t want that to scare them away.”

To get there, Myers, Goldsman and their team of writers had to learn how to transform one of the most common complaints fans have for a legacy series into an advantage.

“People will sometimes feel like you’re playing with people’s childhoods,” Myers says. “What has been a real freedom for me is to say, ‘I’m not playing with your childhood: The things from your childhood haven’t happened yet.’ I have to act like I don’t know what’s going to happen. Uhura doesn’t know who she’s going to be. Spock doesn’t know who he’s going to be. If you can accept that, you can understand that their experience is real and interesting and happening now .”

In an in-depth interview with Variety , Myers reflected back on some of the biggest highlights and challenges of the first season of “Strange New Worlds.”

“We’re Just Gonna Try to Do Classic ‘Trek'”

When CBS All Access (now Paramount+) re-launched “Star Trek” as a television enterprise in 2017 with “Star Trek: Discovery,” it’d been 12 years since a “Trek” show was last on the air. In that time, serialized storytelling became the dominant narrative model for streaming dramas, especially genre ones; “Discovery” has followed suit, telling a single, ongoing story every season. Starting in 2020, “Star Trek: Picard,” a sequel series to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” starring Patrick Stewart, has done the same.

Fan response has been mixed. “Trek” has ventured into serialization before, with the 1990s series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and “Discovery” and “Picard” have taken full advantage of the opportunity to paint on a broader narrative canvass. But the original “Trek” series and “The Next Generation” remain among the most beloved — and re-watched — “Trek” series because they adhered to the old school, episodic structure of a brand new adventure every week.

“Telling a really long overarching story is so challenging,” Myers says. “You don’t often get little downtime moments.”

“Strange New Worlds” has forged a middle path, with each episode telling a self-contained story while threading longer character arcs that span multiple episodes — or occasionally, the whole season.

“The other ‘Star Trek’ shows are doing bigger, broader experiments, which I think are cool,” Myers says of “Discovery” and “Picard.” “They’re definitely trying to open up the sandbox and do different kinds of things with ‘Trek.’ We’re sort of the opposite. It’s a little easier to be like, ‘We’re just gonna try to do classic ‘Trek.'”

Most episodes of “Strange New Worlds” focused on one or two characters as the central driver of that week’s episode, and the self-contained storylines allowed the writers more breathing room to allow the characters to simply bounce off each other. “I love genre storytelling, but when it skimps on character, it just never works, and when it delivers on character, it makes everything work,” Myers says. “We get to relish the downtime moments. It’s the comforting part of television that you don’t always get out of movies. If we focus on character, the action will feel like it has more stakes, the romance will feel like it actually matters, and the humor will be funnier, because it’s coming from people that we know and like to hang out with. I think that that’s the thing that we’ve gotten to do a little more than other [‘Trek’] shows.”

“ We Didn’t Know if We Would Be Able to Get Kirk”

One of the most inflexible pieces of “Star Trek” canon is that until the original series episode “Balance of Terror,” it had been 100 years since anyone in the Federation had seen or heard from the Romulans — one of the most lasting and resonant “Trek” villains ever. The “Strange New Worlds” writers solved that problem with its season finale, “A Quality of Mercy,” which transported Capt. Pike into a future, alternate timeline in which he , not Capt. Kirk, was leading the Enterprise during the events of “Balance of Terror.”

The episode, Myers says, was the marriage of two ideas floating in the “Strange New Worlds” writers’ room. Idea one: “What if we took a classic ‘Trek’ episode and changed the timeline so we’re retelling that episode with our characters in a high-budget context?” Idea two: “What if your future self comes back and says, ‘Don’t do what you’re about to do’ — how would you respond?”

In the original series, we learn that Pike suffered a horrific, debilitating accident that removed him from command, allowing Kirk to take his place. On “Strange New Worlds,” Pike knows of his eventual fate, and in “A Quality of Mercy,” he tries to change it, causing his future self to appear and show Pike what will happen if he takes that path.

Placing Pike at the helm of the Enterprise when Kirk was meant to captain it also presented the tantalizing prospect of having the two men share the same scene — but that meant finding an actor to play Kirk. Myers says that after extensive auditions, they ended up offering the role to “The Vampires Diaries” star Paul Wesley , but the decision came down to the wire.

“Part of that episode ended up being about the differences of command the differences between Kirk and Pike and how they approach things very, very differently,” Myers says. “But there was a brief moment when we didn’t know if we would be able to get a Kirk. I wrote two versions of the script, one with Kirk and one without.”

“There’s a Reason People Haven’t Touched the Gorn”

The reptilian aliens made their debut in an episode from the first season of the original series, “Arena,” in which Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) is pitted in a fight to the death on an alien planet against a Gorn captain. Since then, the species has occupied the fringes of the “Trek” universe, showing up again only fleetingly over the years, most often in animation. That’s because on the original series, the Gorn looked like, well, a man in a giant rubber lizard suit.

“You couldn’t do the Gorn now the way they did the Gorn,” Myers says. “I think audiences would have an instinctive organ transplant rejection to the classic version of the Gorn. Audiences now are sophisticated, they expect a certain level of effects work, of verisimilitude.”

But Myers says that Goldsman “has wanted to do something with the Gorn forever,” and made resurrecting the species a goal for Season 1 of “Strange New Worlds.”

“I mean, look, I love ‘Arena.’ ‘Arena’ is a great episode. But there’s a reason people haven’t touched the Gorn much since then,” Myers says. “They’re extremely hard to do. It’s expensive, it’s challenging. You have to reimagine them.”

Doing so meant bending “Trek” canon a bit, and reconceiving the Gorn as at once highly intelligent and yet feral in their primal, ferocious aggression. It also meant keeping the species largely off screen, since making them look realistic to 21st century eyes required a full, and costly, CGI redesign. The result maintained the feeling from “Arena” that the Gorn were unrelentingly dangerous while deepening their mythology enough to place them on par with the A-list of “Trek” alien adversaries.

“I’m aware of some of the the canon challenges,” Myers says. “Knowing that you’re going to have to change them is an opportunity to try to do something different.”

“We Wanted to Show That There Were Stakes”

Characters die all the time on “Star Trek,” but it remains exceedingly rare that it happens to a member of the main cast — and even then, it’s because the actor involved wanted to leave the show. That wasn’t the case with Hemmer (Bruce Horak), the irascible chief engineer on Enterprise who sacrifices himself at the end of Episode 9, “All Those Who Wander,” after his body is implanted with Gorn offspring. The writers knew from the start that they were going to kill Hemmer off.

“When we cast Bruce, we told him,” Myers says. “He was like, ‘Great. I’m down. This is awesome!'”

The issue, Myers explained, was that “Strange New Worlds” had to make clear the characters were at real risk. “One of the knocks on a prequel is that we know Uhura’s going to make it, we know Spock’s going to make it,” he says. “We wanted to show that there were stakes in this show.”

Don’t worry: While Hemmer is dead, the actor who played him is not gone. “We are finding and have currently found ways to have Bruce circle back in our universe in a very classic ‘Trek’ way,” he says. “It won’t be the last you see of Bruce Horak.”

“It Was All About Telling the Story About Spock”

Perhaps the most surprising twist in Season 1 of “Strange New Worlds” was the revelation that Spock’s fiancée T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) is unknowingly overseeing a Vulcan prison that houses Spock’s half-brother, Sybok. The character was introduced as the main villain in the 1989 feature film “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” as played by Laurence Luckinbill (after Sean Connery couldn’t do it), but the movie is widely considered one of the worst “Trek” films ever, and the character has since faded into obscurity. (It didn’t help that Spock had never mentioned Sybok before “Star Trek V,” either.)

Myers can’t remember who had the idea to bring Sybok back into the “Trek” fold, but says it grew out of the conception of Episode 7, “The Serene Squall,” which centered on Angel ( Jesse James Keitel ), a nonbinary space pirate who befriends — and then betrays — Spock in an (initially successful) attempt to commandeer the Enterprise.

“We wanted to do a villain that harkened back to classic ‘Trek’ — a really fun, scenery-chewing villain who you just want to see again and again and again, but also could be a villain that we can only do now ,” Myers says. “In doing a story about someone who’s nonbinary, it really tied into the story about Spock reckoning with his identity. The Sybok piece was an interesting way to tie into Spock’s past, and to reclaim a piece of ‘Trek’ lore.”

Despite Sybok’s dubious origins in “Star Trek V,” Myers and the writers liked that the character’s decision to forsake logic and embrace his emotions contrasted with Spock’s dogged pursuit of pure logic.

“You know, look, that movie is, uh — let me just say it’s not my favorite of the ‘Trek’ movies,” Myers says with a laugh. “But even in the ‘Trek’ movies that don’t work as well, there’s always something interesting. I liked that character, and the idea of a Vulcan who is wrestling with emotion. Science fiction is about playing with ideas. We’re not just moving chess pieces around.”

Sybok appears only from the back at the very end of “The Serene Squall,” and that’s the last we see of him in Season 1. But Myers is tight-lipped on when, or whether, he may show up again. “Sometimes you do these things in TV where you pull the thread just to see where it gets you,” he says. “You don’t have to wrap everything up. We wanted to throw out some more ideas that may come back and intersect with the show in the future.”

“This Is the Pike Show”

The future of “Strange New Worlds” is, at least in part, already written: The series wrapped production earlier this month on Season 2, and will feature Wesley as Kirk years before he becomes a Starfleet captain.

When Mount, Peck and Romijn were first cast, it was for Season 2 of “Discovery” — with no sense at the time that they would ever be spun-off into their own show. Now that Myers has actors for Kirk, Spock and Uhura, however, it’s hard to ignore the prospect of continuing the “Star Trek” story into the era of the original series.

“Look, I would love nothing more than to then to go all the way forward to the future, and eventually do that with them,” he says. “But there’s a lot of stories before that. I’ll tell you what Kirk isn’t: He isn’t the replacement captain. This is the Pike show. This is the Spock show. This is the Number One show. We have a lot of stories yet to tell with them. That said, who knows what the future holds. We would be so lucky to have that Enterprise.”

He pauses, and answers with a knowing glint in his eyes. “I think that that would be an unbelievably interesting experiment,” he says. “But I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, because I love this show. And I hope we get to do it for a while.”

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‘Star: Trek Strange New Worlds’ Cast on Kirk’s Arrival and Using Memory Alpha

Fans went wild for Ethan Peck ’s Spock ,  Anson Mount ’s Captain Christopher Pike , and  Rebecca Romijn ‘s Number One/  Una Chin-Riley  when their versions of these classic characters were introduced during the second season of Star Trek: Discovery and that positive reaction helped pave the way for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , the acclaimed Trek series showcasing the adventures of the USS Enterprise in the years before Captain Kirk’s stewardship in TOS .

With its first season under its belt, and high praise from critics and ardent Trekkies alike, several of  Strange New Worlds stars, including Mount, Peck, Celia Rose Gooding  (“ Uhura “), Christina Chong  (“ La’an Noonien-Singh “) and – as of the Season 1 finale – Paul Wesley  (“ James T. Kirk “) all made their way to San Diego Comic-Con recently, where Fandom spoke to them about Season 2 of the series.

In the Season 1 finale, we met Wesley playing a James T. Kirk from a possible future Pike experienced, but with Kirk playing a larger, more firmly canonical role in Season 2, it was time to check in about what’s to come, as we chatted with the  Enterprise crew about Kirk’s surprise early arrival, the audience’s reaction to the series, and the cast’s reliance on Fandom’s own Memory Alpha as a resource. Plus, the significance of playing legacy characters and the debt owed to those who originated them was discussed, with Gooding giving high praise to the legendary  Nichelle Nichols  mere days before Nichols passing.

Nichelle Nichols’ Impact

On the first season of Strange New Worlds , Gooding plays Uhura as a cadet training aboard the Enterprise, still unsure of her future. By the end of the season, she fully decides to make Starfleet her home and assume an officer’s role.

Speaking about the experience on the show, Gooding told Fandom, “I think probably one of the most rewarding parts of it is, as a Black woman in entertainment, I really would not have this opportunity to play this character, obviously, without Nichelle Nichols.”

Sadly, Nichols would pass away just a week after our conversation with Gooding, but even before that, Gooding was thinking about Nichols’ legacy as the original Nyota Uhura, remarking, “What Nichelle did for our community was open doors and show a realm of possibility for the characters Black women could play. And so to have an opportunity to sort pay homage to that and continue to pass that torch down, it’s incredibly rewarding. I think that’s the most rewarding part, to step into this character who paved the way for me and continue to utilize this character and this role and this opportunity to pave the way for other women behind me. It’s incredible.”

LA’AN’S JOURNEY

Christina Chong’s chief-of-security, La’an Noonien-Singh, was another character fans were eager to meet on the series, as we learned she was a descendent of iconic  Trek villain  Khan Noonien-Singh , who at this point in the timeline is just remembered as as a tyrant during the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s, with his eventual return a few years away. For La’an, however, her background is one marked with tragedy, thanks to the Gorn .

The end of Season 1 finds La’an leaving the Enterprise and embarking on a quest to help a child, Oriana, reunite with her family, after the others on the ship the girl was traveling on were killed by the Gorn. “I think for her going off and helping Oriana find her family is some way, some closure for her, of her experience,” Chong explained. “If I can help this little girl find her family, then what happened to me is kind of okay. So I think that’s where her head’s at when we leave her in episode nine.”

Redefining Classic Relationships

The reason La’an’s seasonal arc wrapped up in the ninth episode of Strange New Worlds was because a majority of the tenth chapter, the finale, was spent in an alternate future. One where Pike was never permanently injured saving the lives of his future crew. One where he was still captain of the Enterprise while none other than James T. Kirk was captain of the USS Farrugut .

This different timeline allowed Paul Wesley’s Kirk to arrive on the scene earlier than expected — after he was announced for Season 2 — much to the delight of viewers, as Kirk and Pike teamed up to stop a Romulan assault on Starfleet outposts, in a re-imagining of the events of the classic Star Trek  episode “Balance of Terror” .

“Anson called me before I stepped foot on set,” Wesley recalled, “and was just like, ‘Hey, man, welcome’ and was so gracious and kind about it and I really appreciate it so much, honestly.”

With Wesley as the latest Strange New Worlds ’ take on a Trek legacy character, it’s clear the show was taking big risks with beloved lore. And the cast was understandably nervous about how fans would react, as Season 1 debuted while they were already in the midst of filming Season 2. “I think I speak for all of us when we say it was a huge sigh of relief when we figured out that people actually really loved it,” Gooding remarked. “Especially because this franchise is so beloved and so precious to a lot of its fans. And so the fact that we were going to do a shot in the dark prequel and see how people feel about young versions of these iconic legacy characters and introduce family members of iconic legacy characters…everyone was like, ‘Hell yeah! More, please, now.’ It felt amazing.”

