Ready to hit it one last time? Ahead of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 3 premiere on 17 July, and following the recent announcement of the sci-fi series' Season 4 renewal, Paramount+ has confirmed that the five-year mission of Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the starship Enterprise is set to reach its conclusion right on cue with a fifth and final six-episode season.
With Season 4 of Strange New Worlds currently in production, presumably with the expectation of making a 2026 debut, Season 5 could hypothetically start shooting next year, clearing a path for the throwback adventure-of-the-week series to actually end in poetic fashion in 2027, five years after it began. At once a Trekkie dream prequel to Gene Roddenberry's original 60s Star Trek series and a perfect onboarding point for new fans looking to make their first warp jump into Trek, Strange New Worlds has already taken the crew of the Enterprise — Captain Pike, Spock (Ethan Peck), Kirk (Paul Wesley), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Scotty (Martin Quinn), and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) — on a hell of a journey. Over the first 20 episodes of Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers, and Alex Kurtzman's show, we've already seen Spock turn human, had an animated-to-live-action crossover with Lower Decks, been given a belting courtroom drama, and gotten a full-blown musical episode just for good measure. To say there's something for everyone here may seem cliché, but it's rarely been so true.
“From the very beginning, Strange New Worlds set out to honor what Star Trek has always stood for — boundless curiosity, hope and the belief that a better future is possible,” said executive producers Goldsman, Myers, and Kurtzman in a joint statement accompanying today's announcement. “We’re deeply grateful to Paramount+ for the chance to complete our five-season mission, just as we envisioned it, alongside our extraordinary cast and crew. And to the passionate fans who’ve boldly joined us on this journey — THANK YOU. With three more spectacular seasons ahead for you to see and enjoy, this adventure is far from over.”
As the showrunners and producers note, we still have another three whole seasons of Strange New Worlds ahead of us — another 26 episodes of cosmic adventures with Starfleet's finest. And so while the formal acknowledgement that arguably the best of the modern Trek shows (sorry Discovery, sorry Picard) will eventually end is a bit bittersweet, there's still plenty of time yet for Pike and co to carry out their mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before. And that begins with Strange New Worlds Season 3, which makes its two-episode premiere on Paramount+ on 17 July. Allons-y! Oops, wrong sci-fi franchise...