Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Release Date, Cast, Trailer, Plot And More Details
Out of all the different "Star Trek" television series that have been released, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has succeeded where many others have failed: becoming both critically acclaimed and a Trekkie fan favorite. With a return to an episodic format and a focus on Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Captain James T. Kirk's predecessor, viewers quickly fell in love with this "Star Trek" prequel.
Set a decade before the events of the original series, burning "Star Trek" questions were finally answered by "Strange New Worlds." We finally learn more about Robert April (Adrian Holmes) — the very first captain of the Enterprise — and Number One (Rebecca Romijn), as well as the Eugenics Wars and World War III. Each episode captured our full attention as we learned details about the "Star Trek" universe that had previously only been hinted at.
"Star Trek" fans got the best news from Paramount+ in January 2022 when it was announced that "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” was renewed for a second season before the show had even aired to audiences yet. Here's everything you need to know about "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 2.
When will Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 be released?
On March 28, 2023, Paramount+ finally announced exciting news "Star Trek" fans have been waiting for: "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 2 would premiere June 15 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. The new season consists of 10 episodes and is available to stream every Thursday. In addition, the series has also already been renewed for Season 3.
In addition, more information has been released about the eagerly anticipated crossover episode with the animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks." It's directed by Jonathan Frakes, best known as "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" William Riker. Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome, who voice Ensign Brad Boimler and Ensign Beckett Mariner, are featured in the live-action and animated episode. Anson Mount told "Star Trek" fans at 2022's Comic-Con panel that "The honor falls to me to announce that on Season 2 of "Strange New Worlds," there will be a crossover episode with "Lower Decks," and joking that "you may get an extremely buff, two-dimensional version of me."
What is the plot of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2?
The Season 1 finale of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is explosive, with Christopher Pike forced to realize the consequences of trying to change his future and the arrest of Number One, aka Una Chin-Riley. According to Anson Mount, Pike will be more relaxed in Season 2 now that his future is decided. "His job now is to make every day count as much as possible," he told Esquire. "There's a lot of freedom in that."
Season 2 also features a new side of Spock, with Ethan Peck telling TV Insider, "Spock gets to really start to explore his human side, and it leads to a lot of — I hope — funny hijinks. So I'm really excited about that, bringing that comedic element to Spock." Christina Chong also dropped hints that La'an explores facets of her own personality, with the actress hinting at a dark side. "Who knows, maybe we get to see a version of La'an where she inherits more of the other side of Khan, do we, Henry?" she laughed in the direction of co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers at Comic-Con, who responded with a coy "maybe."
With James T. Kirk finally introduced, the iconic friendship between him and Spock begins to form, as well as Kirk's time on the USS Farragut. "[Season 2 is] more of what's worked," Myers told TrekMovie about what to expect. "But I would also say, in some ways, it's different. We were trying to take what worked and really amplify that. And then try to correct where we weren't happy with it."
Who is starring in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2?
The entire cast from Season 1 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" returns for Season 2, including Anson Mount as Captain Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, Ethan Peck as Spock, Christina Cong as La'an Noonien Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. Joseph M'Benga. While Bruce Horak's Hemmer dies in Season 1, co-executive producer Davy Perez alluded to his return as another character, telling The 7th Rule that "his [Horak's] relationship with Trek is not over. We really love him. And Star Trek has a long tradition of reusing actors."
Paul Wesley returns as Captain James T. Kirk, as does Spock's betrothed, T'Pring (Gia Sandhu). There are also new characters, with Noah Lamanna debuting as Chief Jay. Adelaide Kane also appears as Sera, a Romulan time traveler. Another addition is two-time Emmy Award winner and Oscar-nominated legend Carol Kane. She plays the recurring role of Pelia, the new chief of engineering, who is described as "highly educated and intelligent" and someone who "suffers no fools."
Is there a trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2?
A teaser trailer for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 2 hit the internet on April 19, and fans ate it up. The two-minute showcase of "Star Trek" goodness features a wide variety of settings, characters, and conflicts. We glimpse our heroes exploring mysterious asteroid fields and gorgeous interstellar expanses — and also a fairly ordinary-looking shop with a revolving door that gives young Kirk a bit of trouble. Some moments are high-octane, including shots of hand-to-hand combat and high-stakes space walks. Others are considerably quieter and even a bit melancholy, like the glimpse we get of Spock playing the Vulcan lute alone in his quarters. It's not all fighting and brooding though — the trailer ends on what might be one of Spock's funniest lines in the series so far.
The official trailer landed on May 24, and it blew fans' minds even further. Eyebrow-raising glimpses of intimate moments — including one between Spock and Chapel — caused a particular stir, as did action-packed shots of galactic destruction and exploration. Klingons, asteroid fields, and some truly bananas piloting are all on offer here. But one moment threatens to eclipse it all: The arrival of Boimler and Mariner, stars of the animated satire "Star Trek: Lower Decks," in glorious live-action. These two grunts cross over into "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" this season, and glorious mayhem ensues.