With Kirk entering the mix, Strange New Worlds will also simultaneously include two big influences on Spock’s life: Kirk and Pike. “I say it a lot, but I think a lot of the work for us is done in the writing,” Peck said, regarding the specifics of Spock’s friendship with Pike and how he reacts to Kirk. “In the [Season 1] finale, we kind of don’t quite connect, Kirk and Spock. And that’s obviously purposeful.”

As for Spock’s friendship with his current captain, Peck remarked, “I imagine Pike to be sort of like a fatherly, or older brother, figure to Spock. He’s one of the people that’s teaching him how to be human. And so I just kind of focus on that and where it’ll take us and we’ll see what happens in Season 2.”

“Obviously, the finale of Season 1 is an alternate timeline,” Wesley chimed in about Kirk and Spock’s eventual friendship. “So they don’t have that relationship and as Ethan said, it was purposeful. Without giving anything away, I definitely think it’s in the early stages of it, but there is that kind of intrigue. You know, ‘This guy’s interesting’ and maybe there’s a part of me that wants to explore a friendship with him. I think there was a little bit of that, that you have to telegraph a little bit.”

The Path of Pike

Mount knows very well how beloved this expansive franchise universe is, and was well prepared to step into the shoes (and kitchen) of Pike. But he also did his Star Trek Captain homework. “Obviously, I went back and I rewatched Jeffrey Hunter ’s work,” Mount noted, of the actor who first played Pike. “I grew up watching the original series, so I’m obviously a big Shatner fan. And then Junior High, High School, was the beginning of Next Generation .”

In terms of any influence from those previous captains on his performance, Mount added, “I like all of them, but honestly, I was more concerned about making a new captain and wanting to differentiate him from everything else we’d had before.”

That being said, Mount added, “I did set myself an arbitrary goal. If you watch the first Kelvin timeline movie , the last scene, the last bridge scene, Chris Pine absolutely nails the Shatner walk across the bridge into the chair and he sits perfectly. I was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to try [to do that]. I know I’m not playing Kirk, but I don’t care.’ But what was interesting is now having Paul playing a younger version of Kirk, there is this kind of rejiggering of that character. And I like to think sometimes that there’s just enough of that style, that walk, that command mode that maybe Kirk took some of that from Pike.”

As for Pike’s journey into Season 2, Mount says that he’s now, hopefully, made peace with his dark foretold fate. “It’s one thing to say that you understand it and you accept it, but to actually go through acceptance… It’s kind of like when you meet people who have been given a terminal diagnosis that say I’ve never been more alive. He’s now finally in that place. And we were gonna get to start seeing a more fully realized Pike who’s just in the groove.”

Memory Alpha to the Rescue

Joining a decades-old sci-fi franchise can be daunting but at least there are online resources at one’s fingertips for research purposes. And as it turns out, even the Strange New Worlds crew uses wikis like Fandom’s own Memory Alpha to probe various aspects of Trek lore or to discover things about their characters.

“I read Memory Alpha all the time,” Peck laughed, when the cast was asked about their own Wiki research.

“Every now and then I’ll just do random searches,” Mount shared. “The other day I was interested in – I can’t remember why – but I wanted to find out how many different intergalactic species have shown up in Trek . And so I did that. And that was an interesting read for an hour or so. And I just I don’t know, I keep building my knowledge base from Memory Alpha and all of our guest stars, I turn them on to that as well. If they have any questions, it’s a great resource.”

Even for characters that have been on screen since the 1960s, there’s always something new to discover. Gooding, for example, tracked down a fun tidbit about Uhura. “I found out that — I don’t know if this is established canonically — but on Uhura’s Memory Alpha page, apparently she does long distance running . I did not know that! But it makes sense. She’s Kenyan, it makes total sense. But just like the little things that people are picking up on, it is so helpful to have that sort of established reference to look to and to check yourself and it’s wildly helpful.”

 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 debuts in 2023 on Paramount+.

Scotty Will Return in Season 3 of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'

Martin Quinn's version of the character first appeared in season 2's finale.

The Big Picture

• Martin Quinn to bring authentic Scottish flair as Montgomery Scott on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
• Quinn adds a new perspective to the character previously played by actors from Canada and England.
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues to explore the adventures of the USS Enterprise under Captain Pike.

A classic member of the Enterprise crew will return for the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . After debuting in the final episode of the show's second season , Martin Quinn will stay on board as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the upcoming season of Paramount+'s newest Star Trek series. As reported by BBC Scotland in an interview with Quinn, the character will recur on Strange New World 's third season, which is currently filming in Toronto, Ontario.

Quinn is the first-ever Scot to play the character, who was previously played by a Canadian ( James Doohan ) and an Englishman ( Simon Pegg ), and the interview notes that he's adding authenticity to the character, making sure that the show's writers use authentic Scottish slang: "They let me put in the word 'baw-heid' instead of 'turnip-heid'. Maybe they think all Scottish people are farmers? But they were very gracious about it." Quinn is from the town of Paisley; he has previously appeared on episodes of Limmy's Show , Annika , and Derry Girls .

Who is Montgomery Scott?

Played by Doohan in Star Trek: The Original Series , Scott is the ever-capable head engineer of the USS Enterprise , famed for his ability to solve catastrophic problems in short periods of time. After the series went off the air, Doohan reprised the role in Star Trek: The Animated Series and in all six of the feature films starring the series' original cast. He also returned for a cameo in Star Trek: Generations , attending the launch of the USS Enterprise-B , and guest-starred on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics", where he is discovered by the Enterprise-D 's crew a century in the future, having been preserved in a transporter buffer. Pegg took on the role for J.J. Abrams ' cinematic reboot of the franchise, and reprised it for its two sequels; a fourth film is still up in the air .

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds features the adventures of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ) prior to The Original Series . It has so far featured two different chief engineers. Hemmer ( Bruce Horak ) was a member of the Aenar species, and sacrificed himself in the show's first-season finale to save the rest of the crew from the Gorn. His replacement was Pelia ( Carol Kane ), a long-lived Lanthanite, who joined the crew in the show's second season.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently filming its third season; no release date has yet been set . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows Captain Christopher Pike (played by Anson Mount) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in the 23rd century as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy in the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Snags Early Season 4 Renewal — Plus, When Will Season 3 Arrive?

Keisha hatchett, staff editor.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will fly among the stars for a while longer.

Paramount+ has renewed the sci-fi series for Season 4, TVLine has learned. The show is currently in production on Season 3, which eyes a 2025 debut.

In a joint statement, executive producers Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers and Alex Kurtzman expressed their gratitude for the early renewal.

The streamer also revealed that the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks ‘ previously announced Season 5 will now be its last .

Set in the years before Kirk takes the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise , Strange New Worlds follows Captain Christopher Pike (played by Anson Mount), Number One Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) and Science Officer Spock (Ethan Peck) as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.

Rounding out the crew are Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia).

In Season 2, Paul Wesley recurred as beloved future Enterprise captain James T. Kirk, and Martin Quinn debuted as iconic engineer Montgomery Scott, aka Scotty, in the finale. (Read our interview with the showrunners about Quinn’s special appearance.)

Variety was first to report the news.

How are you feeling about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ‘ renewal? What do you hope to see in the upcoming Season 3? Sound off below!

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25 comments.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is like Star Trek is meant to be: no season-long arcs that drag along like a rubber band but adventures of the week. I love it!

I guess one-off appeal to people with short attention spans.

i have an extremely short attention span but i love season long arcs. i also love episodic. we’re not all like gabby over there.

Or you know, fans are allowed to have different Star Trek shows that are different from one another.

Why the long wait for season 3? They did the same thing with Evil. Can’t stand Paramount.

The VFX work is very time consuming.

Next Generation managed to have 26 episodes on a consistent yearly schedule. It is ridiculous that shows air 10 episodes every 2 years.

Agreed. It’s absurd.

Shows for streaming and most countries outside the US take 9 months or so to film 10 episodes (or less) regardless of the type of show. Even US network shows can’t turn an episode around in under 8 or 9 days now, and the ones that come close to that wind up looking like expensive soap operas.

There was a strike….

The Writers and Actors strike might have something to do with it.

It takes awhile to create new worlds. The reason these shows look so good. The wait will be worth it

Glad it got renewed! Wish they would have also renewed Discovery. I enjoy the show.

Lots of Star Trek announcements recently, but people should be aware that Paramount is close to being sold (or the controlling shares being sold), so announcements now may not mean anything in a month. Whoever buys the studio would he well advised to take a minute to reassess the Star Trek situation. SNW has its fans, but the success of Picard season 3 shows that a very big audience would like to see a return to the classic Trek universe. They should probably take a minute to figure out what to do, rather than having three or four different Trek franchises floating around.

I hate it that they are making such a long pause and that it has just ten episode, it is ridiculous for a Star Trek show to be that short.

Geez Season 3 not until 2025? I could be dead by then!

Yes! Keep it coming!

Will miss Lower Decks, have enjoyed it much more than SNW and being animated gives it such fun zany stories that would not be physically possible for live action.

But I’m certain you at least watched the crossover episode last season, so it can’t be all bad.

Love Strange New Worlds. It stays close to the original canon. Discovery had potential but fell flat with it’s messaging.

seriously wtf? lower decks ending? budget for that show can’t be that high. most likely strange new worlds will end with 5th season as well given the track record of these shows lately.

Why he’ll does take so long for new seasons to be on. if there value their customers they pick up the place.

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Strange New Worlds (comic)

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• 1 Description
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• 3.3.1 Shipboard areas
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• 5.5 External links

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Summary [ ], log entries [ ], references [ ], characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], shipboard areas [ ], races and cultures [ ], states and organizations [ ], science and technology [ ], ranks and titles [ ], other references [ ], chronology [ ].

• Gary Mitchell is wounded when USS Enterprise is attacked by a D7 -class Klingon battlecruiser . (four years ago)
• Gary Mitchell is hit by a poisonous dart on Dimorus .
• USS Enterprise encounters the galactic barrier .
• Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner die. (almost three years ago)
• USS Enterprise returns to Delta Vega I .
• Non-corporeal Mitchell entity joins with the universe .

Appendices [ ]

Related media [ ].

• TOS episode : " Where No Man Has Gone Before "
• TOS comic : " Star TreX " – Mitchell's body on Delta Vega attracted the attention of Proteus .

Background [ ]

• Byrne credited Samuel A. Peeples MA for characters created in " Where No Man Has Gone Before " and included a five-page summary of the original episode .
• In this story, Leonard McCoy did not know Gary Mitchell and had never met him, a reasonable extrapolation of canon . However, other sources showed them having met. For instance, they served together aboard the USS Sacagawea in 2263 , in TOS novel : The Captain's Oath , and McCoy treated Mitchell shortly before Kirk assumed command of the Enterprise , in TOS novel : Enterprise: The First Adventure .
• Number One with a gray streak in her hair had been seen previously in Romulans: Schism . Byrne would similarly show her with the streak in TOS - New Visions comic : " A Scent of Ghosts " and with completely gray hair in 2271 , in TOS - Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor comic : " Hosts ".

Connections [ ]

Timeline [ ], production history [ ], external links [ ].

• Strange New Worlds (comic) article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• Strange New Worlds article at ST website  : StarTrek.com .
• 1 The Chase
• 2 Preserver (race)
• 3 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

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Published Apr 12, 2024

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Renewed for Fourth Season

The acclaimed hit original series is currently in production for its third season.

StarTrek.com

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will return for a fourth season.

Co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers and executive producer Alex Kurtzman confirms in a statement, "On behalf of the cast and crew of ‘ Strange New Worlds ’ we are thrilled and grateful to continue our voyages together. We can't wait for you to join us and the crew of the Enterprise on another season of exploration and adventure."

The third season, set to debut in 2025, is officially under way with production continuing in Toronto.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the  U.S.S. Enterprise . The series features fan favorites from Season 2 of  Star Trek: Discovery  — Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series follows Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Una Chin-Riley (Number One) in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the  U.S.S. Enterprise , as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  also stars Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La’An Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  is produced by CBS Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serve as co-showrunners. Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet serve as executive producers in addition to Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth and Aaron Baiers.

Watch the first two seasons of  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  now!

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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• April 18, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Gets The Timing Right In “Face The Strange”
• April 17, 2024 | Watch: Things Get “Odd” In ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Trailer And Clip From “Face The Strange”

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Renewed For Season 4; ‘Lower Decks’ To End With Season 5

| April 12, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 203 comments so far

Just a day after official news about Star Trek on the big screen comes official news about the future of Trek on television. One show is getting another season while another is coming to an end.

The Enterprise lives on but the Cerritos is returning to dock

Paramount+ has officially announced the live-action series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a fourth season. The series set on board the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is currently in production on its third season, which is set to debut in 2025. This move is not a surprise as the series has been a hit for the streaming service  and a critical success .

L-R Ethan Peck as Spock and Anson Mount as Capt. Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+

The streaming service also confirmed that the previously announced fifth season of the animated adult comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks will be its last season. The fifth season is currently in production and will premiere on Paramount+ this Fall. The series set on the USS Cerritos with a mission focused on “second contacts” has been popular with fans and it also had its share of critical and awards attention. However, it isn’t a surprise that it will end with the fifth season. Last fall series creator Mike McMahan indicated the show may not get a sixth season, later clarifying he was always worried about additional season pickups.

L-R Gabrielle Ruiz as T’Lyn, Noël Wells as D’Vana Tendi, Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner, Eugene Cordero as Rutherford and Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler in episode 10, season 4 of Lower Decks Photo Credit: Paramount+

Executive producer Alex Kurtzman along with the showrunners for both series have also made statements regarding the big news, for which Paramount+ has released as social media graphics.

For Strange New Worlds …

And Lower Decks …

… and from the corporate execs…

The official announcement also included comments from the head of programming at Paramount+ as well as the president of CBS Studios, which produces all Star Trek programming.

“It has been incredibly rewarding to continue to build the Star Trek universe, and we’re so grateful to Secret Hideout and our immensely talented casts and producers,” said Jeff Grossman, Executive Vice President, Programming, Paramount+. “ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has found the perfect blend of action, adventure and humor, and we’re elated to announce another season ahead of our season three premiere. Similarly, Star Trek: Lower Decks has brought the laughs with an ample amount of heart to the franchise across its four seasons. We can’t wait for audiences to see what is in store for the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos in this final season.”

“ Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds are integral to the Star Trek franchise, expanding the boundaries of the universe and exploring new and exciting worlds,” said David Stapf, President, CBS Studios. “We are extraordinarily proud of both series as they honor the legacy of what Gene Roddenberry created almost 60 years ago. We are so grateful to work with Secret Hideout, Alex Kurtzman, Mike McMahan, Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers and the cast, crews and artists who craft these important and entertaining stories for fans around the world.”

