Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Has To Do 1 Big Thing For Season 5’s Ending Plan To Happen

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will conclude in season 5, but a significant thing needs to happen for the Star Trek prequel series to make it to its planned endpoint. Ahead of the highly anticipated Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's July 17 premiere, Paramount+ announced that Strange New Worlds would end in season 5, which will be a 6-episode final season. This gives co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers a road map to conclude the voyages of Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) Starship Enterprise.

With Paramount+'s five-season plan established, this makes Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 the midpoint of the prequel series. Strange New Worlds season 3 opens with "Hegemony, Part II," resolving the USS Enterprise's crisis with the Gorn. Afterward, Strange New Worlds season 3 will delve into genre-bending hours of "adventure, romance, and mystery" for the crew of the USS Enterprise. However, for the currently in-production Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, and the soon-to-be-filmed season 5, the passage of time now becomes of the essence.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Will Need Time Jumps To Get To Season 5’s Series Ending

Strange New Worlds Is Still Years Away From Star Trek: The Original Series

For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to meet its planned endpoint, the prequel will require the copious use of time jumps. Strange New Worlds season 1 began in 2259, 8 months after the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2. At some point during Strange New Worlds seasons 1 and 2, the calendar turned into 2260. Strange New Worlds season 3 brings the timeline up to 2261.

Given that Strange New Worlds didn't know the show would end with season 5 until long after season 3's production was completed, this leaves the prequel two seasons consisting of 16 episodes to reach the starting point of Star Trek: The Original Series. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) takes over command of the USS Enterprise in 2265. Strange New Worlds seasons 4 and 5 have to cover about four years to get to the handoff point between Captains Pike and Kirk, which means time jumps.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Already Uses A Time Jump In Season 3

Time Passes Quickly At Some Point In Strange New Worlds Season 3

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 has one confirmed time jump. Strange New Worlds season 3's premiere picks up immediately from Strange New Worlds season 2's ending cliffhanger. At some point after that, time leaps forward to 2261, with a Strange New Worlds season 3 episode taking place during the centennial party for the United Federation of Planets, which was founded in 2161. Ensign Nyota Uhura's (Celia Rose Gooding) hair was close-cropped since Strange New Worlds began, but it's considerably longer in season 3, confirming the quick passage of time.

There may be further time jumps in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, but there are still a handful of years to cross before Captain Kirk takes over the Starship Enterprise in 2265. It's more likely that Strange New Worlds season 3 is self-contained because it was produced long before the endpoint of the series was decided, and that Strange New Worlds season 4 will begin seeding the end of the Star Trek prequel, with season 5 taking the show to its final destination.

What Has To Happen When Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Ends In Season 5

We Know Some Of What Strange New Worlds' Endgame Is

Since its inception, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' dual mission has been to tell the stories of characters introduced in Star Trek's original pilot, "The Cage," like Captain Pike and Number One (Rebecca Romijn), while simultaneously putting the pieces in place for Star Trek: The Original Series. Lieutenant James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) and Scotty (Martin Quinn) joining the prequel made it clear that Strange New Worlds' endgame was to build towards TOS and the launch of Captain Kirk's five-year mission.

Key events that have to happen include Kirk becoming Captain and assuming command of the USS Enterprise, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) replacing Number One as First Officer, and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) becoming Chief Medical Officer instead of Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun). Strange New Worlds will also reveal what canonically happens to Number One, as well as other characters introduced in the prequel who are not in TOS, like Lieutenants La'an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) and Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia).

With only two seasons and 16 episodes left after the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, it won't be a surprise to see the prequel using time jumps to warp towards its planned ending in season 5.