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Star Trek boldly goes into 2022 with renewals, premiere dates

Paramount+ is more than just the streaming home for every new Star Trek series. However, there’s a lot of Star Trek on the horizon for fans to enjoy, and Paramount+ isn’t wasting any time lining up even more for years to come. The streaming service has formally renewed Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Star Trek: Lower Decks for new seasons.

The flagship series, Star Trek: Discovery, is currently on a midseason hiatus. The fourth season of Discovery will resume on Thursday, February 10. With the renewal in hand, Discovery‘s fifth season will likely begin filming later this year.

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Paramount+ also announced that Star Trek: Picard season 2 will premiere on Thursday, March 3. This series was already renewed and in the middle of shooting season three before a recent COVID outbreak forced the set to shut down. Production is likely to resume in the near future.

The cast of Star Trek: Discovery on the bridge.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Following the season finale of Picard, a new series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, will premiere on Thursday, May 5. Spinning out of Discovery season 2, this series will follow young Spock’s adventures on the Enterprise under his first commanding officer, Captain Pike. This series will also differ from Discovery by embracing stand-alone episodes that take the crew to new destinations each week. Today’s announcement ensures a second season for the show.

The animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks already had a third season of 10 episodes ready to go this summer. But as noted above, Paramount+’s renewal means that a fourth season of 10 episodes will likely follow in 2023.

“Four years ago, we made a promise to grow Star Trek into something it had never been before, and thanks to the incredibly hard work done by our many talented showrunners, writers, and directors, along with the extraordinary support of CBS Studios and Paramount+, we’re keeping our word,” said Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman in a statement. “Now our current shows are set up for the future as we work to build Trek’s next phase of programming for years to come.”

Left out of the announcement was the potential Section 31 spinoff series starring Michelle Yeoh’s Empress Philippa Georgiou. That show has not received a formal pickup yet.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 1 release date, time, channel, and plot
Rebecca Romijn, Anson Mount, and Ethan Peck walk in the hallway of the USS Enterprise in a scene from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Paramount+ is the USS Enterprise for Trekkies, as the streaming service continues to produce entertaining and well-received Star Trek programs. There are multiple Star Trek TV shows to choose from that span a variety of genres. Star Trek: Lower Decks is an animated comedy for adults, Star Trek: Prodigy is geared toward families, and Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard are dramas. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds falls into the drama category, but it's a throwback to the original Star Trek and a treat for all fans.

Created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lume, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise as they traverse to new worlds within the galaxy. The series takes place ten years before Star Trek: The Original Series. After a critically-acclaimed first season in 2022, Strange New Worlds returns for its second season this summer. Below is information about the release date, time, channel, and plot for the first episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2.
When does episode 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 release?

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For as long as both entities have existed, fans of science fiction and fantasy have debated the merits of Star Trek and Star Wars. But for most of the 45 years that the two franchises have overlapped, Star Trek and Star Wars haven’t actually had much in common, apart from their cosmic setting. Star Trek is an aspirational sci-fi series set in humanity’s future, while Star Wars is a bombastic fantasy adventure that takes place in a far-off galaxy. One has primarily lived on weekly television, while the other has broken big-screen box office numbers.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 trailer unveils Lower Decks crossover
Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Crossovers are nothing new for the Star Trek franchise. That tradition began in 1987 when original series star DeForest Kelley reprised his role as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But in the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, there's a unique crossover coming between this series and the animated program Star Trek: Lower Decks. For the first time in Star Trek history, two characters from an animated series will appear in live-action, and they will be portrayed by the same performers who provide their voices. As seen in the new Strange New Worlds trailer below, Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid are reprising their respective roles as Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Season 2 Official Trailer | Paramount+

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