Star Trek’s TV future

The future of Star Trek on Paramount+ is starting to take shape. Discovery will wrap up its fifth and final season in May, with Lower Decks following later this year. Production on the Section 31 streaming movie starring Michelle Yeoh was completed last month, and in theory that could show up by the end of the year, but the service may prefer to hold it until 2025. It’s now confirmed that season 3 of Strange New Worlds wont arrive until 2025 and so far it is the only Star Trek release confirmed for next year.

The YA-focused Starfleet Academy series goes into production at the end of the summer but executive producer Alex Kurtzman has said it may not arrive until 2026. Today’s official announcement made no mention of when the 4th season of Strange New Worlds is expected to go into production, but it’s reasonable to assume that it could be ready to stream by 2026.

The animated series Star Trek: Prodigy series exited Paramount+ for Netflix last year. The second season of that show is set to arrive on Netflix sometime this year. It is possible Netflix could order additional seasons but if they did so, they would likely not be ready until 2026 or even 2027.

Alex Kurtzman and Paramount have also indicated they are looking at more streaming movies, but so far nothing has been confirmed. Kurtzman has also recently hinted there are more “ surprises ” coming.

Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou and Joe Pingue as Dada Noe in Star Trek: Section 31 Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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DVD/Blu-ray/Streaming , Lower Decks

Review: ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 4 On Blu-ray Brings It All Together

Just what I thought. 5 seasons is the limit. Thank Buddha 🙏 Lower Decks is ending. It jumped the shark two seasons ago.

I liked the show, and would agree it got significantly less fun and interesting after season two.

I lost interest in the show. Its reliance on nostalgia p@rn just doesn’t do it for me. I still haven’t finished watching last season. I’ll get to it at some point, but right now I don’t really care about it.

Forced to agree. The show relies very heavily on nostalgia. Which in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What makes it not work here is the creatives seem to think that nostalgia is funny. That making an old show reference is a gag. I was actually looking forward to a comedy Trek show. But this show is just far to scared to poke fun at Trek. For a Trek comedy to work it needs writers who are not so in awe of Trek that they can’t see comedy in it.

The LD writers just aren’t as funny as they think they are and spend way too much time trying to stroke the egos of a fandom that’s already full of themselves.

I don’t think they could ever really make fun of trek unless they want to suffer the wrath of the fans. To this day they are still fans angry about that famous SNL skit Shatner did.

Really? All the hard-core TOS fans I know love that skit.

Oh, I’ve known just a few folks who admitted hated the SNL bit, and one who said he laughed the first time, but felt bad for laughing, like he was betraying a confidence.

I remember my girlfriend looking over at me when it got going, and she seemed surprised that I was laughing so hard (we had met a little over a year earlier and I had hooked her on the series by loaning her a tape of ERRAND OF MERCY.) After the skit was over, she said she thought I’d get my nose out of joint over being made fun of, but I said I didn’t take it all that personally, and something like, ‘I get my nose out of joint over the Enterprise being blown up badly and Spock coming back from the dead … whereas this — this isn’t just funny, it is true and funny!’

But I do remember hearing people saying that they were going to boycott a Shatner-directed Trek movie after they saw that skit, so maybe Trek fans have memories like SMERSH and the Vatican, and they avenged themselves on Shat in 89?

I truly Pity da Fools who are incapable at having a good laugh at their own expense. I consider it one of life’s great joys, personally.

I think most of the SNL Trek skits through the years, and other parodies as well, are done out love by people who are fans. You gotta be able to laugh at yourself.

“I get my nose out of joint over the Enterprise being blown up badly…” Ha ha, that is so true!

Totally agree unless you find countless bleeped out expletives as good comedy. This show is not reliant on nostalgia it is reliant on good comedy writing and unfortunately it is lacking in that department.

I thought the skit was fine. Didn’t find it overly funny but no offense was taken by it whatsoever.

In fact, one gag I recall from that Shatner host show was when they did Star Trek V: The Restaurant Enterprise. Krik and crew were running a restaurant on the ship. I diner started choking and Kirk said, “Bones, this man is choking!” McCoy responds with, “Dammit Jim I’m a doctor not a…. Oh.”

Still chuckle when I think of that gag today.

BTW… Many of the gags on the first season of The Orville could have easily translated to a Trek comedy. And most of those landed.

From the little I’ve seen of LD, that’s the impression I got too, that a lot of it involved call-backs to other ST shows and mocking it.

I just was never really interested in that. I saw the first season of Prodigy and that was ok. I’ve seen Discovery and like the production and stories but, other than Empress Georgiou, I’m not really wild about the other characters or the crew dynamic. Oh, I like Reno too, she’s awesome.

I really liked Picard Season 1. Haven’t watched seasons 2 and 3 yet or Strange New Worlds.

I didn’t think they were mocking the nostalgia. I think they were overly reverential towards it. I mean, they literally had characters who were Star Trek fans!

I enjoy watching Lower Decks for the love letter to the era of Trek that I love and miss.

However, I never found myself laughing out loud, it would be a chuckle here and there and there was pleasure at seeing a fun Easter Egg.

Then again I never found Rick And Morty laugh out loud funny either. Whereas Simpsons and Family Guy at their peaks has me in hysterics.

Also I think Trek has lost some of its aspirational aspect. Instead of seeing people we aspire to and who inspire us, people are wanting to see themselves.

Uhura was aspirational because she was in a position on the flagship that showed viewers that they can achieve anything and it doesn’t matter on your gender or race

Mariner by comparison is not aspirational, she is constantly coming across as aggressive and arrogant and she sets a bad example. She can be fun on occasion and the character is clearly using these to cover how she truly wants.

Mariner is not aspirational but clearly is a chart who had Uhura inspire her, how she inspired fans

not a fan of mariner either, and it makes no sense that uhura inspired her although SNW has not really handle uhura well either. No one can be nichols not even zoe saldana but its like the new streaming show of snw and lower decks seem to have no idea what made uhura insioriatonal. they just threw anything at the wall to see if it stuck even if it using the name without really understanding the character.

I would also add that SNW is not serving Spock well either.

I think the SNW pat themselves on the back when they feel like they have an episode which either feels gimmicky or ‘deconstructing’ a character.

Hence more episodes such as the Musical episode or Charades which I felt was an insult to Spock

Also I don’t know if it’s a result of the current Hollywood trend but I do feel Pike is made to come across as a bit weak and less authoritive as the Captain. Sometimes he can be too casual and ineffective when it comes to some decisions. He seems to want to talk rather than discipline an officer who is out of line. Just what I see.

I agree that 5 seasons is the way to go. Bet on SNW to have its final season next year or two.

Yes I totally agree. It’s much more economical to end it and start over with a new Trek show. Maybe S31 with or without Michelle Yeoh.

A Section 31 tv series? No thanks.

Cool story bro

I think a lot of that will depend on how well Star Trek Academy performs.

Absolutely no sharks were jumped when Boims almost drowned in Cetacean Ops!

Oh it definitely did.

It’s breaks my heart that I agree with this.

It’s just a tv show. No need to get emotional.

A strange comment on this type of forum.

LD was a good show for what it wanted to be. SNW is “meh”, the Academy series is a show no one wants, & still no “Legacy.”

In general, I agree. I was hoping it would be something like a Trek version of McHales Navy or F-Troop in space. A bunch of screw ups whose heart was in the right place and managed to get the job done in spite of themselves. That’s not what it was.

To me LD straddled the line between clever and stupid and all too often became “Ow, my balls!”

It has passionate fans. But how many? Really?

Lower Decks seems to appeal to non diehard Trek fans and casual viewers.

For example my wife is essentially Penny from The Big Bang Theory. She loves Lower Decks and The Orville (she actually was upset when I told her this was the final season). She can’t stand other Trek shows. She tolerates them for me, but is most likely playing on her phone while I’m watching.

I was able to get 4 people in my office who liked The Orville to watch Lower Decks and they also loved it and still tune in. They can’t stand the other shows.

So, essentially, Lower Decks seemed to be popular with casual viewers and casual fans (I however am a Trek die hard and watch all of them).

I’m a die hard trek fan in my 40s and I love lower decks. It is also possible that different people just like different things.

Glad to meet another die hard Trekkie that likes Lower Decks.

That’s weird as I thought the references and the humour relied on your knowledge and love of Trek lore.

Those are interesting analogies, as I remember loving both of those shows as a little kid, but then one and two decades later, I couldn’t bring myself to watch even one whole episode of either in syndication. And that was even after learning Gene Coon was the guy who came in on MCHALE and righted the ship when they had early problems.

Same thing happened with GET SMART! now that I think about it, though I did enjoy THE NUDE BOMB and GET SMART AGAIN! (mainly just for some clever moments, like the car-desk in the former and the WHO CENSORED ROGER RABBIT?-like speech bubbles in the latter’s update of their cone-of-silence scene.)

Okay, dude, I can grok the TREK 5 love — it does indeed have its moments, even if I can’t really share it. And at its best “Get Smart” was as smart as Smart was dumb. But, THE NUDE BOMB, really!? Now I think you’re just trolling us for fun.

Special context, was1st time I was ever at a screening preview where bigwigs were in roped off area. Movie was considerably longer than release version, too, with character scenes for agent 22, played by Andrea howard who looked a whole lot like Karol j. Bell, a girl I appreciated from afar in high school. We heard what I guess was a theatre owner afterwards who said to one tuxedo ‘I’m so glad we got to see this first instead of bidding blind for it.’

I really did like the desk car, tho the rest was pretty godawful. It had a lalo schifrin score that at times seemed to want to be in a better flick!

I remember when TNG was a show nobody wanted. I don’t think you guys know what you want.

Nooo! Lower Decks is some of the best that modern trek has to offer, it should continue!!

There’s something to be said for going out on top! Not surprised by the news, and not devastated. It’s enjoyed a good run.

Strange New Worlds is the strongest show they have. It is really good and I hope it gets better. I think Paramount is going to take the less is better approach and unfortuantely these cancellations are a by product of the strike. You go with your strongest most dominant player and thats SNW right now.

In this cluttered streaming landscape, it is hard to be in the top ten when it comes to streaming. For a Trek show to do that it says a lot. Sure, the show has its detractors but they are just being negative for clicks and views. Its what I always wanted from Trek. A modern reimanging of the original series. That’s it. I hope it endures.

SNW will end at 5 seasons. We should start hearing about its replacement next year.

Probably to be succeeded by Star Trek Those Old Scientists with Wesley, Peck and Gooding returning

Though I suspect you’re right that SNW will end after 5 also… I have hope that’s not the case. Why? I’ll explain.

First off, Discovery was never the hit that SNW is even if it was successful. SNW’s hit status made discovery kind of obsolete, as they both had the same audience.

As for Lower Decks, it’s a one note concept that just got tired. I’ve definitely enjoyed it at times but im frankly impressed that they got 5 seasons out of the premise.

So back to SNW — because it’s not facing the same challenges as DSC and LDS, and is a bonafide streaming hit, I can envision a scenario where they continue it past five seasons.

That said, they could just as easily end it and launch an immediate sequel to it with Wesley’s Kirk in command and a lot of the same cast (Spock, Uhura, obviously, but also could keep Ortegas and La’An for a few seasons, mainly ditching Pike, Number One, etc.

If Disco wasn’t a hit, Star Trek wouldn’t exist as it is right now. It probably wouldn’t exist at all if Discovery wasn’t a hit.

I wouldn’t base my opinions on the hivemind of a small minority of a few crusty old fans.

“If Disco wasn’t a hit, Star Trek wouldn’t exist as it is right now. It probably wouldn’t exist at all if Discovery wasn’t a hit.”

That’s not true. Discovery didn’t pave the way for anything. These shows would still exist without Discovery. Discovery wasn’t the only idea in the heads of the writers. These writers act like Discovery was the first Star Trek show and nothing came before. They think they created the STU. They seem to be re-writing history. Discovery isn’t even Alex’s creation, but he takes credit for it.

The group think lies are strong in you. Don’t get offended because I stopped reading after the first sentence.

Pretty much this. I remember the huge fanfare that Patrick Stewart got when he walked out on that convention stage to announce he was coming back as Picard.

That had zip to do with how people felt about Discovery good or bad. I actually argue people were more excited over it than Discovery for a lithany of reasons.

In other words if Picard was the first show it probably would’ve been a much bigger hit and with more fanfare than Discovery ever was. Discovery simply came first. This idea it paved the way for more shows when fans were desperate to have more Star Trek around (and many wanted a post Nemesis show as well) is a misnomer.

I never said disco wasn’t a hit. It was. I said that it wasn’t the hit that SNW was and by all analytics we’ve seen, that’s a factual statement, not an opinion.

Please work in your reading comprehension.

This has less to do with the strike and more to do with the series having run its course.

If Section 31 is a success, I hope there will be streaming movies focusing on other aspects of the Star Trek universe.

I’m not surprised by LDS ending and been saying for months fifth season is most likely its last but it still hurts!

I have become completely enamored with this show and was hoping it could live on to do at least seven seasons…and a movie! But that’s life.

And I think most people assumed the show probably wouldn’t have made it past season 2 when that first trailer hit lol

I can’t wait for the final season now!

And congrats to SNW although that wasn’t remotely a surprise either. But now that means this will be the only Trek show running in 2025 unless they get SFA on the air sooner. Yeah that’s a bit depressing.

If my own kid is any indication, Lower Decks did succeed in attracting new viewers and a younger audience. Her introduction to Star Trek was Lower Decks, then she got hooked on SNW and started watching TOS and the films so we’re talking middle school through high school.

She’s going to be bummed when she finds out Lower Decks has been cancelled.

Wow so happy to hear your daughter became a fan due to this show!

Yeah I do think the show has captured new audiences, the question is how much? We’ll probably never know but of course it will still bring in new people as it ages and others find it like a lot of the classic shows did.

Lower Decks exceeded all my expectations! I would have wanted to see six seasons just to get a full set of Original Movie homage posters ;-)

Hopefully, it’s not the last we see of these characters or format.

Wow I forgot about the poster thing. Yeah you’re right sadly.

And I think we’ll see the characters again. And TOS proved they can work as live action characters as well.

I’m sad. Lower Decks should get at least seven seasons (and a movie). It’s real Star Trek. Hope we’ll see The Mistress of the Winter Constellations pirating a lot (pun intended) in S5! \\\//

I know the LD news is going to bum a lot of folks out. I’m sorry to see it go too, though not my favorite I was hoping it would go longer. Maybe not The Simpsons or Family Guy longer, but longer. Perhaps they’ll get the opportunity to do a film (?).

