Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will return for season 4 on Paramount+, and here is everything we know about the next voyages of the Starship Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount).
Along with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Strange New Worlds is one of the two remaining Star Trek series on Paramount+. Strange New Worlds is a mainstream and ratings success, with season 3’s episodes regularly charting on Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 has not been without controversy. Season 3’s “big swings” and bold explorations of genre, with an increased focus on romance and comedy, have received pushback from Star Trek fans online after waiting two years for new episodes following 2023’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
Still, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 has delivered high-caliber episodes that have helped redefine modern Star Trek, developing its expansive cast of Starfleet heroes in bold, experimental settings. Expect this to continue in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4’s Release Date & Trailer
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ season 4 premieres Thursday, July 23, on Paramount+. With 10 episodes premiering every Thursday, season 4’s finale should premiere on September 24. The first footage of Strange New Worlds season 4 offers glimpses of what the next adventures of the Starship Enterprise will entail.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Trailer: 18 Easter Eggs & Hints You Missed
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds reveals its first season 4 teaser trailer with fresh glimpses of the newest voyages of Captain Pike’s USS Enterprise.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 will be the final season that will consist of a full 10 episodes. Season 4’s trailer seems to put the onus back on space exploration, living up to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ title. Among the ‘strange new worlds’ the USS Enterprise visits are a prehistoric planet of dinosaurs and a dusty Western-style world. One planet even explodes.
The Starship Enterprise also investigates a black hole that may be more than it appears. Additionally, there is a crashed starship that Captain Pike’s crew explores, which may be a horror-themed episode.
New aliens come aboard the USS Enterprise in season 4 as well, and there is no sign of the Gorn, who were Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ main antagonists in seasons 1 to 3.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Cast Details
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ talented cast will be back for season 4, minus Melanie Scrofano’s Captain Marie Batel, who was written out of the series in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s finale. Martin Quinn, who plays Scotty, is a series regular, while Carol Kane, who plays Commander Pelia, and Paul Wesley, who plays Lt. Commander James T. Kirk, are listed as special guest stars.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Cast |
Character |
|---|---|
|
Anson Mount |
Captain Christopher Pike |
|
Rebecca Romijn |
Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Number One) |
|
Ethan Peck |
Lieutenant Spock |
|
Jess Bush |
Nurse Christine Chapel |
|
Christina Chong |
Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh |
|
Celia Rose Gooding |
Ensign Nyota Uhura |
|
Dan Jeannotte |
Lieutenant Sam Kirk |
|
Carol Kane |
Commander Pelia |
|
Melissa Navia |
Lieutenant Erica Ortegas |
|
Babs Olusanmokun |
Dr. Joseph M’Benga |
|
Martin Quinn |
Lt. Montgomery Scott (Scotty) |
|
Paul Wesley |
Lt. Commander James T. Kirk |
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 introduced guest star Rhys Darby as Trelane, as well as Cillian O’Sullivan as Dr. Roger Korby and Mynor Luken as Beto Ortegas. Korby is Nurse Christine Chapel’s (Jess Bush) fiancé, while Beto is Lt. Erica Ortegas’ (Melissa Navia) younger brother and the love interest of Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding).
Although Korby or Beto aren’t seen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4’s trailer, it’s logical to expect them to return, given their ties to three major Strange New Worlds characters. However, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 will doubtless introduce new characters who are being kept under wraps.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Story Details
At San Diego Comic-Con 2025, Paramount+ and CBS Studios teased that one episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 will see Captain Pike and other members of the Starship Enterprise crew turned into puppets designed by the Jim Henson Company. Paul Welsey has also said he’s jealous he isn’t in the puppet episode.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 also has ‘big swings’.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 contained many ‘big swings’ and experiments in different genres. Executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have said that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 also has ‘big swings’ (like the puppet episode), as they produced season 4 as if it were the final season.
Rebecca Romijn has hinted that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 will be significant for Number One, and that she was challenged by something she had never had to play as Lt. Commander Una-Chin Riley before. Romijn also teased the possibility that Una might sing again in season 4.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is often described as “love stories in space.” It remains to be seen if season 3’s new couples like Chapel and Korby, and Lieutenant Spock and Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), will survive Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 intact, or if new romances will bloom.
However, Star Trek’s central ‘bromance’ between James T. Kirk and Spock continues in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, as the trailer shows them hugging. Kirk and Spock’s eternal friendship officially began in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, and they grew closer after sharing a Vulcan mind-meld in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s finale.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 5 Is The Final Season
In a surprise move, Paramount+ renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for season 5 ahead of season 3’s premiere. Unfortunately, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 will only consist of 6 episodes, after executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers negotiated upwards from Paramount+’s offer of a 2-hour movie to wrap up Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ fifth and final season began production in the fall of 2025 and wrapped just before Christmas, when it was announced that Thomas Jane had joined the cast as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy and Kai Murakami plays Hikaru Sulu.
Bones and Sulu reportedly only appear in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ final episode, which depicts Captain Kirk’s first day on the job running the Starship Enterprise after taking it over from Captain Pike.
The final episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is also expected to mark the end of Alex Kurtzman’s tenure as executive producer of Star Trek, as Kurtzman and Secret Hideout’s contract with Paramount+ is up at the end of 2026.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ master plan to conclude its five-year mission is to bring the prequel right to the cusp of Star Trek: The Original Series‘ beginning. Unfortunately, Goldsman and Myers’ hopes to spin off a new series led by Paul Wesley’s Kirk dubbed Star Trek: Year One seem to be dashed by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy’s sets in Toronto being torn down.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 will also reveal what happens to the characters who don’t go on to join Captain Kirk’s USS Enterprise, like Number One, La’an, and Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia).
Thankfully, fans will still have 10 brand-new episodes with their favorite characters when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns for season 4 on July 23.
- Release Date
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May 5, 2022
- Network
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Paramount+
- Showrunner
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Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
- Directors
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Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman
- Writers
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Onitra Johnson