‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Renewed for Season 4; ‘Lower Decks’ to Conclude With Season 5 (EXCLUSIVE)

adam b. vary

Fri, 12 Apr 2024, 3:00 pm·3-min read

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” currently in production on its third season, has been renewed by Paramount+ for Season 4. Meanwhile, “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” the first animated “Star Trek” comedy, will conclude its run on the streamer with its fifth season, which will debut in the fall.

“Strange New Worlds” — set in the years when Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) commanded the USS Enterprise, and featuring younger versions of several legacy characters, including Spock (Ethan Peck), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Kirk (Paul Wesley) — has been a fan favorite since it premiered on Paramount+ in 2022. Season 2 of the series, which included a musical episode and a crossover episode with “Lower Decks,” made Nielsen’s chart of the 10 most-watched streaming original series over multiple weeks.

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“On behalf of the cast and crew of ‘Strange New Worlds,’ we are thrilled and grateful to continue our voyages together,” said executive producers and showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers and executive producer Alex Kurtzman in a statement. “We can’t wait for you to join us and the crew of the Enterprise on another season of exploration and adventure.” Season 3 of “Strange New Worlds” will premiere in 2025.

“Lower Decks” charted brand new territory for “Star Trek” when it debuted in 2020, as both an animated comedy and a series that focused on the junior officers of the USS Cerritos: Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). Set in the years following the feature film “Star Trek: Nemesis,” the series has included voice cameos from many beloved “Star Trek” alumni, like George Takei, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, John de Lancie, Will Wheaton, Armin Shimerman, Nana Visitor and Robert Duncan McNeill.

Given its premise, concluding “Lower Decks” make sense considering the main four characters all received promotions in Season 4. But in a message to fans, Kurtzman and executive producer and showrunner Mike McMahan left the turbolift doors open for continuing the characters’ stories following their time at the bottom of the Starfleet pecking order.

“We remain hopeful that even beyond Season 5, Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford and the whole Cerritos crew will live on with new adventures,” they said. “While five seasons of any series these days seems like a miracle, it’s no exaggeration to say that every second we’ve spent making this show has been a dream come true.”

The “Star Trek” TV universe, overseen by Kurtzman through his Secret Hideout production company and produced by CBS Studios, has enjoyed a robust expansion since “Star Trek: Discovery” first premiered in 2017. Along with “Strange New Worlds,” the made-for-television movie “Star Trek: Section 31” recently concluded production with star Michelle Yeoh, and the new series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” will begin shooting later this year.

“It has been incredibly rewarding to continue to build the Star Trek universe, and we’re so grateful to Secret Hideout and our immensely talented casts and producers,” said Jeff Grossman, executive vice president of Programming at Paramount+. “‘Strange New Worlds’ has found the perfect blend of action, adventure and humor. Similarly, ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ has brought the laughs with an ample amount of heart to the franchise across its four seasons. We can’t wait for audiences to see what is in store for the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos in this final season.”

“‘Lower Decks’ and ‘Strange New Worlds’ are integral to the ‘Star Trek’ franchise, expanding the boundaries of the universe and exploring new and exciting worlds,” said CBS Studios president David Stapf. “We are extraordinarily proud of both series as they honor the legacy of what Gene Roddenberry created almost 60 years ago. We are so grateful to work with Secret Hideout, Alex Kurtzman, Mike McMahan, Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers and the cast, crews and artists who craft these important and entertaining stories for fans around the world.”

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