As for SNW, good news but I hope the writing shapes up a bit. I found S2 to be kind of disappointing compared to S1, especially with regard to the way Pike and Spock have been written. And please, no Muppets. :)

Pretty much sums up my feeling about both shows at this point.

Regarding Muppets, I think that one is actually going to be happening. It hurts at the thought of it

The musical was tough enough. These are the episodes that make me fall out with SNW.

The thing that helps is that I don’t see it as canon. SNW does good stuff but it’s focusing on the aspects that make me cringe and the stories feel uninspired and sometimes doing stuff I feel was done better before.

Musical and Muppets make it seem the writers want to do Buffy rather than Trek.

Cool that SNW has been renewed.

I do find the show to be the weakest of the modern shows though while the cast is great (La’an is my favorite character on the show). I feel the writing/stories in S1/S2 weren’t great and there is huge room for improvement so hopefully S3/S4 will be better.

I’m not surprised that Lower Decks is ending after 5 seasons as with Discovery 5 seasons seems to be the max a modern Trek show will last and i expect SNW to end after it’s 5th season too.

I enjoyed Lower Decks but the last season i felt the quality in humor dropped compared to previous seasons. Still i hope they end the show with a proper ending and hopefully we will see these characters again in the future.

Wow, I know opinions can differ widely and all, but the weakest of the modern shows? Weaker than PIC (with seasons 1 and 2) or Discovery which has limped to a finale season? I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.

Actually i enjoyed Picard S1 while i didn’t enjoy S2 as much and i felt it was the weakest of the 3 seasons. For S3 i really disliked the story-line and it had so many plot hole’s the entire season felt like it was being held together with string.

The only saving grace for PIC S3 was the TNG cast and seeing the Enterprise D again.

As for SNW i enjoy the show but the show to me feels like the writers don’t know what they want the it to be and keep aiming for a certain level of story quality that the writers fails to reach imo.

Hmm, for me the whole “reaching for quality and failing” is the definition of PIC (S1 and 2) and DIS. They try so hard with their interwoven plots and prestige-ish character arcs, but neither show can write a coherent season arc with reliable pacing. And their attempts at sci-fi storylines fail in almost all instances (there are some singular moments). PIC S3 was a huge improvement despite its own shortcomings. But SNW, even with it’s occasional poorer episodes, is entertaining and has actual stories.

I’m also not much for SNW. I just find it bland and soulless. Season 2 was all over the place quality-wise (imo). For every great episode (Ad Astra Per Aspera, Those Old Scientists) there were some real howlers (The Broken Circle, Under The Cloak of War, Hegemony) and the rest were… meh.

I’m not a big fan either. I haven’t even seen the second season yet.

It’s good to have on in the background, but if I sit down and try to actively watch it, most of the time my attention starts to drift.

It doesn’t stay with you, in the way the previous shows do

I think of SNW as a big Mac, compared to TOS and Berman era which is like a juicy medium Steak by comparison.

A big mac is tasty and enjoyable but leave you feel not too totally filled. A great steak stays with, a big Mac is what you expect and not as memorable.

Whereas the quality of previous shows is like watching good theatre and great stories, something I miss today. So much is given to the scale and the effects that good story telling seems to elude much of the Kurtzman era.

It surprises me how high some people put SNW. It’s enjoyable but it’s doing things that I feel where done better in previous shows

The dialogue is cringey at times. The episodes that seems to be something different seem out of place in Trek, ahem the musical episode. I am also not a fan of what they are doing with Spock and Chapel.

I think it’s frustrating that Spock has the humans teaching him, and making a fool out of him at times.

Pike sometimes seems too soft, abd I think this can make seem ineffective as a captain, this seems like a symptom of the current Hollywood trend.

Having the different shows spaced out so much would be easier to wait for if they made traditionally sized seasons.

Thankfully that tradition isn’t coming back.

I agree that short mini-seasons suck.

The money isn’t there. They budget enough cash for 20 episodes of live action Star Trek and split it between two seasons.

Yeah I don’t think people realize A. How much these shows truly cost so probably getting 10 episodes is a godsend and B. They just don’t have the level of ROI the older shows did because streaming just doesn’t have the same factors and a big reason the Hollywood strikes happened in the first place.

I’m surprised they aren’t making less episodes per season.

I am thinking now that LDS is cancelled they should make the new season of SNW at least 13 episodes.

The only way we would get 20 episodes a season is if it came back to network TV, and it isn’t. There are not enough viewers. The other issue is that is takes 2+ times as long for one episode now than the pre-2000 Trek shows. These actors will never agree to 40+ workweeks a year. Mount was specific about that, I would expect that we would have been getting 12 to 15 shows a year if he wasn’t limiting his time.

All of this!

Glad to hear about SNW, but sad to hear about Lower Decks. That was my 2nd favorite modern Trek (after Prodigy). I do think streaming movies would be a good way to continue their adventures, even if the series itself is ending.

Also, hopefully it won’t be too long before we hear about more animated projects. This and Prodigy showed how well it can fit Star Trek, and there’s still plenty of potential in that regard.

Nooo. Lower Decks is a total success. Can’t believe 5 is the limit in these days.

A massive shame about Lower Decks. It had people that genuinely cared about the franchise. With great stories/arcs, fun characters and respect for both visual/narrative canon. Why can’t we allow shows to go on for 7 seasons like the good ol’ days?

I only hope they (Paramount… Skydance?) are saving pennies for a new live action 25th century TV show aka the present within the timeline.

No more bloody prequels and please, do keep the creatives from Lower Decks like Mike McMahan involved in some capacity with new Trek. They get it, like Team Matalas. That is, if you like both success and profit.

What is certain, we are heading into interesting, be it, uncertain times. Steady as she goes.

Matalas and McMahan “get it” because they rely on nostalgia.

Relying on nostalgia because they don’t have an original thought in their head isn’t a good thing.

Just shows you haven’t watched them then.

Respecting visual/narrative canon isn’t relying on “nostalgia”. The story arcs have been far better in a cartoon then the big budget live action Treks of PIC S1&2, DIS etc. Maybe you Kurtzman/Goldsman apologists can get that through your blinkered heads sometime?

She just has a very narrow perspective on how the franchise should be run, with callbacks/references/nostalgia being her pet issue to rail against. It’s obtuse gatekeeping, but she’s not an apologist.

i love all trek but It’s funny how they keep saying everything is great and they love trek too, but they’ve canceled four of five shows in the last two years.

i believe what i see not what they say.

maybe 5 is the new 7

hulu should pick it up. they’ve been ramping up their animation slate and would go well with futurama and solar opposites

Four shows? PIC wasn’t cancelled, it was always slated for three seasons.

I think the modern era of Trek is definitely a victim of bad timing as far as production goes. First a pandemic, then two strikes. If it weren’t for those occurrences, I’d wager both DSC and LDS would be ending with a sixth season.

Of course there might be a bit more money for Trek in the budget if Paramount+ hadn’t pulled the international streaming rights for DSC away from Netflix.

The only show they have canceled was Prodigy. All the other shows have ended. Shows end. They don’t last forever.

Disco was axed after Season 5 finished production. It was never slated to be the final season until P+ pulled the plug.

I feel sorry for you.

Yep. Those are the facts. The show runner said it many times in interviews and they were even starting to prep for a season 6 before they got word it was cancelled.

And it remains to be seen if Prodigy has been cancelled. Netflix may decide to revive it. For that matter, they might get the option to revive Lower Decks.

Pipe dream. Why would Netflix spend money on a property they don’t own? It would be cheaper for Netflix to make their own sci-fi cartoons.

Even 7 isn’t the new 7 these days. 7 seasons used to mean 175+/- episodes. Now it means 70.

Or 56 with all these 8 episodes series! It’s pathetic.

RIP Lower Decks :(

Yay Strange New Worlds? :)

Seems like a missed opportunity to not continue a well-liked and relatively less-expensive show (based on general reports) at a time when SNW is going to be the only new content (once DIS wraps up) until Academy in maybe 2026.

It’s starting to look like Playmates Toys isn’t alone. Paramount appears to also be stricken with premature en-cancellation!

Really bummed about lower decks

💃🪦🕺 RIP Lower Decks

It’s weird to celebrate the cancellation of a show.

Everything dies.

So? It’s still bizarre to post emojis of dancing on someone’s grave.

Embrace the bizarre.

Nah, I don’t like condoning jerkish behavior. Use your time here wisely, all this gleeful ankle-biting you’re engaged in won’t last forever.

“Speak for yourself sir, I plan to live forever.”

– William T. Riker

The show isn’t being canceled. It’s ending.

You don’t understand the distinction, which is fine. Not my place to educate you.

You’re just salty.

Sorry to see Lower Decks go. It’s likely a safe bet that SNW’s is done at five seasons, too. After 2026, it looks like all we’ll have is the Academy show.

Well, for all you guys who did nothing but bitch about streaming Trek, congratulations. It’s about over.

I would be surprised if SNW is cancelled after five seasons like Discovery and Lower Decks. Strange New Worlds has been very popular, arguably the most popular new Star Trek since Enterprise. I think SNW will continue beyond a fifth season but that depends on how good and well received seasons 3 and 4 will be.

If the powers that be actually went with Trek that was liked/well-received, we would get 7 seasons of SNW, LDS, and Legacy, and maybe even more Prodigy. But instead we get very questionable S31 movie, Academy set in the probably least-liked and least-developed time frame, a casting-off Prodigy, and the cancellation/ending of all but 1 Trek show.

I shudder to think what new “surprises” Kurtzman has in store for us loyal fans. I hope it’s not another “Valentine to the fans”.

The economics of streaming make older original shows less valuable as there’s no syndication windfall for them after they hit a certain number of episodes and exclusivity precludes selling popular shows to rivals anyway. The value of a new show that will get more press and potentially new viewers is just higher than that of a 4+ year old series which has higher production costs looming the longer it goes on.

The calculus is that existing people who decry a cancellation still probably won’t unsubscribe because something new will be on to distract them.

That makes no sense. That’s the mindset NBC had when they wanted Seinfeld to continue pass its prime for more profit.

I would rather rewatch These Are the Voyages over some of those ‘surprises’

Hell “Threshold” doesn’t seem so bad now, lol.

I am thinking that after season 5 of SNW I think they are gonna segue into a new TOS series.

I doubt it. What would be the point?

Because Paramount seems to be angling for a reboot? There are a lot of indicators that’s where they’re heading.

If they wanted a reboot then they would have made a reboot. Some would say SNW is already a reboot of TOS. I don’t even consider 60’s TOS to be canon anymore. They won’t want to step on the toes of the movie franchise and will leave future TOS based movies to the big screen. SNW is the closest they will get to TOS on the small screen.

I guess it’s always possible for Lower Decks Characters to show up in Star Trek Legacy if it ever gets a green light.

That would be great. I truly do love Lower Decks (and I was not a fan of the idea at all until it actually came out.)

Definitely a good-news/bad-news situation here. I’ll miss Lower Decks and hold out hope that they do a movie every few years for the next several decades.

While I’m happy to get Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3 and Star Trek Lower Decks Season 5… IM OUTRAGED THAT IT WILL BE THE FINAL SEASON!

This along with Paramount not approving Legacy and shutting down the game Star Trek Infinite. I HATE Paramount and everything it stands for. One day Star Trek will be without copyright and I can’t wait for that day cause what Paramount is doing is evil and their evil for doing it

what do you mean re: shutting down Star Trek Infinite?

edit: oh… https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/star-trek-infinite-dev-log-13-what-you-leave-behind.1629503/

It’s been a couple months since I last played so I’m not surprised that I missed this. Will stick w/ Stellaris I guess.

Was hopefully that Infinite would serve as a decent digital version of Star Trek Ascendency board game. Alas it wasn’t that either

I don’t think that’s on Paramount. Paradox has had bomb after bomb lately, and relatively few successes. My guess is that ST: Infinite just didn’t make enough money for them to bother fixing all the launch bugs, let alone continue support.

Episodes of the original series of Star Trek won’t enter the public domain until after 2060, and even then only the elements from those episodes will be in the public domain it will be even longer before episodes and elements of TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and especially Picard season 3 go into the public domain.

Settle down Beavis.

So just a little overly dramatic, then…

Well, you ARE on a Star Trek message board, after all… :P

True, true.

I have no idea why Paramount+ would not make Lower Decks “The Simpsons” of the Star Trek universe. It literally could run forever. Is it an expensive show to produce? Are the cast salaries getting out of hand? My guess is no to both…

Ask for the show itself, it is definitely drifted from its original shock comedy roots to being something more like a comedic drama, with actual stakes that we actually care about; not at all a path I would have predicted, having been a little put off by the first season. But it quickly become one of my favorite modern Trek shows. And I will be very sorry to see it go.

Strange New Worlds is indeed the best Star Trek series since Star Trek: Enterprise was wrongly cancelled in 2005. Although, Strange New Worlds has a lot room for growth to be even better and a truly great Star Trek series. Overall, I thought Season One of SNW was better than the second. My problem with Lower Decks is that it doesn’t take itself seriously. It feels more like a show about Star Trek then an actual Star Trek show, almost like Big Bang Theory except animated and taking place within the Star Trek world and all the characters are Trekkies. Also, personally I cannot take the profanity in the show hence why I stopped watching it.

https://chng.it/LnHkyCWTSM

Save lower decks petition.

Why can’t we just appreciate five solid seasons and move on? Do we really want it to die a lingering death like other Treks out there?

I signed a change.org petition once, never again. It doesn’t accomplish anything and guarantees your burner email will get flooded with spam.

The fifth season is already written; does this mean the season finale will remain as is(unlike with Disco where they let them go back and film a series ending)

I struggle to think of many animated series which had finales with real closure in their original runs when their endings weren’t explicitly planned. Some shows like Futurama had ones that served that function, probably because they had an inkling they might not be renewed, but usually it’s just not enough warning to do it. McMahan hopefully built in a potential ending.

While I don’t begrudge SNW its success, I’m overall much more disheartened and disappointed (if not exactly surprised) by this news than I am glad. Lower Decks is one of my two favorites of the current Star Trek shows (with Prodigy being the other), and if I personally could save only one of the two shows in this announcement, it’d be Lower Decks rather than SNW .

Coming less than a year after Paramount+ not only canceled but completely dumped Prodigy and isolated it from the rest of the franchise, and not so many months after “commemorating” the original animated Star Trek with a series of very short shorts that had two decent segments after three truly wretched misfires, this announcement feels like the finishing touch on a decidedly-less-than-great 50th anniversary celebration of Star Trek animation. At least it can’t get much worse…

I’m fine with season five of Lower Decks being its final one, to be honest. The series remains my #2 current Star Trek show between Prodigy and Strange New Worlds. What an adventure! Yet, I’m ready for another new Star Trek show: one under the stewardship of anyone who understands Star Trek and being the first since the original animated series to air on NBC and the next CBS Studios production for NBC.

