Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 carries even more pressure following the reception of Star Trek: Section 31, with a great deal riding on the highly-anticipated next 10 episodes of the USS Enterprise prequel series. Still awaiting an official release date from Paramount+, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will premiere sometime in 2025 after a 2-year wait. Production on Strange New Worlds season 3 was delayed by 7 months by 2023's WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but filming was completed in late May 2024.
Star Trek: Section 31 premiered on January 24 after an unusual journey that saw what was originally planned as a TV series spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery converted into the first Star Trek movie made for streaming on Paramount+. Section 31 featured the Star Trek comeback of Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Philippa Georgiou and was designed to explore a previously unseen part of Star Trek's 24th century era. However, Star Trek: Section 31 didn't set Star Trek fans' hearts ablaze, creating a greater need for Strange New Worlds season 3 to equal or exceed the hit season 2 was.
Star Trek: Section 31’s Negative Response Puts Even More Pressure On Strange New Worlds Season 3
Star Trek Fans Want To See Star Trek Again
Star Trek: Section 31 now ranks as the lowest-rated Star Trek movie ever, according to Rotten Tomatoes, with a 19% Rotten rating and an abysmal 16% audience rating. On the plus side, Star Trek: Section 31 has held as the #2 most watched movie on Paramount+ since its premiere, behind Gladiator II. Still, this was not the reception Paramount+ hoped for its first Star Trek streaming movie, starring Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, no less. Section 31 was also not the movie Star Trek fans wished for, with its overreliance on action and special effects masking a lack of character development, a deeper story, and solid Star Trek connections.
Perhaps the most damning opinion of Star Trek: Section 31 is that it's a Star Trek movie in name only, thus Michelle Yeoh's action picture doesn't satisfy as Star Trek. This puts the onus on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 to be the Star Trek of 2025, as it's the only other Star Trek on Paramount+ project scheduled for this year. This, in turn, cranks up the pressure for Strange New Worlds season 3 to deliver. Strange New Worlds season 2 was lovingly received by critics, with a 97% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and several episodes ranked on the Nielsen Top 10 streaming charts.
Strange New Worlds season 3 certainly has a high bar to live up to.
What To Expect From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3
Strange New Worlds Season 3 Continues Season 2's Big Swings
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 returns to the formula of creative "big swings" that made season 2 a smash. Most of Strange New Worlds season 2's top visionary directors are back helming season 3 episodes, including Jonathan Frakes, Valerie Weiss, Maja Vrvilo, Jordan Canning, and Chris Fisher. Strange New Worlds season 3 begins with built-in intrigue, since Strange New Worlds season 2 ended with a cliffhanger of many Starship Enterprise crew members kidnapped by the Gorn that begs to be resolved.
Strange New Worlds season 3 has already revealed a "Hollywood noir" murder mystery episode directed by Jonathan Frakes, and Jordan Canning directs a comedic outing where Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and many of his Enterprise crew are turned into Vulcans. In addition, Scotty (Martin Quinn) joins Strange New Worlds' cast as a series regular, while Rhys Darby from HBO's Our Flag Means Death will guest star as a mystery character. In addition, Cillian O'Sullivan joins Strange New Worlds as Dr. Roger Korby, the future fiance of Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush).
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 begins production in spring 2025.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been described as "love stories in space" by its own executive producers and co-showrunners, Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers. Indeed, Nurse Chapel still has unresolved romantic issues with Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) while Lieutenant James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) may continue his burgeoning love connection with Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). Further, Captain Pike's own love story with Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) hangs in the balance after she was infected by the Gorn.
Strange New Worlds Season 3 Must Live Up To Expectations
The Starship Enterprise Carries The Star Trek Brand
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 not only has the expectations set by its prior 2 seasons to live up to, but it must also wholly embody the Star Trek brand after Star Trek: Section 31. While Section 31 attempted to win audiences over with its "new flavor of Star Trek," Strange New Worlds contains some of the most revered iconography of the Star Trek franchise, including Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and the Starship Enterprise itself.
Further, Strange New Worlds season 3 is the first live-action Star Trek TV show since Star Trek: Discovery ended with season 5 in May 2024. The rest of 2024 saw the dizzingly imaginative Star Trek: Prodigy on Netflix and Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount+ make profound statements about the vitality of Star Trek animation. However, Star Trek: Lower Decks has also ended on Paramount+, and Star Trek: Prodigy's future on Netflix is a frustrating question mark.
Thankfully, the crew of the Starship Enterprise thrives under pressure.
