I Love How Captain Pike's Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Portrait Foreshadows His Dark Fate

I love how Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) new Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 poster foreshadows the dark fate that will eventually befall the USS Enterprise captain. While Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 still doesn't have a release date, Paramount+ dropped a gorgeous series of 12 new season 3 Strange New Worlds character posters to tide us over until the season drops later in 2025. The posters include series regulars, which now include Martin Quinn's Lieutenant Montgomery Scott, and recurring guest stars like Carol Kane's Commander Pelia and Melanie Scrofano's Captain Marie Batel.

The element that makes these posters unique, compared to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 promotional art, is the vibrant, luminous galaxies projected on the actors' faces. According to TrekCore.com, the portraits are the work of photographer Pari Dukovic, who used strobes and projectors in a darkened room to achieve the otherworldly effect. Strange New Worlds season 3's posters include cosmetic changes that signify character growth for Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). But I think the most interesting portrait is Captain Pike's, because half of Anson Mount's face is lit with a very symbolic vibrant purple.

Anson Mount's New Star Trek Portrait Resembles Captain Pike In TOS

Pike's Tragic Future Is Already Written In Strange New Worlds

Anson Mount's new portrait of Captain Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 resembles Sean Kenney as Fleet Captain Pike in Star Trek: The Original Series' two-part episode, "The Menagerie". Because original Pike actor Jeffrey Hunter would not return after TOS' pilot episode "The Cage", Sean Kenney was hidden under heavy makeup representing disfiguring delta radiation. The color and placement of purple lighting on Mount's face echoes Kenney's makeup from Star Trek: The Original Series, making Pike's new poster a clever artistic allusion to the accident Pike will suffer in the future.

Even though we already knew what would happen to Captain Pike in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made Pike's story compelling by letting Pike himself in on the secret. After witnessing a vision of his future in an encounter with a Klingon Time Crystal in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, episode 12, "Through the Valley of Shadows", Pike spent the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wrestling with his seemingly pre-ordained fate. In Strange New Worlds' second season, Pike accepted his future and took more risks, because Pike knew he wouldn't die yet.

Strange New Worlds' Season 3 Portraits Could Foreshadow Other Characters' Fates

Colorful Artistic Details Unite Strange New Worlds' Legacy Characters

Captain Pike may not be the only Star Trek: Strange New Worlds character whose fate is foreshadowed by the new Strange New Worlds season 3 portraits. Melanie Scrofano's Captain Marie Batel even getting a portrait seems to indicate that she'll survive Strange New Worlds' season 2 cliffhanger ending—but the fear in Batel's eyes and the stark half-light on her face suggest it won't be easy. Melissa Navia's Lieutenant Erica Ortegas is the only subject looking down, which makes me wonder if Ortegas might not make it to Strange New Worlds season 4.

Of course, the new posters aren't all bad news for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' characters, especially those who are destined to stay with the USS Enterprise on its next five-year mission. A curved golden light on Celia Rose Gooding's Ensign Uhura resembles Nichelle Nichols' Uhura earpiece in Star Trek: The Original Series. Both Pelia and Chapel will have to leave the Enterprise, and both are lit in bright pink. Ethan Peck's Spock, Paul Wesley's Lt. James T. Kirk, and Martin Quinn's Scotty all have blue lights over their eyes, all gazing upward to the future of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' USS Enterprise.