Lower Decks is my go-to feel good content. I’ve just started a rewatch from S01E01 onwards a few weeks ago. I love these characters and their crazy adventures.

My hope is that Mike McMahan gets to do another project, like an animated “Star Trek: Admirals” so we finally learn why Starfleet has so many Badmirals :) Or whatever else he wants to do.

Of all the new shows, Lower Decks is the only one that I easily rewatch.

Same. It’s the show I can just throw on any episode and just smile for 25 minutes. It really is a joy to watch.

And I’m sure McMahan will do more Star Trek in the future.

The most anticipated episode of Strange New Worlds was the crossover with Lower Decks. So they cancel it. Highly illogical.

5 seasons is a long time for most streaming series. But I will miss Lower Decks – fiercely original, funny, and clever, with real heart and memorable characters.

SNW renewal is great, but I’m gutted Lower Decks is ending, even if the writing was on the wall based on McMahan’s comments of late. LD is my favorite Trek show since DS9 and is in my top 5 all-time.

A renewal and a farewell, but all-in-all I’m pleased by the news. We’ve had a good run with Lower Decks and the journey continues for SNW. I appreciate the clarity on where Star Trek will be over the next 2 years. Obviously Star Trek is resizing its slate, and I’d say we have enough new things in the pipeline to keep us interested. I am sad that we are leaving all of the 24th/25th century shows behind us, but I feel satiated by what we got with Picard and Lower Decks. And if there is anything season 5 of Discovery has taught me is that we can still tell TNG-era stories deep into the future.

If economics is behind Paramount cutting back on Trek series, then I’m a little surprised that they’re ending LD after 5 seasons. My understanding was that animated shows are a lot less expense to produce than the live action series, with their effects; more bang for the buck.

prices increase each season. paramount + is dwindling. they arent even able to give an acceptable stream quality in th egerman market relying on technology of some tv stations streaming service.

so they are in several senses of the word cheap.

or they could be saving towards something, enterprise season 5? the picard movie, some sort of legacy tv show? i guess unlikely.but not impossible. im looking forward to be surprised in any way. big movie origin story? Enterprise!

Yay for SWN! Aww man for LWD…

Very happy SNW renewed for a 4th season. Hopeful that they get word on a 5th season while filming season 4, so IF season 4 is it, we get a good finale.

Sad to hear that Lower Decks is ending with Season 5; I LOVE Lower Decks and it has so much HEART and it is, for me, joyous. But we get five seasons and that’s pretty cool!

Mariner: LOWER DECKS! LOWER DECKS!

What a travesty! Lower Decks can’t be that expensive to produce. It should be running for many more years. Shame on Paramount+. I’ll certainly be giving them less of my $ when my current annual subscription runs out.

VERY glad to hear that Strange New Worlds will be continuing!

I’m not surprised that Lower Decks is ending, since Mariner resolved a big part of what made her such a rebel at the end of last season. I hope we’ll get some closure for the other three main characters this season.

Same. I love Lower Decks , but Mariner’s rebel arc is mostly resolved. I would love to see big adventures and everyone moving on to new assignments.

Lasted as long as DSC.

With Discovery ending, and SNW having another season, I wonder if Paramount is looking at a transition year for SNW, and have a season 1 of Legacy overlap with a 4th (or 5th) season. *Just being an overtly optimist here. :-)

Lower Decks has been decent. Not great, not bad, just a decent show.

The Boimler & Mariner live-action crossover to Strange New Worlds though, that was impeccable and hilarious.

Once LD and Prodigy finish, I’m out. It’s the only two Star Trek shows left I get excited about.

Its a shame about Lower Decks. LD and Picard S3 were the only decent Trek shows. Everything else has been mediocre or downright garbage. I shudder to think what “surprises” Kurtzman is going to bless us with.

“I shudder to think what “surprises” Kurtzman is going to bless us with.”

We wouldn’t have any of the shows which followed Discovery, without Alex Kurtzman. Dude gets shit done.

We would have better shows, helmed by competent people.

+ 1. This ^

Totally agree

Nobody cares about Starfleet Academy. Legacy needs to get green lit asap!

I care. I can’t wait to watch.

Like A34, I also care about Starfleet Academy.

Also, your “logic” might have applied to a Star Trek limited to a space station (limiting the actual trekking it could do), and an adult animated comedy, and yet both DS9 and Lower Decks are both well liked among the fandom. Likewise, I would never have guessed Prodigy would be as good and loved by as many people as it is (myself included). Just goes to show you shouldn’t presume anything until you actually see it.

Excellent final point. When Lower Decks was first announced I was pretty negative about the whole concept. Season after season it has surprised me and I’m bummed it’s ending. After falling in love with that show, and then Prodigy , all I can say is bring on Academy . There’s so much potential.

I’m sure many people said that “No one cares about DS9” and that “No one asked for DS9” when it was announced.

Your opinion is meaningless.

The difference is that (1) in 1992, the producers had a track record of success with TNG, not one if mediocrity, and (2) there were “only” two shows produced at once, which is somewhat more manageable than what we have today. Even back then, I think there’s evidence that they bit off a bit more than they could chew.

When TNG was first announced the first reaction by fans was to protest. I’m sure many of them said TNG was a show no one wanted also.

No need to be so negative about something that’s not even aired yet, or to speak for the masses. Ratings metrics and revenue will speak for them well enough in due course.

I care, and one season of pandering fan service was plenty. I’ve no idea what “Legacy” would look like, outside of a deep dive into Starfleet nepotism….

Yep, I don’t care about Academy at all. I don’t worry about growing the Trek audience because its being going for 60 years now without a show for teens, so I don’t buy the argument Academy will grow the audience. In fact, I think it will be Trek’s first major bomb.

It’s going to be like Discovery but even worse aka a teen show with Tilly. I can hear the cringe dialogue already.

As far as SNW is concerned: YAY!!!!!!!!!!

As far as LDS is concerned: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the one hand it is sad to see Lower Decks ending but on the other hand I can kind of see the logic in it as crew members can’t forever stay as lower deckers. I think they could still continue the adventures through animated movies or maybe some of the characters can still appear in live action shows down the line. Mariner could be a holographic assistant or teacher in the Academy show for example since Tawny Newsome is already a writer on the show. For SNW I can see it continuing until season 5 and after that maybe segue into a TOS show. They should also make the new season of SNW have at least 13 episodes now.

I would love for SNW to have thirteen episodes per season going forward. IIRC though, the news that DSC was dropping its episode count to ten coincided with the news that Paramount was taking international distribution rights for DSC back from Netflix. I think the thirteen (sometimes more) episode count had something to do with the Paramount/Netflix agreement.

I Like lds a lot

Lower Decks has so much potential. It’s sad that half of its run so far is just nostalgia p0rn. Hopefully S5 will cut back on the nostalgia and tell stories on its own terms. But what am I saying, McMahan will probably drive the nostalgia to a million. Expect a series a finale to rip off All Good Things and the last shot to be a poker scene.

LOL so true.

Strip poker, though. Calling it now.

So the only good news is that we will have at least two more seasons of SNW. We will need a new show in TNG era soon, because the 32nd century it’s more about magic tech and feelings than Star Trek, I have no anticipations for Academy.

Psst… Star Trek has always been about magic tech.

Basically, you just want nostalgia. That’s what CBS Trek has trained fans to look for and want.

Nope, there is Science Fiction tech and there is Magic tech

But Star Trek has always had both. In TOS they went to a planet where any thoughts they had became real in Shore Leave. They tried to ‘science’ it away saying something about all these people and objects being built underground etc but it’s utterly ridiculous of course. They essentially had the power of a Q with also the ability to mind read the way things could be conjured up. That’s magical tech on a profound level and it happened many times over on TOS and the other shows.

That’s why every time I would hear this ridiculous argument that people didn’t want Star Trek to go past the TOS era because they wanted to keep it more ‘grounded’ I would think what show are they watching???

It certainly wasn’t Star Trek lol because there was very little about it that was ‘grounded’.

And then we get stuff like the Kelvin movies and Discovery that made that abundantly clear.

Agreed – 25th Century should be the main focus as that is the present within the timeline IMO.

Yep I consider 25th century is present day Star Trek as well.

Definitely not just the golden age of a new Trek episode every week of the whole year is far gone, but also the time of “super-charging the Trek audience” after that has ended before it even started.

Strange New Worlds (episode)

• View history

When one of Pike’s officers goes missing while on a secret mission for Starfleet, Pike has to come out of self-imposed exile. He must navigate how to rescue his officer, while struggling with what to do with the vision of the future he’s been given. ( Series premiere )

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3 Log entries
• 4.2 Production
• 4.3 Cast and characters
• 4.4 Continuity
• 4.5 Reception
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Guest starring
• 5.3 Co-starring
• 5.4.1 From The Day the Earth Stood Still
• 5.5 Stunt doubles
• 5.6.1 Stellar cartography references
• 5.6.2 Enterprise dedication plaque references
• 5.6.3 Meta references
• 5.7 External links

Summary [ ]

Inside some form of control center or bunker, alarms begin to ring, as an officer walks down the corridors to the control room. She and the people within are revealed to be a humanoid species, making first contact with an unidentified object not of their world. As they get a stable image, they find themselves looking upon a Federation starship.

In Bear Creek , Montana , Captain Marie Batel awakens to find the other half of the bed empty. Heading downstairs, she finds Captain Christopher Pike busy in the kitchen, making pancakes while watching the old film The Day the Earth Stood Still – again, as Batel notes. As they sit down to breakfast, greeting each other by their formal rank, Batel notices the look on Pike's face and asks if he has not decided yet. Pike responds that the USS Enterprise is in spacedock for another week, which is "ages" to some. Suddenly, Pike's communicator goes off, and he is pointedly trying to ignore it; when it stops, he asks when she is shipping out. Batel asks him to talk about whatever it was he was keeping to himself, whatever has him questioning a return to his command. Pike replies it was classified, but Batel points out she has a higher security clearance than he does. " Not for this, " is his only answer. She is departing at 0600 the following morning, and would not return for a month. Pike tells her he might still be there when she returns, and asks her to call him when she returns, so they could get together. Batel kisses him, saying that would be nice, but hopes he is not there when she returns, thinking he had better places to be. After Batel leaves, the communicator goes off again.

Admiral April talks with Pike

Pike takes his horse out for a ride in the snow, but the horse is frightened by the low descent of a Starfleet shuttlecraft . The officer that descends from the ramp is Admiral Robert April , the first captain of the Enterprise . Pike scolds him for spooking his horse, and April apologizes, saying that Pike had not been answering his communicator. Pike bluntly demands to know what he wants. April says he has a first contact scenario that may have gone bad, and the officer in command was someone he trusted, but he had lost contact with her ship. Pike is dismissive, saying it was not his problem, and that they had agreed they had until Enterprise left spacedock before making any decisions. The admiral reveals the reason he is approaching Pike: the officer in command is Pike's first officer , Una Chin-Riley , who reports that a new world might be considering Federation membership. She had not taken "downtime" all that well, reminding the admiral of Pike when he had been April's first officer. April is pulling Enterprise out of spacedock, electing to skip the redundant system checks, and needs the ship crewed and ready to go by 1800 hours. Pike tells him that Starfleet doesn't want him in command, but April sees that it was Pike himself who didn't want to be in command; as Batel did, he asks what happened, and as with Batel, Pike answers only that it was classified. April is sympathetic to what Pike is dealing with, but right now, he needs him on the Enterprise to find Una, and makes it an order.

Act One [ ]

In the city of Raal on Vulcan , Spock is seated in a restaurant with his betrothed T'Pring , discussing the formality of Vulcan conversation, often beginning with a query and expecting a response. She has asked him there on the anniversary of their first courtship event, and he notes she is wearing the ritual mating colors, and yet she has not asked him a single question throughout their entire meal. T'Pring replies that this was untrue, that she had indeed asked questions – about his family, about P'Sal 's new lute recordings, and his "galavanting" around the galaxy with Starfleet . She then asks if there was a question he wanted her to ask. Spock is apologetic, as he has been away for a long time, which could mitigate matters of tradition. She finally asks the question he has been expecting: for him to formally marry her. Rather than the typical Vulcan response, he kisses her, causing one of the wait staff to request they do so elsewhere. " What an excellent idea, " T'Pring agrees.

Having settled somewhere more private, Spock looks out at Vulcan's ocean, remarking on how there were oceans of liquid mercury on Salon , while Earth 's were water. T'Pring thinks that nothing out there could be better than what was on Vulcan, and Spock asks her to show him. As she is about to oblige him, his communicator goes off; it is Pike, calling from Earth. Seeing Spock without a shirt, he wonders if he was naked; T'Pring says they were about to be, as it was a special night. Pike is apologetic, before explaining that April is sending them out to find Una. Spock tells his captain that he will meet him onboard, and that T'Pring will understand. As they close the channel, T'Pring points out that her "understanding" would have been worthy of a query, and tells him not to make a habit of assumptions; she does not intend to chase him across the galaxy just to get married. Spock assures her she will not have to chase him across the galaxy to get what they already had.

The shuttlecraft Stamets takes Pike up to the Enterprise , as he reviews a PADD regarding Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh and her involvement with first contact with the Gorn . The shuttle brings itself into transporter range, the pilot remarking on how she was "scrubbed up and good as new". Pike quietly wishes it were that easy, and tells the pilot to beam him aboard. He is met in the transporter room by Spock, who reports all systems were nominal, even though they had not been able to run simulation studies. Personnel rotation was in process, which meant some officers would have to billet after the mission, including the chief engineer and a Lieutenant Kirk, whom Pike had requested some time before. Pike remarks on how it felt like a million years, to which Spock promptly adds it had been three months, ten days, four hours, and five minutes. Pike asks how Spock himself was doing, and he replies that he was doing well, although he felt the weight of loss for his adoptive sister Michael Burnham each time he returned to space; Pike expresses a similar feeling as they enter the turbolift . He reviews the new personnel roster, including a number of cadets and much needed additions to the medical staff, before coming across the entry for security; the new security chief has also been named acting first officer, much to Pike's surprise, as he had expected Spock, as second officer , to be given that job with Una missing. Spock replies that Starfleet Command preferred him to remain as science officer for the mission.

