There Are Three Ways Strange New Worlds Could End, & I Want the Most Controversial One

Ahead of the Season 3 premiere, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds earned two renewals and a cancelation. Paramount greenlit a fourth and fifth season, though the latter will be four episodes shorter than normal and end the series. As a prequel to The Original Series, how the show ends isn’t exactly an open question, but as a lifelong fan of Star Trek, I want it to end in the most controversial way. It should change what we all know about the characters’ future. For the major characters from TOS, like Spock, maintaining their canon story is, pardon the pun, paramount. Strange New Worlds is a well-liked series, but its legacy would be worsened if it “erased” the stories fans love. There are also characters whose fates are unknown, such as Enterprise First Officer Una Chin-Riley, Security Chief La’an Noonien Singh or Erica Ortegas (she flies the ship).

Save for time-travel fallout and some close encounters with the Gorn, nothing in Strange New Worlds directly contradicts the canon established by TOS. The series has instead tried to build its narrative foundation in historical gaps or, such as with Christine Chapel and Spock’s relationship, build on motifs from that first series. There is no reason to believe the series finale will do anything to change or rewrite canon in a major way. Though, for at least one character, I’d be okay if it did. Every Star Trek fan knows what happens to Captain Christopher Pike, but Strange New Worlds could change that without erasing his story from TOS. It would still be controversial, but after all this time with him, Pike deserves better than what he gets.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Ending In a Hopeful Way, Keeps the Tragic Future Intact

Fans Know What Happens to Captain Pike and Many of the Other Characters Already

As an end of an era, The Undiscovered Country is Star Trek’s greatest film. One of the most emotional and fulfilling moments is the movie’s final scene. Rather than some kind of definitive denouement, the final scene shows Captain Kirk ordering the USS Enterprise (slated to be decommissioned) to head towards “the second star to the right, and straight on ‘til morning.” The Peter Pan quote left these characters forever exploring space (at least until they reappeared in other films). Strange New Worlds may do the same.

Rather than focus on the future beyond Strange New Worlds, the series finale may simply leave these versions of the characters on the ship exploring the cosmos. Their fates will be left to the stories already told and, with those whose future is unknown, to some future story. This type of ending would embrace the hopeful, uplifting spirit of this show, leaving it as its own chapter of this six-decade-old saga. In a way, this is the best kind of Star Trek ending, which is to say: no ending at all. The characters live on in fans’ imagination and, of course, fanfiction.

Of course, as is always the case with Star Trek, there is a more cynical way to look at this decision. If Strange New Worlds ends without really finishing off anyone’s stories, then it’s much easier to bring everyone back for a revival of some kind. Whether it would be a movie or a sequel series like Picard was for The Next Generation, the door remains open to keep the party going. Yet even if this would be the motivation, it’s not really cynical but just smart business. These characters are the most popular of the third wave, and Paramount (merged with SkyDance or not) may realize there are more adventures they can have.

Strange New Worlds Could Weave Its Finale Into Established Star Trek Canon

Viewers Could See a Different Perspective on Familiar, Known Events

Most of the characters in Strange New Worlds exist because of the failed first Star Trek pilot, which led to recasting every character but Spock. His presence allowed the pilot episode to become part of The Original Series in the two-part episode, “The Menagerie.” This reveals Pike’s accident and sends him back to Talos IV for what seems like a better existence than his confinement to Star Trek’s most sadistic wheelchair. It’s possible the Strange New Worlds finale will cross over with this episode.

While the accident that relegates Pike to the wheelchair seems like a given inclusion in this scenario, viewers actually saw it already in Discovery. Pike saw a vision of his future, and he even tried to change it in Strange New Worlds Season 1. Yet, other than Spock, viewers don’t know how the rest of the Enterprise crew reacted to the accident. Along with these details, the series finale could show what happened to the characters whose future is still an open question. It also gives Strange New Worlds an excuse to include scenes of the Enterprise with Kirk in command.

Unlike the above ending, this story would be more emotionally heavy and less hopeful. While it could still work, and even provide catharsis, it would be risky. From fans complaining about inconsistencies from TOS to the dour nature of the ending, Strange New Worlds viewers might be left unsatisfied. It would also be courageous, too. This kind of ending reinforces the larger arc for Pike about the inability to escape one’s fate, and how the ending doesn’t matter as much as how one gets there. Yet, there’s a third option, and while it would anger some Star Trek purists, it's the one I hope they choose.

Strange New Worlds’ Finale Could Go Beyond Canon, and Change Characters’ Futures

Without Retconning The Original Series, the Final Episodes Could Alter Star Trek

After the Season 1 finale, I argued Pike should escape his fate. The main reason the former captain ended up in such a bad way was simply because actor Jeffrey Hunter wouldn’t reprise the role. After spending six seasons (including Season 2 on Discovery) with Anson Mount’s version of the character, I think he deserves more than living out a mental fantasy on Talos IV. In the original pilot, the Talosians created a mental projection of Pike to live with Vina. “The Menagerie” repurposed it to suggest she and Pike remained on the planet together. That doesn’t have to change.

The series finale of Strange New Worlds could include all these canonical moments, but it doesn’t have to end there. La’an, Number One and other characters who aren’t in TOS could return for him, even though Talos IV is off-limits to Starfleet. In fact, if Doctor M’Benga joins them, perhaps armed with some radical cure, it could explain why he was demoted from Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer in favor of Doctor McCoy. Strange New Worlds could maintain canon by picking up Pike’s story after the events of “The Menagerie.”

Surely, some Star Trek fans would protest this change, but even those who only know Pike from TOS might appreciate a better future for him. If there was some kind of sci-fi cure that allowed him to leave Talos IV for a happier, more “real” future? That could satisfy fans of all stripes. Those for whom Strange New Worlds was their introduction to this universe would surely be pleased. Those like myself, who grew to love these versions of the characters, would equally be happy at the change. While this is the most unlikely way Strange New Worlds will end, it’s the one I hope the storytellers choose.