Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 3 premiere will honor a tradition popularized by Star Trek: The Next Generation. Strange New Worlds season 3 is expected to premiere in 2025 on Paramount+, nearly two years after Strange New Worlds concluded with an epic cliffhanger in August 2023. Thankfully, Paramount+ has also renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for season 4, which begins filming early in 2025 for an expected 2026 release.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 ended with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) caught in a dire no-win scenario. Following a Gorn attack on Parnassus Beta, members of the USS Enterprise's crew were kidnapped by the alien reptiles. Meanwhile, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano), Pike's paramour, has been infected by Gorn eggs and is on death's door. However, Starfleet Command ordered Pike to retreat, so the Captain of the Enterprise must choose between not engaging the Gorn and rescuing his crew. Strange New Worlds' season 2's final image was a desperate Captain Pike and the words, "To be continued..."
Strange New Worlds’ Season 2 Cliffhanger Will Be Concluded In Season 3’s Premiere
"And now, the conclusion..."
At San Diego Comic-Con, Variety interviewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, along with cast members Rebecca Romjin and Ethan Peck. When asked whether Strange New Worlds season 2's cliffhanger will continue into multiple season 3 episodes, Alonso Myers responded that, like other Star Trek two-parters that Strange New Worlds homages, season 3's premiere will be the conclusion. Read Henry's quote below:
I’m just going to straightforward say we were trying to do something that was classic to Trek. And when you come back for the second part of a two-parter, it always says ‘the conclusion of.’ So come into season 3, I promise you you will see the conclusion of.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' seasons consist of 10 episodes, so it's understandable that with limited real estate, the prequel would not push Strange New Worlds' Gorn cliffhanger beyond a two-part tale. Strange New Worlds is episodic, like Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and other classic Star Trek series, and Strange New Worlds season 3 has other "big swings" in store, like a Hollywood murder mystery directed by Jonathan Frakes. But Strange New Worlds is doing its first two-parter with season 2's finale and season 3's premiere, which is an ode to one of Star Trek's most beloved traditions.
TNG Made 2-Part Cliffhangers A Star Trek Tradition
DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and even Lower Decks did cliffhangers
Star Trek: The Original Series only did one two-parter, "The Menagerie." A two-part episode allowed for the repurposing of Star Trek's original, rejected pilot, "The Cage," so that its footage was watched in-universe by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) during a court-martial of Spock (Leonard Nimoy). However, it was Star Trek: The Next Generation that truly popularized the Star Trek two-parter. Perhaps the greatest Star Trek season finale/season premiere combination ever is Star Trek: The Next Generation's Borg epic, "The Best of Both Worlds," which is one of the classics Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is genuflecting to.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine each had 7 seasons, which was ample time to deliver several two-part episodes. Star Trek: Voyager's 7 seasons boasted several two-parters, which the series treated as mini-movies. Perhaps Star Trek: Enterprise's best two-parter was its Mirror Universe saga, "In a Mirror, Darkly." Star Trek: Lower Decks, set in TNG's 24th century era, did its own two-parter homage with season 2's finale that saw the arrest of Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis). Meanwhile, Star Trek: Prodigy's two seasons consist of 20 episodes each, with several two-part episodes throughout, further honoring Star Trek's tradition.
Why Star Trek: Discovery & Picard Didn't Do Cliffhangers
Each season was one big story
Star Trek two-parters weren't significant events in Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard because both series were serialized. Star Trek two-parters are meaningful in the episodic format since they expand a story beyond the usual one episode needed. However, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard were designed so that each season tells one continuous epic, with multiple episodes essentially serving as cliffhangers to lead viewers directly into the next episode. Yet despite being serialized, Discovery and Picard are still formatted like proper TV shows with each episode being a complete story as part of a larger saga.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 3 premiere is highly anticipated, in part because fans are desperate to see how season 2's cliffhanger is resolved, and also because of the long wait between Strange New Worlds seasons 2 and 3. Although Strange New Worlds has already released a clip from a season 3 episode where Captain Pike and his crew are turned into Vulcans, which reveals that everyone kidnapped by the Gorn is rescued and returned safely to the Starship Enterprise, it doesn't change the desire to see how Strange New Worlds season 3 will resolve season 2's cliffhanger. Seeing and hearing, "And now, the conclusion..." when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 begins will be an extra treat.