Pike and Spock arrive on the bridge, where they are greeted by La'an, the new chief of security and acting first officer. Pike welcomes her and all the newcomers aboard, and the old crew back. He asks helmsman Lieutenant Erica Ortegas if they were ready to depart, and Ortegas replies the course is set for Kiley 279 . Lieutenant Jenna Mitchell at operations reports lights are green across the board, and the cadet at communications, Nyota Uhura , receives confirmation that Enterprise is cleared for launch. Pike orders Ortegas to take the ship out of spacedock. Mitchell reports they were prepared for warp speed ("We are five-by-five for warp"). As he looks down at his chair controls, he sees a reflection of what he knows is his future , deformed and crippled by radiation poisoning, and momentarily freezes. Spock recalls his attention back to the present, and he gives Ortegas the order: " Hit it. "

As the ship goes to warp, Pike asks Uhura for a shipwide channel. He begins by jokingly hoping that no one was caught with their hair wet or their pants down because of the early departure, before telling them that Starfleet typically sent out first contact teams when they detect a working warp engine, and one such had been sent to Kiley 279 aboard the USS Archer . The Archer has dropped out of contact, and their mission was to find them – and if they were lucky, make some new friends. " Nobody dies, " he says, a somber note in his voice. " This will not be anybody's last day. " With that, he turns the conn over to La'an and goes to his quarters. Spock looks worriedly after him, before turning back to his console.

Alone in his quarters, Pike recalls his vision of the future, before being brought back to the present by the chiming of his door. It is Spock, who assures Pike he does not mean to overstep. Pike invites him to overstep, before pouring himself a glass of Saurian brandy . Spock gets to the point, asking if Pike was himself. Pike replies he was very much himself, which was the problem. Spock is aware that Pike had been changed when he had gone down to Boreth during their time aboard the USS Discovery , and he knew that Boreth was known for two things: a monastery, and a rare ore that caused temporal consciousness displacement, both of which had the power of transformation. Pike replies it was not the monastery, and Spock had assumed as much, asking if Pike saw the future. Pike confirms he had witnessed what he felt was the death of the man he was now. He knew exactly how and when his life would end, and not only saw it, but felt it as well. He notes how most Humans liked to think they could cheat death until the very last moment, and he had thought so once as well. Spock asks if it was soon, but Pike replies it was not, that it was almost a decade away , which suddenly felt soon to him. Spock thinks that knowledge of death was vital to effective leadership, but Pike not only knew it, he experienced it. He worries what that knowledge will do to him, and had started to second-guess himself, the last thing a captain could afford. Spock believes suffering could be built on insight, and that Pike could make some good come of this knowledge of his own fate, to be the man he essentially is: the captain. Just then, Uhura calls from the bridge, as they were dropping out of warp. Spock rises to report back, as Pike looks at his reflection in the bottle, reliving the moment he witnessed himself confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, before he rises to follow.

Act Two [ ]

The Enterprise comes out of warp over Kiley 279; the Archer 's transponder ping is detected on the planet's nightside. Pike orders Uhura to hail them, but she does not receive a response. Pike asks if they could be losing the response in subspace chatter, but Uhura reports there is no subspace chatter at all; the space was "dead quiet". Ortegas has brought the ship to the Archer 's position and brings it up on visual; Mitchell reports the ship is completely intact, all systems apparently functional. Spock is unable to detect any lifesigns, but there were no signs of bodies, either. He brings up the ship's manifest, showing that the Archer was crewed only by Una and two astrophysicists , Lieutenant Key and Ensign Hadad . La'an thinks if she went to the surface, she would have gone for the detected warp signature. However, Spock is unable to pinpoint it, and Ortegas detects a "pretty weird" signal variance. La'an, digesting the information, recommends raising the deflector shields . Spock reminds her taking a defensive posture would violate first contact protocol, but La'an points out that there were no hails from the surface or subspace chatter, and no signs of any orbital docking facilities or interplanetary traffic, any sign of space colonization at all, which Spock knows would put them a century behind the development of warp travel… and yet there was a warp signature. Pike is convinced, and orders the shields raised. It proves to be perfect timing, as several plasma torpedoes are fired from the surface, with minimal damage to the shields. Pike orders Ortegas to take them into a higher orbit, to deceive whoever fired the torpedoes that they had destroyed the Enterprise … then wonders how a culture that used technology that was two centuries old by Federation standards had built a warp drive. Looking at his readings again, Spock realizes they haven't, and recommends red alert . The inhabitants have not built a warp drive, but rather a bomb.

Spock reviews the data with Pike and La'an, explaining that there were two factions at war with one another on Kiley 279, and their conflict had reached a crisis point; surface scans indicated a pre-warp civilization . When La'an asks how that was possible, Spock replies that the Vulcans invented first contact (" As they never fail to remind us, " Pike jokes), and brings up the systems in the sector that had warp capability, including Xahea , Chin'toka , and the Talarian Republic , among others; all were in the process of negotiating admission to the Federation, and they were free to travel to any of them, and thus General Order One did not apply. However, not on any of those worlds, or even in the history of first contact, had warp capability been developed first for anything other than propulsion, comparing it to discovering nuclear weapons before particle physics : it was possible, but had never been done. Pike asks if Una would have known the signature was a weapon, and Spock believes she wouldn't have; the Enterprise 's scanners had been upgraded in spacedock. La'an thinks that if the plasma weapons were the best the inhabitants had, they should beam down, find their people, and bring them home. Pike points out that there was the possibility the technology was not native to them; no matter how they got it, however, General Order One would apply, and they would not be able to interfere. La'an asks if that meant they were just going to leave their people down there. " Hardly, " Pike replies, before saying they should go down to see the doctor.

In sickbay , Pike is happily greeted by Dr. Joseph M'Benga ; they had toured their mutual home regions of Earth together. He introduces the doctor to Spock, and as he does likewise for La'an, M'Benga notes how good it was to see her again, as he had had to certify her for duty. He introduces them to his nurse, Christine Chapel , who was part of a civilian exchange program from the Stanford Morehouse Epigenetic Project . Pike thinks her the right person for the job; when La'an asks about said job, Chapel cheerfully replies that she was going to "mess with [their] genome". The locals were humanoid, closely matching the crew's physiology, but some alterations were required to blend in, although the Kiley inhabitants had some organs that would take longer to replicate, and so suggests not getting any X-rays. M'Benga explains that Chapel is part of a Starfleet initiative to observe alien cultures without contamination. La'an asks if the procedure was safe, and Chapel answers that it was, "almost" every time. She applies a sedative first, as the process involved "compressed, jury rigged metamorphosis ", which involved considerable pain. For Spock, his unique Vulcan-Human genetics might mean the process would not last as long the first time. La'an elects to undergo the procedure without the sedative. Pike has read her file, and she asks if he is ordering her to undergo the sedation. He makes clear he's not, and respects her choice.

As the three fully-altered officers enter the transporter room, Chief Kyle reports that local clothing, along with universal translators and tricorders , would be in the buffer along with them, and asks if there would be no weapons. Pike confirms, and Kyle sets the coordinates in an area with no foot traffic. Pike jokingly asks Kyle not to lose his socks, and gives the order to energize.

Act Three [ ]

Pike, Spock, and La'an materialize in an alley, dressed for their environment; Spock is somewhat put out that he is wearing shorts rather than long pants. They see a news report from a screen in a nearby square, reporting on anti-government protests amid rumors of an advanced weapon being developed by the government for domestic use. Pike and Spock recognize it as being similar to events in the United States of America , particularly involving their two civil wars and their devastating results. Pike is concerned that the Kiley society is already at a flashpoint with an advanced weapon, while La'an uses her tricorder to get a closer fix on the warp signature's location – a building ahead of them, with protestors outside. As they get outside the building, Spock's scans show the shielding makes transporting inside impossible. Just then, two Kiley scientists emerge from inside, and La'an asks for permission to "act fast". After Pike grants it, she feigns some kind of illness, asking for their help to get her medication. She then calls out "his neck"; after a moment, Spock finally realizes what she's asking for, and incapacitates both with a Vulcan neck pinch . They could replicate their clothing and security badges to match their retinal scans; as for the two scientists, La'an suggests beaming them onto the ship and keeping them sedated in sickbay.

The two Kileys are placed under low-level sedation while M'Benga runs scans. Chapel asks for a DNA sample; Spock's genetic encoding is beginning to deteriorate, and if he doesn't get a booster with actual Kiley DNA, he won't pass a retinal scan. For it to work, the Kileys would need to have compatable protein patterns to match Spock's Vulcan blood. The first man is incompatable, but the second is a match. Suddenly, the first man awakens, wondering where he is; M'Benga sedates him, while the second manages to scurry away and flee down the corridor. Both M'Benga and Chapel recall a similar incident on Delta Scorpii VII ; the doctor tells her to "chase the rabbit" while he prepares the booster. Chapel jokes about always getting the fun jobs, as she pursues the Kiley through the corridors. " Well, you're my favorite, " M'Benga says. He warns Ortegas, holding the conn, to have the landing party stand by and not enter the building, while Chapel adds they had a "Delta Scorpii VII situation" on their hands. Ortegas grouses about how it always happened when she had the captain's chair .

Pike commends La'an on the "performance" she gave, and La'an replies that she had assumed the "prey posture", useful for tricking predators into thinking one was helpless. Ortegas calls Pike from the ship, saying he couldn't go inside, as Spock needed a booster to get past the retinal scanners. As they were being ushered through by government officials, the landing party couldn't stop. M'Benga asks Kyle if he can pinpoint a location to beam down and apply an eye salve. Kyle protests that transporters couldn't do that, but Ortegas steps in and orders him to make them do that. Meanwhile, Chapel pursues the fleeing Kiley, who is clearly frightened and wondering about his surroundings, before he finds himself inside a turbolift – standing next to Uhura. Uhura reassures him that they were going to the bridge where the " Backtack " was, referring to how the Backtack controlled everything in the Kileys' game of tagball . Chapel runs back to sickbay, accidentally knocking over some members of the crew, and has M'Benga use the emergency medical transporter to beam her to the bridge. As Uhura is discussing a tagball game that the scientist had actually been present for, Chapel comes from behind with the sedative. Ortegas sarcastically welcomes the unconscious Kiley to the Enterprise , as Uhura and Chapel introduce themselves to one another.

At the same time, Pike goes through the checkpoint first, applying his security card and retinal scanner, followed by La'an. As Spock does likewise, the scanner doesn't read him at first, but Kyle is eventually able to apply the salve with the transporter, allowing him to go through. Spock is concerned that the alterations will continue to wear off. La'an is picking up Una's lifesigns, explaing that there were high levels of radiation shielding in the walls, which is why their sensors could not penetrate; only something like a warp signature could even get through. Now that they were inside, she could pick up her lifesigns, indicating she was still alive, several levels below them. As they stand in the elevator, one of the Kileys notices Spock's ears begin to almost shimmer, before the landing party reaches the level they want. As they are finally alone, Spock admits the effect is painful, but the recoding seems to be holding. They approach three locked doors, detecting Una's lifesigns through one of them.

Opening the door, Pike finds his first officer and her crew, looking worse for wear but otherwise unharmed; her foot is encased in a cast, and Hadad has his arm in a sling from a projectile wound during a firefight. She is surprised to see La'an, and Pike is equally surprised to see that they know one another. La'an admits that Una had helped her out of a "bad spot" once, and apologizes for not saying anything earlier. Pike tells her they can discuss it later. Una tells Spock the shielding is jointed, and wonders if they could get a transport signal through the gaps. Spock confirms they could, if they were closer to the surface. The landing party escorts their comrades out, but as more Kileys emerge from the elevator, Spock feels the pain growing unbearable, finally grabbing his head and screaming in pain before his normal Vulcan features assert themselves. Seeing their cover is blown, they are forced to knock out the Kileys and leave them lying in the hall before escaping to the elevator.

Inside, Pike asks what happened, as the Kileys were clearly not ready for first contact. Una glances at La'an for a moment, saying she was not cleared, but Pike dismisses that, asking how they got warp capabilility. Una replies that they had given it to them, during that final battle near Xahea, when Burnham opened the wormhole that sent her and the Discovery through to the future. They were less than one light-year out from the zero point of the wormhole, and between the Klingon ships and the Ba'ul fighters flown by the Kelpiens , there were more than a hundred warp signatures. Pike realizes the Kileys' telescopes would have been just powerful enough to detect all of it, and collected enough data to reverse-engineer a matter - antimatter reactor. The Kileys were not ready for warp drive, and now they were using the technology to build a weapon. Pike blames himself for not considering it, but Una assures him no one could have considered it; they were fighting for the very lives that were in jeopardy now. Spock reports he had contact with the Enterprise , and transporters were able to lock onto them. Una reminds Pike that they couldn't make the Kileys care about the stars, and that they cared only to crush their enemies… and they had given the Kileys the means to do that. An alarm sounds, meaning the unconscious Kileys had been found. Pike again sees his future reflection from the nearby control panel, as Spock awaits his order to return to the ship. But Pike is convinced every death from thereon out would be on their hands. Spock reminds him they could not interfere with the destiny of this world, but Pike points out they already had. He orders that the others return to the ship, while he and Spock remained behind. Una protests, reminding him about General Order One. " Screw General Order One, " Pike replies bluntly. La'an reluctantly pulls her communicator and orders four to beam up, with Pike and Spock remaining behind.

As the others beam out, Spock asks if this was wise, as he was clearly alien; Pike replies that he was counting on that. As the elevator halts, they find themselves held at gunpoint. " Take me to your leader, " Pike says.

Act Four [ ]

Pike and Spock are taken before the head of the planetary government, where Pike apologizes to her entire world for the effect they had upon it. She asks if that meant their ingenuity was the result of his mistake, but Pike answers that he meant the Federation should have been more circumspect about showing off their technologies, as one of its core tenets was to avoid unduly influencing less advanced civilizations. The technology they were using could bridge the gap between worlds, but its destructive capacity could not be underestimated. The leader says the government has been in conflict with a "seditious faction" for centuries and now had the means to end that conflict. Spock asks if that meant mass murder, to which she asks if his people had never put down civil unrest before. Pike believes negotiation and debate led to lasting peace. The leader asks if there were groups who refused to negotiate, powerful ones, and Pike confirms there were. When asked how that was handled, he quotes a proverb from the Kikuyu people of Kenya, that "when elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers". The leader points out that proverbs were less useful than a "big stick", and whoever had the "biggest stick" wins. When Pike tries to explain about what regulations compel him to do, she interrupts by saying his rules were not her rules, and that her job was to ensure her people's ability to govern future generations, and if spilled blood was the price, then so be it. She orders the guards to take them away. Pike wonders aloud what good was a rule if you weren't willing to die for it… or break it. He calls out an emergency communication to the Enterprise , ordering the ship into a lower orbit with full visibility. Outside, air raid sirens begin to sound as the Enterprise is clearly visible in the sky. " Just like you said, whoever has the biggest stick wins, " Pike says to the Kiley leader. " In this case, that is me. "

A newscaster reports that the leaders of the government and revolutionary factions will meet for the first time in a century to discuss the arrival of the aliens, as the Enterprise hovers visibly in the distance. Back onboard, Pike watches the debate with La'an and Spock, the former sarcastically saying it was going well, the latter saying the two sides were used to centuries of violence, and that the true cost of civil war was abstract. " Not believing you're gonna die is what gets you killed, " La'an says disgustedly. Pike looks up at her and asks her to repeat that statement. La'an apologizes, recalling something her father had said before his death. As Pike would have read in her file, her colony ship, the SS Puget Sound , was attacked by the Gorn, the crew brought to one of their “planetary nurseries”. She had not understood her father's meaning at first, but had a lot of time to think about why she was the only member of the Puget Sound 's crew to survive. She asks Pike if he knew what she saw on the faces of her loved ones while they were slit open and eaten alive by their Gorn captors, or used as “breeding sacks”, and Pike has a good idea: surprise, not believing until the very end that they could die. But La'an was different, and that was why she survived. Coming to a decision, Pike asks for access to the historical database, and orders Uhura to prepare a package to transmit to the surface.

