Trekkies are assured of a “bigger and better” space adventure packed with more thrills and encounters as season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds beams down onto screens sometime in 2023.
Fans can only wish the days go by at Warp 9 ever since the first season ended in July 2022, especially after a big cliffhanger at the end of season 1.
Paramount+ announced the show’s second season even before their phasers cooled down back in January 2022, making Star Trek fans quiver in excitement for the then-anticipated series.
And lo and behold, Captain Christopher Pike and his USS Enterprise crew did not let the fans down as Strange New Worlds blew the mind of Trekkies and critics alike.
Now the devotees of the new Star Trek show are wondering what strange new adventures are coming up for the brand-new season.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Release Date
The great Universe is Captain Pike’s oyster, and after a triumphant season 1, USS Enterprise can only boldly go.
Paramount+ has yet to announce an official date for season 2’s arrival, and Trekkies can only speculate an ETA of sometime around October 2023. That’s kinda too far away, right?
Strange New Worlds season 2 started filming on February 1, 2022, and wrapped up filming on July 2, 2022, ahead of season 1’s finale, as announced by director/producer Chris Fisher.
This has excited fans since they would probably see Captain Pike and his famous ‘do in action sooner than expected.
But in order to maintain Paramount+‘s running order of Star Trek shows, Strange New Worlds should wait for Star Trek: Discovery season 5 to come in first.
Discovery has started filming but has yet to announce a release date. The Organians among the fans, though, predict its debut sometime in July 2023.
After Captain Michael Burnham and her USS Discovery crew drop in for season 5, Strange New Worlds will then have its spotlight.
And when news of it becomes available, you can find this article updated with it.
It was already reported back in November 2021 that the think tanks behind the production already had season 2 in mind, and predicted the February 2022 kickoff.
In an interview with Screen Rant, beloved Star Trek icon Jonathan Frakes revealed that he was booked to direct the second season of Strange New Worlds, “which he missed out on [season 1] because of the pandemic.”
With the rest of the Star Trek franchise, expect to see Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 premiere on Paramount+.
Presumably, the new season will also follow a Thursday release cycle for its 10-episode run.
Anson Mount, who played Captain Pike, leads the return of Strange New Worlds‘ stellar cast, which includes: Ethan Peck as Lt. Spock, Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Cristina Chong as Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose as Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. Joseph M’Benga, and Rebecca Romijn as Commander Una Chin-Riley.
On March 15, 2022, the production announced that Paul Wesley (of the Vampire Diaries fame) will be cast as the legendary post-Pike Enterprise captain James T. Kirk.
Although he was cast for a recurring role in the second season, Wesley’s Kirk made a surprise appearance in the first season’s finale, though he is an alternate Kirk in Captain Pike’s potential future.
Veteran actress Carol Kane has also officially joined the cast, as announced during the Star Trek Day celebration. She will play Chief Engineer Pelia, replacing the late Chief Engineer Hemmer.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Trailer
During Star Trek Day on September 9, 2022, Paramount+ revealed the first sneak peek of the second season of Strange New Worlds, featuring the short-lived excitement of one Lieutenant Ortegas.
In the lighthearted clip titled “Ortegas Prepares For an Away Mission,” the helm officer was seen preparing for an away mission to Rigel VII.
Lt. Ortegas was to join Capt. Pike, Lt. Singh, and Dr. M’Benga for the Arctic-inspired mission, right until Spock comes in and shows some data that will make Ortegas’ presence in the mission a problem.
Capt. Pike orders the disheartened officer to stay on the USS Enterprise and to help it steer around a troublesome debris field.
The funny scene at the end of the clip between Lt. Ortegas and Spock made the Trekkies, who still have a season 1 hangover, miss the stoic science officer even more.
Indeed, the risk of taking on Star Trek by its proverbial horns paid off as fans welcomed Strange New Worlds dearly into their choosy embrace.
Mimicking the original episodic formula of the first Star Trek series and leaving it at the fans’ mercy, while juggling four other Star Trek shows in production, is just brave. Like Klingon-kind of brave.
The masterful combination of excellent casting and the nostalgic elements of the original storytelling hoisted back up the legendary franchise, especially after the feeble performance of other new Trek shows, Discovery and Picard.
Paramount+ revealed that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “had the strongest debut ever for a Star Trek series, setting a new record as the most-watched original series in the franchise over its first 90 days.”
Trekkies just missed the simpler alien-of-the-week days of the ol’ Star Trek.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Story and Season 2 Expectations
A decade before the events on Star Trek: The Original Series, before Captain James T. Kirk enamored Trekkies with his bravado, there was a Captain Christopher Pike of the starship USS Enterprise.
First introduced in Star Trek: Discovery‘s second season along with his first officer Una Chin-Riley and a younger Spock, Captain Pike takes command of the Enterprise while grappling with the knowledge of a forthcoming horrible fate.
This future demise was the main plot of the two-part episode “The Menagerie” of The Original Series, but Captain Pike chooses to boldly go despite his fears.
Una, also known as Number One, and Spock, along with the excellent USS Enterprise crew, follow Captain Pike on strange new adventures.