The Season 2 trailer teases new romances
Between the Chapel-Spock-T'Pring love triangle and Captain Pike's encounter with old flame Alora, the first season of "Strange New Worlds" has plenty to offer in the romance department. The trailers for Season 2 hint that sparks continue to fly, perhaps in some unexpected directions. In addition to a few knowing looks between Spock and Chapel and one intense kiss, there appears to be a close-up of a near-kiss between Nurse Chapel and Dr. M'Benga. The two medical officers have shared a warm working relationship so far in the series, but could circumstances push them closer together?
Meanwhile, Commander Una comments on an "energy" between Lt. Commander La'an Noonian-Singh and visiting Commander James T. Kirk. Kirk has a (somewhat overblown) reputation as a lothario, so it's not surprising that the show might tease his involvement in some kind of fling, but the prickly security chief La'an is a surprising choice for a romance. Will La'an break out of her shell to pursue the smooth-talking Starfleet maverick? This would fall in line with La'an actor Christina Chong's hints across multiple interviews that her character will be opening up more in Season 2 as she continues to cope with the trauma of seeing her family murdered by the Gorn.
The Klingons are back, with a more familiar makeup design
Most of the recurring aliens in "Star Trek" have been redesigned at least once, but no one's had as many controversial facelifts as the franchise's most iconic antagonists, the Klingons. Originally just actors in dark makeup and glued-on fu-manchus when they debuted in 1966, the Klingons adopted their famous forehead ridges in 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," with their design receiving multiple modifications and variants over the next 25 years.
When "Star Trek: Discovery" premiered in 2017, the Klingons were given a prominent role, as well as a dramatically different makeup and costume design. Rather than sporting the long hair and bumpy foreheads to which fans had become accustomed, these Klingons had hairless, gray, ridged, and elongated heads. This effort to use modern advancements in makeup effects to make the Klingons more alien was loudly rejected by the fans, leading to a course correction in Season 2, giving Klingons their hair back while retaining much of the new makeup. Since then, however, the Klingons have been notably absent from live-action Star Trek, apart from Worf's role in Season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard," where his makeup effects resembled those he wore during the later years of his tenure on "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine."
As glimpsed in the trailers, the Klingons return in Season 2 of "Strange New Worlds," complete with the prominent ribbed foreheads and luxurious hair and beards that fans are used to. The makeup seen in the trailer is definitely new, but it's much closer to the most popular image of the spacefaring warriors. They're also apparently in a better mood than when we last saw them, toasting a cup of bloodwine with Mr. Spock.
Spock will sit in the captain's chair for the first time
The Season 2 teaser trailer indicates that Spock gets his first opportunity to take command of the USS Enterprise. In one of the trailer's highlights, the young science officer sits in the big chair, preparing to give his first orders. When wisecracking helm officer Lt. Ortegas primes him to debut his own "engage"-style catchphrase, Spock takes a moment, and then says, emphatically: "I would like the ship to go ... now." The streaming generation of Treks has gotten a little too cute lately in perpetuating the idea that every starship captain needs their own signature "go" command, but the awkward young half-Vulcan bungling the opportunity might be the most successful attempt to play it for laughs.
Of course, fans know that Spock eventually becomes much more comfortable in a leadership role aboard the Enterprise, becoming the ship's First Officer under James T. Kirk in "The Original Series" and eventually its captain in the years between "The Motion Picture" and "The Wrath of Khan." "Strange New Worlds" co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers assured fans in a 2022 interview with TVLine that Kirk and Spock meet for the first time during Season 2, and that the show "absolutely [makes] a big moment of it." In the meantime, according to actor Ethan Peck (speaking to Collider), Spock continues to explore his human side, leading to more of the "funny hijinks" that we enjoyed in Season 1.
The Gorn are back, and so are the Alien references
Season 1 of "Strange New Worlds" re-introduces the Gorn, the reptilian antagonists who date back to "The Original Series" but have rarely been seen since. In the new series, the Gorn are more brutal and terrifying, essentially the "Star Trek" equivalent of the xenomorphs from "Alien." They lay eggs inside their prey and burst violently from their hosts' bodies, killing everything in sight. The episode "All Those Who Wander" leans hard into the "Alien" comparisons, and it appears that this trend will continue into Season 2. In the teaser trailer, we see La'an face down a more adult Gorn in a shot that immediately calls to mind a famous image from David Fincher's "Alien 3" in which Ellen Ripley is menaced by a drooling xenomorph.
However, that doesn't mean that the Gorn are only depicted as mindless monsters. By and large, "Star Trek" avoids totally dehumanizing its antagonists, and fans know from their appearance in "The Original Series" (set years after "Strange New Worlds") that the Gorn are a sentient species, capable of communication and reason. This will not be ignored in the new series.
Speaking to TrekZone (via TrekMovie.com), Captain Pike actor, Anson Mount, implied that the Gorn, who are essentially monsters in Season 1, receive further thematic exploration in the following season. "Is it possible that intelligence can be so completely ripped apart from any sense of communication or idealism?" asks Mount. "Is there such a thing as a monster? We go down that exact road."