Earth devastated by nuclear war

Pike beams himself down into the middle of the debate hall and introduces himself, explaining that their peoples, despite being from different worlds, were very much alike. He shows them images of what Earth looked like today, with views of San Francisco and of the orbital spacedocks that held ships like the Enterprise ; outside, the protestors are seeing the footage live on the screens. He then shows footage of Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries, before "everything went wrong". He explains he got a glimpse of his own future, and it was not one he expected, and that a good friend asked him what good it was to know your future, but he didn't understand what he meant until now. He now shows what awaits the Kileys in their future, as he shows them images of the conflicts on Earth; he explains it began as a fight over freedom at first, too, which they called the Eugenics Wars , then the Second Civil War , then finally just World War III . It resulted in the destruction of more than six hundred thousand different species of plants and animals, and the deaths of more than thirty percent of Earth's population. The technology the Kileys had obtained gave them the means to exterminate themselves, and from the looks of them, Pike is convinced they will do so. They will use their competing ideas of liberty until their world is blown to rubble, just as Earth had been in the past. Perhaps some are convinced that their futures are written, just as Pike knows his is, but he chooses to believe their destinies are still their own. Perhaps that was why he was there, he muses – to remind them of the power of possibility, that even if their end is already written, as his is, they could still live what life they had gloriously, because until their last moment, the future was what they made of it. He offers them a choice: they can continue to fight one another, or they can join the Federation and reach for the stars. The revelation of the Enterprise has a lasting effect among the people, being taught about in classrooms and scientific research centers.

The Enterprise returns to Starbase 1 , where Admiral April explains that he had just enough pull to convince the Federation High Court not to throw the entire crew in jail for violating General Order One, and had had to call in a few favors to be read in about what had happened to Discovery . Spock asks how he was able to keep them from being charged, and April replied he used a loophole: since there could be no acknowledgment of a battle even taking place, then nor could there of how the people of Kiley 279 acquired warp capability. The Federation Council was not pleased, and was doubling down on enforcement of General Order One, calling it the "Prime Directive", something Pike doesn't think will stick. Una asks for permission to return to the Enterprise , and April replies that was up to Pike, asking if he was planning on keeping the captain's chair.

After the meeting adjourns, La'an meets with Pike in private, and admits she should have told him earlier. Pike asks her to tell him now. She explains the Gorn had a ritual, that the last survivor was sent into space on a raft, like throwing back a fish. One was not actually expected to survive that, and La'an calls it "dumb luck" that she was discovered by the USS Martin Luther King Jr. ; Una had been an ensign on the King at that time and helped La'an find her way home, and was the reason La'an joined Starfleet. She was concerned that her past association would have meant that Pike wouldn't have trusted her on the mission, to which Pike wonders if that meant she decided not to trust him instead. He concedes her record is spotless, but there was more to Starfleet than individual excellence, emphasizing the need to work together. La'an admits other people are challenging for her. Pike points out to the biodomes outside, explaining that during World War III, scientists sent seed pods into space to preserve them, but after the war ended and Earth had rebuilt, the forests had grown too large to bring back, so Starfleet built its first base around them. It was proof that even in space, growth was possible. With that in mind, Pike formally offers her a place on the Enterprise .

Pike welcomes George Kirk aboard

In his captain's log , Pike thinks on how Earth was his hearth, but Enterprise was his home, and considers himself a "lucky man". He arrives on the bridge, where Una reports that the crew rotation is complete, and Lieutenant Kirk is on his way up. As he enters, it is revealed that the Kirk in question is George Samuel Kirk , a friend of Pike's, who has been posted to life sciences and would report to Spock. La'an was on station as the official chief of security. In the transporter room, Lieutenant Hemmer , the new chief engineer, beams aboard. Uhura obtains clearance for departure and warp speed, and Spock reports all systems were ready. Ortegas asks what their course would be, what mission awaited them. Pike says only that their mission was to explore, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no one had gone before, something Uhura considers "cool". Pike smiles at her as he orders Ortegas to take them out, warp factor two.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Really? Again? " " Come on. It's a classic. "

" Spock… are you naked? " " No, captain. " " No, Chris. He's not. He was about to be. It's a special night. " " …Sorry. "

" I am well, captain. Although I confess each time I return to space, the weight I carry for the loss of my sister feels heavier. " " I'm sorry. I miss her too. "

" Communications? Ah, yes. The prodigy. Cadet… Uhura? On communications rotation. Very happy to have you aboard. " " Thank you, sir. Glad to be here. Enterprise is cleared for launch. "

" Take me to your leader. "

" Course, captain? What's the mission? " " Our mission? We explore. We seek out new life and new civilizations. We boldly go where no one has gone before. " " Cool… sir. " " Let's take her out, Lieutenant Ortegas. Warp factor two. Hit it. "

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2259

Background information [ ]

• 1 May 2022 : Title publicly revealed. [1]
• This is the fifth Star Trek product to take their title from the opening narration of Star Trek: The Original Series . The others included Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ", TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", and TNG : " Where No One Has Gone Before ".
• This is the second episode to share its title with a series, following TNG : " Lower Decks "/ Star Trek: Lower Decks , and the first to be an episode of said series.

Production [ ]

The tribute to April Nocifora

• As with the DIS Season 4 finale " Coming Home ", this episode is dedicated to the memory of April Nocifora , who passed away in December 2021 due to cancer. Nocifora, who held several roles with the franchise, worked specifically as a supervising producer in this series.
• The release of this episode marks the first time four separate Star Trek series have aired in one calendar year (excluding companion series such as Star Trek: Short Treks ), following portions of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 and Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, as well as the entirety of Star Trek: Picard Season 2.
• As a reflection of the times, the closing credits for each episode include a contingent of crew dedicated to observing COVID-19 prevention protocols.

Cast and characters [ ]

• With the addition of this episode, Jess Bush becomes the third actress to portray the role of Christine Chapel. Majel Barrett Roddenberry originated the role in Star Trek: The Original Series , while an unknown performer portrayed her alternate reality counterpart .
• With the addition of this episode, Celia Rose Gooding becomes the third actress to portray the role of Nyota Uhura. Nichelle Nichols originated the role in Star Trek: The Original Series , while Zoë Saldana portrayed her alternate reality counterpart in the films Star Trek , Star Trek Into Darkness , and Star Trek Beyond
• With the addition of this episode, Babs Olusanmokun becomes the second actor to portray the role of Dr. M'Benga. Booker Bradshaw originated the role in TOS : " A Private Little War " and TOS : " That Which Survives ".
• Adrian Holmes becomes the first actor to portray Robert April in live-action and the second actor to portray him. James Doohan voiced the character in TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident ".
• With the addition of this episode, Dan Jeannotte becomes the second actor to portray the role of George Samuel Kirk . William Shatner originated the role in TOS : " Operation -- Annihilate! ".
• With the addition of this episode, Gia Sandhu becomes the third actress to portray T'Pring . Actress Arlene Martel portrayed adult T'Pring while Mary Rice portrayed Young T'Pring in TOS : " Amok Time ".
• Despite being part of the main cast, Bruce Horak appears only briefly in a non-speaking role at the end of the episode, when his character Hemmer beams aboard.

Continuity [ ]

• The events of this episode follow up directly on many of the events of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, especially " Through the Valley of Shadows ", " Such Sweet Sorrow ", and " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ".
• The end of Spock's relationship with T'Pring is depicted in TOS : " Amok Time ".
• This episode confirms Una 's last name as "Chin-Riley", which had been previously established in the non-canon novel The Autobiography of Mr. Spock .
• Starbase 1 was originally established to have been located one hundred AUs from Earth, according to DIS : " The War Without, The War Within ". It has since been moved to Jupiter .
• Spock shows a map highlighting several planets with warp-capable civilizations who have joined the Federation or are in the process of being inducted. Among those planets are Xahea , Beta Zeta ( Betazed ), Chin'toka , Minos Korva , Thalos , and Capella . Capella, however, has been shown to be the home of a primitive, seemingly pre-warp civilization as of 2267 . ( TOS : " Friday's Child ")
• La'an's mention of the Gorn – and their rather bloodthirsty nursery planets – represents the first mention of the species in this era since TOS : " Arena ". While Terran refugee Lorca kept a Gorn skeleton in his lab aboard USS Discovery , the species is still generally unknown to the Federation at this point in the timeline.
• Historical footage from World War III depicts nuclear blasts destroying famous landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty . The Eiffel Tower would later be rebuilt by 2257 . ( DIS : " Will You Take My Hand? ")
• This episode again describes the Eugenics Wars (however, here mentioned as "the Eugenics War ") and World War III as being one and the same. At different points, they have been said to take place decades apart – the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s and World War III in the mid-21st century – but other times considered the same war ( TOS : " Space Seed ", " The Savage Curtain ") or at least connected (e.g., the Defiant computer graphic in ENT : " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II "). Pike's speech adds further context by making the Eugenics War the follow-up of a previously-unmentioned second American Civil War which then turned into World War III.
• Although Admiral April says that the Federation Council had only decided to refer to General Order 1 as the "Prime Directive" at the end of this episode, Spock is depicted as referring to the order by that name in a conversation with Number One during the events of " Q&A ", which depicts his first day of service aboard the Enterprise several years prior. This may simply indicate that the origin of the term predated its official adoption.

Reception [ ]

• TRR : " Strange New Worlds " discusses the making of, and events in, this episode.

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike
• Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock
• Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel
• Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh
• Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura
• Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas
• Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. Joseph M'Benga
• Bruce Horak as Hemmer
• Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley

Guest starring [ ]

• Adrian Holmes as Robert April
• Dan Jeannotte as George Samuel Kirk
• Gia Sandhu as T'Pring
• Melanie Scrofano as Captain Marie Batel
• Samantha Smith as Eldredth Leader

Co-starring [ ]

• Carla Bennett as Palion Aide #2
• Jon Blair as Kiley Guard #2
• Peter Bou-Ghannam as Palion Leader
• Marienne Castro as Shuttle Pilot
• Bessie Cheng as Eldredth Aide #2
• John Chou as Kiley Scientist #1
• Joseph Daly as Eldredth Aide #1
• Myles Dobson as Vulcan Waiter
• Rong Fu as Jenna Mitchell
• Chandra Galasso as Lieutenant
• Jaimee Joe Gonzaga as Terminal Jockey #2
• Sandy Kerr as Starfleet Scientist #1
• André Dae Kim as Chief Kyle
• David Kirby as Palion Aide #1
• Joel Lacoursiere as Kiley Guard #1
• Dana Levenson as Newscaster
• Andrew Locke as Terminal Jockey #1
• Etan Muskat as Starfleet Scientist #2
• Daniel Pagett as Kiley Scientist #2
• Rachel Sellan as Woman in Elevator

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Byron Abalos as Trainee #1 (flashback; archive footage)
• Ruth Chiang as Kiley scientist
• Olivia Croft as Trainee #2 (flashback; archive footage)
• Jason Gosbee as Kiley guard
• Daniel Lavigne as Kiley guard
• Kaz Morgan as Enterprise operations lieutenant jg
• Jennifer Murray as Trainee #3 (flashback; archive footage)
• Shannon Widdis as Enterprise navigator
• Trainee #4 (flashback; archive footage)
• Trainee #5 (flashback; archive footage)

From The Day the Earth Stood Still [ ]

• Rama Bai as Scientific delegate (archive footage)
• Sam Harris as Scientific delegate (archive footage)
• Lock Martin as Gort (archive footage)
• Michael Rennie as Klaatu (archive footage)
• Reginald Lal Singh as Scientific delegate (archive footage)

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Avaah Blackwell as stunt double for Rebecca Romijn
• Geoff Meech as stunt double for Anson Mount
• Dan Skene as stunt double for Ethan Peck
• Christine Trinh as stunt double for Christina Chong

References [ ]

21st century ; 2228 ; 2259 ; acting first officer ; Aenar ; Africa ; aggression ; AI ; alley ; Alpha I ; ancestor ; Archer , USS ; astrophysicist ; audit ; backtack ; Bear Creek ; bicycle ; Biden, Joe ; big stick ; billet ; Black Lives Matter ; Boom Shield ; booster ; boot ; Boreth ( companion ); boss ; Brooklyn Bridge ; bureaucrat ; Burnham, Michael ; bus ; captain's chair ; car ; Cardassia Prime ; chief engineer ; chief of security (aka security chief ) ; chief science officer ; children's story ; civil conflict ; civil unrest ; civil war ; Civil War ; Civil War, Second ; civilian exchange ; classic ; CNC ; coffee ; colony ship ; communications ; communicator ; Cone Rockets ; crew manifest ; crisis point ; deep space probe ; deflector shields ; defunding ; Delta Scorpii VII ; Discovery , USS ; disguise ; dream ; download ; duty ; Earth ; Eiffel Tower ; eggs ; Eldredth ; elephant ; emergency medical transporter ; Empire State Building ; Eugenics War ; eye ; faction ; Farragut type ; federal site ; Federation ; Federation Council ; Federation High Court ; figure of speech ; first contact ; first contact team ; foot traffic ; fuck ; future ; gene therapy ; General Order 1 (aka Prime Directive ); genetics ; genetic code ; genome ; globalist ; Golden Gate Bridge ; Gorn ; hail ; hashtag ; health ; helicopter ; horse ; house dressing ; Human ; Human genome ; humanoid ; jury rig ; Kelpien ; Kenya ; Kest Oak ; Kikuyu ; Kiley ; Kiley 279 ; Kiley system ; King, Russel ; Klaatu ; Klingon ; Luna ; Malachowski -class ; Mark IV liferaft ; Martin Luther King Jr. , USS ; March for Our Lives ; mask ; mass murder ; match game ; matrimony ; matter-antimatter reactor ; Mattis, James ; mercury ; microchip ; missile ; Mojave ; monastery ; Montana ; money ; moon ; mRNA ; musculature ; National Rifle Association ; New York City ; Nimitz -class ; night side ; Noonien-Singh, Manu ; Noonien-Singh, Ronu ; Noonien-Singh, Sa'an ; NRA ; nuclear bomb ; Number One ; number one (title); Old Earth ; orange juice ; orbital dock ; outer space ; Palion ; pancake ; pants ; Paris ; particle physics ; pattern booster ; phone ; physiology ; ping ; plasma torpedo ; poison shot ; pre-warp society ; prey posture ; prodigy ; protest ; proverb ; P'Sal ; Puget Sound , SS ; rabbit ; red alert ; red flag ; Rennie, Michael ; retinal scan ; reverse engineer ; rocket ship ; Rome ; Salon ; salve ; San Francisco ; Saurian brandy ; sedition ; science fiction ; scientist ; security ; security badge ; security clearance ; sedative ; Shepard -class ; skin ; snow ; socks ; space dock ; Stamets ; Stamets -type shuttlecraft ( unnamed ); Stanford Morehouse Epigenetic Project ; Starbase 1 ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Archive Museum ; Statue of Liberty ; subspace chatter ; tagball ; telemetry ; telescope ; temporal consciousness displacement ; training exercise ; transformation ; transponder ; tricorder ; truck ; Trump, Donald ; UFO ; United States Capitol ; United States of America ; universal translator ; universe ; vote ; Vulcan ; Vulcan (planet); Vulcan lute ; warp bomb ; warp engine (aka faster-than-light engine ); warp signature ; Washington, DC ; Washington Monument ; White House : wind turbine ; World War III ; wormhole ; X-ray ; zero point