In a bid to once again capture that quintessential Star Trek energy that led to The Original Series drawing its first legion of fans, Strange New Worlds used an episodic storytelling approach, much like Star Trek‘s simpler days.
Heck, even the uniforms of USS Enterprise‘s crew will harken fans back to the Original‘s timeframe.
And it makes sense because Strange New Worlds is “based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the USS Enterprise.”
That was a decade before The Original Series saw Captain James T. Kirk go where no man has gone before.
With the storytelling presented this way, the show is a mixed bag of genre and new encounters.
Captain Pike tried to change his future and the cadets involved in the accident, but his alternate self showed him the attempt’s most enormous consequence: Spock suffering an even worse fate.
And if this happened, the franchise’s oldest Trekkies would probably riot. Spock helped his old Captain in “The Menagerie” at the expense of being court-martialed.
Season 1 ended with a major cliffhanger, this time with Number One facing imprisonment for being a genetically altered Illyrian, a predicament Captain Pike saw in the alternate timeline he saw.
Strange New Worlds season 2 should probably first resolve Number One’s arrest before going on into strange new adventures.
Number One will emerge from this frizzy thread unscathed, seeing that actress Romijn was still billed for the whole season.
The show’s episodic nature should make this short, and expect Captain Pike and his tough tuft (a clump of hair that somehow has its own Twitter?) to pull off a miracle save in the first or second episode.
Genetic engineering is widely frowned upon in the Universe, which is why the Federation banned the gene-modification-loving Illyrians from joining the Starfleet.
Una is a product of two big no-nos.
Fans are waiting for how Captain Pike solves this ethical puzzle.
Two characters that will take more of the spotlight in season two are Spock and his future captain James T. Kirk.
The second season should see Spock being promoted to first officer in the absence of Number One.
The nearly-emotionless half-Vulcan would need to learn more about navigating his way around human emotions, as shown by his interaction with Lt. Ortegas in the season 2 first-look clip.
Fans will also see Spock’s interaction with Wesley’s young Captain Kirk and how the two will develop their relationship.
Of course, the big ominous sword hanging over the head of Captain Pike and the other unfortunate cadets, will occasionally rear its sharp, ugly head as the captain goes through adventures while trying his best to keep them safe.
Another Trekkies should look forward to in season 2 is the crossover between Strange New Worlds and the animated comedy show Star Trek: Lower Decks.
This strange but welcome news was revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con 2022 by Captain Pike himself.
Mount shared the collaboration after Lower Decks stars Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid crashed his portion during the Star Trek universe panel at the Comic-Con.
Strange New Worlds creator and Lower Decks executive producer Alex Kurtzman announced that the special episode will feature both live-action and animation.
Some time-travel and cartoon-to-live crossover hijinks should happen, especially since the two shows are more than a century (and a few genres) apart.
The good thing is, at least, this fantastic news confirms that the events of Lower Decks are now officially canon.
Trekkie favorite Jonathan Frakes, who played Captain Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Lower Decks, is confirmed to direct the special episode.
Two voice actors from the animated show confirmed to be featured as their live-action counterparts are the party-crashers themselves, Quaid and Newsome, who voiced and will play USS Cerritos human ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner, respectively.
It is still being determined whether other Lower Decks stars will join in on the fun.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds News
A show with Captain Pike, Spock, and the USS Enterprise crew was not supposed to happen, at least not in Kurtzman’s five-year Star Trek development plan with Platinum+ (then known as CBS All Access) when it was announced on June 19, 2018.
Strange New Worlds was conjured by the sheer power of fans.
Mount’s Captain Pike, Peck’s Spock, and Romijn’s Number One were The Original Series legacy characters introduced in Star Trek: Discovery‘s second season to help steer the show’s alignment toward the franchise’s main story direction.
The season-long story arc in 2019, where Captain Pike commandeers USS Discovery left a deep impression amongst the fans as Mount and Peck stood out in the season.
After wrapping up their Discovery gig, Mount jokes about his unemployment in a now-deleted Twitter reply, tagging Peck with the hashtag #WillActForFood.
Their performances prompted fans to petition for more of the duo’s Captain Pike and Spock, and a spinoff series featuring USS Enterprise was also brought into the discussion.
Mount felt “humbled and deeply touched by this amount of love” as he expressed his support for the petition.
Kurtzman and showrunner Akiva Goldsman heard the fans’ dire pleas as they confirmed in January 2020 that they were having “active conversations” about a new series that features the Enterprise crew.
Finally, CBS announced on May 2020 a new series “based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the USS Enterprise.”
Of course, the return of Mount, Peck, and Romijn reprising their roles for the spinoff was also officially confirmed.
Kurtzman revealed some brief updates about Strange New Worlds during his Star Trek Universe panel introduction at Comic-Con At Home in July 2020.
The showrunner also shared that they have already started working on Captain Pike’s show after his brief Discovery stint was received well by the fans.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finally premiered on Paramount+ on May 5, 2022, two years after its development. Its 10-episode run culminated on July 7, 2022.
Hopes were high even before the show’s premiere, as the second season was confirmed in January 2022.
The fans were riding on Star Trek high as news about the filming’s end was reported before season 1’s finale.