Kirk and La'an may become time traveling companions
Time travel has been a staple of "Star Trek" since the very beginning, with every single spin-off dipping its toes into the time stream at least once. Season 1 of "Strange New Worlds" concludes with Captain Pike visiting an alternate future in which he avoids his fateful training accident and remains in command of the Enterprise for the events of "The Original Series." It appears that Season 2 also features at least one time-travel story of its own.
The final scene of the first "Strange New Worlds" Season 2 trailer sees Lt. Commander La'an Noonien-Singh and Lt. Jim Kirk walking into what appears to be a fast fashion retailer in the 21st century. While our Starfleet heroes are still dressed in their colorful uniforms, the extras in the background of the scene are wearing current-day clothes and there's no sign of any future technology. Kirk even struggles to figure out the store's revolving door, which La'an teases him for.
Such an episode is part of a long tradition of "Star Trek" stories that send our heroes back to the time period in which the show is being produced, usually leading to some fish-out-of-water comedy. "The Original Series" kicked off the trend with the 1967 episode, "Tomorrow is Yesterday," and it's been revisited by "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" in 1986, "Voyager" in 1996, "Enterprise" in 2003, and "Picard" in 2022.
Erica Ortegas is getting a spotlight episode in Season 2
Thanks to its episodic format, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'" is free to rotate its focus between multiple characters, offering every member of the regular cast the opportunity to play the lead about once per season. Almost the entire senior staff of the USS Enterprise got the spotlight in at least one of the first season's ten episodes, save for Chief Engineer Hemmer and Helm Officer Erica Ortegas, who played key supporting roles but never got a story of their own. Though Hemmer was killed before the end of the season and is therefore unlikely to ever get his own episode, Ortegas, played by Melissa Navia, will finally get her turn in Season 2.
Navia confirmed to Variety that Ortegas does indeed get to be the center of an episode in Season 2. This was officially revealed even before a proper trailer for Season 2 was released, with a preview clip that premiered on Star Trek Day in 2022. This two-minute snippet appears to be the beginning of an episode that affords Ortegas the honor of the opening log entry and centers her perspective as she prepares to join an away mission to an alien planet.
Ortegas' hopes of getting out from behind her pilot's console and breathing some fresh air for a change are shattered when a nearby spatial anomaly necessitates that the Enterprise's most experienced helm officer remain on board. However, if the format of the series to date is any indication, this just means that the episode's A-plot will take place on the ship with Erica, rather than down on the surface, meaning that the excitable ensign will be where the action is, after all.
Uhura will cope with Hemmer's loss
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has been an opportunity to delve deeper into a handful of characters from the franchise's early days who never got the attention they deserved on "The Original Series." Chief among those recovered treasures is Nyota Uhura, now portrayed as a cadet by Celia Rose Gooding. Season 1 of the new series finally fills out her backstory, revealing that she joined Starfleet in search of a new home after the tragic deaths of her parents and brother in a shuttle accident. Looking for distance from her loss and a new sense of purpose, Uhura is still unsure whether she wants to remain in the service after her graduation from Starfleet Academy. Her experiences aboard the Enterprise, particularly her bond with Chief Engineer Hemmer, encourage her to stick around.
But, in the penultimate episode of Season 1, "All Those Who Wander," Hemmer is killed in an encounter with the Gorn, and Uhura is left behind once again to mourn and question her future. Preview clips and interviews have implied that Cadet Uhura, portrayed by Celia Rose Gooding, will spend some of Season 2 grappling with her feelings of loss and abandonment.
At 2022's San Diego Comic-Con, Gooding described Hemmer as a father figure to Uhura, and his death is bound to reopen the very wounds he helped her to heal. One image in the Season 2 trailer, of Uhura standing next to the wreck of a shuttlecraft in an Earth-like setting, could even depict her revisiting her memories of the accident that shattered her family.
More legacy characters will appear in Strange New Worlds Season 2
Modern "Star Trek" series relish in the opportunity to revisit popular characters from previous incarnations of the franchise. Each of the shows in the streaming era has taken place during a different time period in the fictional history of the Star Trek universe, making it possible for just about any character in the canon to show up at some point (save for the poor cast of "Enterprise"). "Strange New Worlds" is set during the 23rd century, about seven years before "The Original Series," meaning that lots of familiar names from the classic era can — and have — cropped up on the show.
Speaking to Inverse shortly after the Season 1 finale, co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers said that Season 2 of "Strange New Worlds" will see the return of more "legacy characters" from the "Original Series" era. Myers declined to offer any further details, preferring to keep these returns a surprise for fans, and there have been no additional hints or reveals to the press since.
However, we think the smart money is on Spock's half-brother, Sybok, whose involvement in future episodes was teased during Season 1's "The Serene Squall." At the end of that episode, it's revealed that Xaverius, the Vulcan criminal for whom pirate Captain Angel is attempting to ransom Spock, is actually Sybok, the illogical rebel who currently resides in a Vulcan rehabilitation center. Sybok is the antagonist of the often-reviled "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," but "Strange New Worlds" is the perfect opportunity to revamp the character. Captain Angel is still at large and is bound to make another attempt to spring their partner at some point. Why not in Season 2?