Stellar cartography references [ ]

81 Cancri ; Acamar ; Adelphous ; Ajilon ; Akaali ; Aldebaran ; Algol I ; Algol system ; Alpha Centauri ; Alpha Majoris I ; Alpha Majoris system ; Andoria ; Aneto ; Archanis ; Archanis sector ; Ardana ; Argelius ; Argus Array ; Azati Prime ; B'Moth ; Ba'ku ; Babel ; Bajor ; Balduk ; Barolia ; Barradas ; Benecia ; Beta Lankal ; Beta Leonis Minoris ; Beta Niobe ; Beta Rigel ; Beta Thoridar ; Beta Zeta ; Betazed ; blue ; Boreth ; Brestant ; Briar Patch ; Camus ; Capella ; Cardassia Prime ; Carraya ; Celes ; Chaltok ; Chin'toka ; Cor Caroli ; Coridan ; Corvan ; Cygnet ; Davlos ; Deep Space Station K-7 ; Delta Outpost ; Delta Outpost 4 ; Delta Outpost 5 ; Delta Outpost 6 ; Delta Outpost 7 ; Delta Outpost 8 ; Delta Outpost 9 ; Delta Outpost 10 ; Delta Outpost 11 ; Deneb (Kaitos) ; Denobula ; Deneva ; Dewa ; Dinasia ; Doctari Alpha ; Donatu ; Dreon ; Elas ; Elora ; Epsilon Ceti B ; Epsilon Hydrae ; Epsilon Outpost ; Epsilon Outpost 1 ; Epsilon Outpost 2 ; Epsilon Outpost 3 ; Epsilon Outpost 4 ; Epsilon Outpost 5 ; Epsilon Outpost 6 ; Epsilon Outpost 7 ; Epsilon Outpost 8 ; Epsilon Outpost 9 ; Epsilon Outpost 10 ; Epsilon Outpost 11 ; Epsilon Outpost 12 ; Eridani ; 'etnap Nebula ; Evora ; Free Haven ; Galen IV ; Galen system ; Galorndon Core ; Gamma Eridon ; Gamma Hromi ; Gamma Trianguli VI ; Gamma Trianguli system ; Ganalda ; Gariman sector ; Gasko ; Gorarth ; Grazer ; green ; H'atoria ; Halee ; Halka ; Harlak ; Hromi Cluster ; Hyralan ; Iconia ; Iccobar ; Iridin ; Janus ; Japori ; Jouret ; Kaferia ; Kantare ; Kazar ; Kelfour ; Khitomer ; Kiley system ; Klaestron ; Klingon Empire ; Kobliad ; Korvat ; Kressari system ; Lorillia ; Lya Station Alpha ; Mab-Bu ; Maluria ; Manzar ; Megara ; Mempa ; Mempa sector ; Merak ; metamorphosis ; Minos Korva ; Miridian ; Mizar ; Morska ; Narendra ; Nausicaa ; Nequencia ; Nivalla ; No'Mat ; O'Ryan's Planet ; Omega ; Omega Leonis ; Orellius ; Organia ; Orion ; Pahvo ; Paulson Nebula ; Peliar Zel ; Pheben ; Pi³ Orionis ; Planet Q ; Platonius ; Pollux ; Porathia ; Preenos ; Priors World ; Proxima ; purple ; Pyrithia ; Qo'noS ; Qo'noS sector ; Qualor ; Quam ; Ramatis ; Rator ; red ; Regulus ; Risa ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; Romulan Star Empire ; Rura Penthe ; Sarpedion ; Scalos ; Scalos system ; Septimus ; Septra ; Setlik system ; Sherman's Planet ; Sigma Draconis ; Sol ; Son'a ; Sorna Prime ; Starbase G-6 ; Starbase 1 ; Starbase 2 ; Starbase 9 ; Starbase 11 ; Starbase 12 ; Starbase 18 ; Starbase 19 ; Starbase 21 ; Starbase 22 ; Starbase 23 ; Starbase 24 ; Starbase 46 ; Starbase 47 ; Starbase 88 ; Starbase 234 ; Suliban ; Tagra ; Tagus ; Talos IV ; Talos system ; Talar system ; Talarian homeworld ; Talarian Republic ; Tarlac ; Tau Ceti ; Tellar ; Tellun ; Thalos ; Tomed ; Tonnata ; Toroth ; Tranome Sar ; Tribble Prime ; Trill ; Troyius ; Turkana ; Tzenketh ; Unefra ; Unroth ; Valakis system ; Veda ; Vulcan ; warp-capable civilization ; white ; Wolf 359 ; Wurna Minor ; Xahea ; Xahea system ; Xarantine ; Xepolite ; yellow ; Yridia ; Zibal

Enterprise dedication plaque references [ ]

Agawin, D. ; Anderson, I. ; Armaganian, A. ; Arseneault, S. ; Assimakopoulos, G. ; Baiers, A. ; Ballantyne, R. ; Barbet, H. ; Barrington, J. ; Beyer, K. ; Brock, A. ; Budge, W. ; Burns, D. ; Byrne, C. ; Campbell, M. : chief of staff ; Chris, S. ; Clement, J. ; CNC ; Cooper, A. ; Craig, J. ; Cuthbert, J.C. ; de Cartier, J. ; Croft, B. ; Crosdale, Y. ; DeMayo, B. ; Dening, R. ; Dragonescu, L. ; Edmund, M. ; Eshraghi, S. ; Fisher, C. ; Fleet Ops ; Frakes, J. ; Francis, D. Panet ; Freeland, S. ; Genereux, T. ; German, N. ; Glass, J. ; Goldsman, A. ; Gonsalves, C. ; Gorka, M. ; Gough, T. ; Guilbault, S. ; Haufler, J. ; Herbst, K. ; Holmes, M. ; Hope, L. ; Isaacs, H. ; Jadeja, N. ; Jarvis, J. ; Johnson, O. ; Johnson, R. ; Kadin, H. ; Kao, E. ; Kim, J. ; Kirk, J. ; Knezev, M. ; Kurtzman, A. ; Lee, C. ; Lee, J. ; Leiterman, R. ; Lewandowski, M. ; Li, A. ; Liu, D. ; Lumet, J. ; Ma, A. ; Maurais, P. ; MacKenzie, A. ; Marrello, B. ; McDonald, L.M. ; Meyers, H. Alonso ; Moran, R. ; Murray, J. ; Nassif, T. ; Nocifora, A. ; Ordowich, J. ; Pearce, S. ; Peel, T. ; Perez, D. ; Petrovic, T. ; Phillips, G. ; Quimel, C. ; Raffaghello, A. ; Rigby, M. ; Robertson, M. ; Roddenberry, R. ; Roddenberry, Gene ; Roth, T. ; Schnobb, A. ; Schorn, F. ; Science Ops ; Sidarous, W. ; Singh, A. ; Siracusa, F. ; Smale, T. ; St. Clair, M. ; Starfleet Command ; Stroud, H. ; Summers, T. ; Swope, J. ; Tactical Ops ; Tarkoff, S. ; Thomas, S. ; Tsang, A. ; Van Koeverden, A. Malee ; Vasey, S. ; Vaughan, D. ; Vero, Z. ; Viger, M. ; Vrvilo, M. ; Wan, C. ; Wasserman, R. ; Watkins, C. ; Weber, J. ; Wolkoff, B. ; Wrighte, B. ; yard engineer ; Yorke, R. ; Zahiri, A.

Meta references [ ]

External links [ ].

• " Strange New Worlds " at the Internet Movie Database
• " Strange New Worlds " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " "Discovering Farewell and Strange New Worlds" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn't the franchise's "new" A-show,

S tar Trek: Strange New Worlds is an amazing series. It blends a modern lense of Star Trek but keeps the iconic feeling of what made us all fans of the franchise in the first place. It updated the look of the series, despite being a prequel, but it didn't insult fans by trying to make it better than what came before. It just acknowledges that the original Star Trek series was as good as it could be with the financial and technological limitations of nearly 60 years ago.

It kept the heart and soul of Star Trek, and we love it for it. It's not perfect, the fantastical episodes each season, like the musical episode from Season 2 didn't land with me, but it's a near-perfect show. And no Star Trek show is perfect. Not Voyager, not The Next Generation, not Deep Space Nine. They all have flaws, but their strengths all outshine the flaws, like Strange New Worlds.

It's been a juggernaut since its launch, becoming one of the most-watched streaming shows (so we're told), as well as having a huge fandom interacting with it on social media. Sure, it's not peak Game of Thrones levels of popularity, but it's fair to say it's the show that caters most to Star Trek fans and the common viewer alike.

That's why it's been the flagship show of the franchise since it launched. Sorry to Giant Freaking Robot, who seems to think that Strange New Worlds only now became the "A-Show" due to the cancelations of Discovery and Lower Decks.

Unlike other shows, like Picard, Discovery, Lower Decks and even my beloved Prodigy, Strange New Worlds thrives off of its characters and plots, and while it's a prequel, it doesn't need to sell itself on nostalgia. Sure they use Spock, Uhura, and others from classic shows, but they're all played by new actors, making it harder for them to resonate with fans. So many people compare characters to previous versions, so it makes it significantly harder to launch a show like this. One steeped in history and legacy but also has the ability to stand on its own.

Sure, some people will angrily decry that Ethan Peck is no Leonard Nimoy, but Peck has been as brilliant as Spock, just as Nimoy was. Getting fans to embrace the old with a new tint isn't easy and usually fails. This time, not so much.

Strange New Worlds isn't just adding to the legacy of these iconic characters but they're also improving the story arcs of a franchise that doesn't need much improving.

The current arc involving the Gorn and just how much more ruthless and soulless these creators are has added so much intrigue to the franchise. They've updated, the Gorn without disrespecting what will come after it in the timeline. Sure, they'll have to figure out how to retcon some things when the time comes, but the end of Strange New Worlds' second season just delivered to many what a powerhouse this series is at telling stories.

This is a series that would rival any show from the franchise's history as the A-show if they aired at the same time, let alone against the lackluster and usually divisive series that have come out recently. Strange New Worlds got a fourth season, on top of them working on a season there, and we're hoping that there is much, much more to come from this show.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn't the franchise's "new" A-show, .

• The Inventory

Alex Kurtzman Hopes Shorter Seasons Are Better for Star Trek

Star trek 's streaming age renaissance has come with a lot fewer episodes than the old shows—but its architect thinks that that's ultimately for the best..

There’s more Star Trek around right now than there has been since its ‘90s heyday, but there’s not exactly all that much of it in comparison. The franchise’s resurgence in the age of streaming has meant condensed seasons—these days, the average season is often half the size (or less) of one from the broadcast era. But the man behind Trek ’s TV renaissance thinks that that might be a good thing overall.

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The concept of what is and isn’t “filler” in a show these days has evolved, as the term has grown from describing any kind of standalone story separate from advancing an overarching narrative to, in a world where content is king, anything that doesn’t add to the canon in any kind of way. But classic Star Trek , which made its success away from the idea of serialized television, is built on the back of what people would now consider “filler”—stories that do not set the stage for future events, could more often than not be watched with almost zero context about the rest of the show, and are often peppered with fascinating ideas and great character work. The opportunity for those moments is still there in modern Star Trek ( Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks in particular have made the case for adopting an approach where more standalone storytelling co-exists with overarching narratives, and for the most part, made a great deal of success with it) but its reduction to what is now a standard 10-episode count every season makes those opportunities fleeting—something Star Trek architect Alex Kurtzman sees as a strength.

“I think what’s lovely about that is—it’s funny, you can talk to old writers of old Trek series, and they’re like, ‘Man, there’s a bunch of filler episodes in there. We are just trying to get to 22 a season,’ and we all know which of those episodes were [filler episodes],” Kurtzman recently told Cinemablend . “We know the ones that were truly stellar from the ones that felt like they were kind of spinning their wheels. And so I think what 10 episodes a season forces you to do is really make sure that every story counts as much as it possibly can. And I like that, I like what that affords us now.”

Of course, Kurtzman doesn’t exactly set how many episodes a show gets a season—that’s both a Paramount decision and also increasingly just what’s become standard in non-procedural television—so it’s not like he’s going to turn around and blast that modern Star Trek doesn’t get enough time to tell the stories it wants to. It’s also just the reality of making a show that costs as much as contemporary Trek does, to look the way it does, and the amount of time to shoot those episodes makes it so that 22-part seasons become much less feasible. TV viewing habits have changed as much as the way it’s made has—something Kurtzman further acknowledged in the miracle that Discovery got five seasons (“short” by ‘90s Trek standards, where TNG , DS9 , and Voyager ran for seven), in a world where a lot of streaming original series barely make it past two. “I think most people watch two seasons of a streaming show, and they check out, you know, and that’s not specific to Trek ,” he added. “I just think that’s the watch pattern for television in the streaming world.”

TV’s changed, and so has Star Trek —and while that might mean there’s less chances for the series to experiment or tell isolated stories, it doesn’t mean those opportunities have vanished altogether.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

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