Everything Your Trekkie Brain Wants to Know About upcoming Star Trek episodes

Sci-fi lovers, get excited: a new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is on its way. Following a very successful first season, a second season has already been confirmed. Season One scored a 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and became not only a hit with fans, but with critics, too. Now that it has ended, we’re already looking ahead to where Season Two might go—so buckle up for Season One finale spoilers.

This prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series follows Captain Christopher Pike during his tenure at the helm of the iconic U.S.S. Enterprise, with Anson Mount taking on the role for the second time (Mount also played Pike in Star Trek: Discovery). The series acts as a prequel to The Original Series in that it takes place seven years before Kirk and Spock first meet. It’s also a sequel to Star Trek: Discovery, with some of the same characters joining new colleagues as they embark on a new mission. Critics have stated the first few episodes of Strange New Worlds have everything that made the original so beloved, like themes of exploration, diplomacy, and action. Can we expect similar sci-fi thrills in Season Two? Read on for everything we know about what’s next for Strange New Worlds.

What Did Strange New Worlds Announce at Comic-Con?

Trekkies, rejoice: Star Trek held a coveted spot at San Diego Comic-Con this year. Worried that the panel wasn’t going to deliver on the Strange New Worlds Season Two goods? Don’t. We know better by now. At the panel, we learned that Season Two of Strange New Worlds will have a crossover episode with Star Trek: Lower Decks, the beloved animated series. The Next Generation alum Jonathan Frakes will direct the episode, which will see Lower Decks’ animated protagonists appear in live-action roles. Lower Decks stars Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid (who play Ensign Beckett Mariner and Ensign Brad Boimler) crashed the Strange New Worlds panel to make the announcement. “We’re going to stress them out,” Newsome exclaimed of the Enterprise crew. “We’ll see you guys in outer space.”

Fans of Lower Decks may be wondering: just how is this going to work, given that Lower Decks takes place nearly 120 years beyond the action of Strange New Worlds? With Mariner and Boimler set to beam aboard Captain Pike’s Enterprise, we’re guessing that some time travel tomfoolery may be in order. Or could it be a classic Trek holodeck episode, with the ensigns using virtual reality technology to simulate the Enterprise? Whatever happens, we can’t wait to see what goes down when these two fanboys meet their heroes, Kirk and Spock.

Speaking of Kirk and Spock—the panel revealed key clues about what’s next for them in Season Two. Paul Wesley, who plays Kirk, was quick to distinguish that the Kirk we saw in the Season One finale isn’t the Kirk we should expect in Season Two. “I’m excited for people to see this younger version of Kirk,” he said. “There’s more levity, and it’s exciting to see that. He’s growing into the character we know, not an alternate reality captain like we saw in Season One.” Meanwhile, Ethan Peck, who plays Spock, hinted that his character’s turbulent relationship to his heritage is still in flux, as is his turbulent love life. “We’ll see Spock wrestle with his human side a little more,” Peck explained. “He will keep exploring his emotions and that will lead to some impact in his relationships.”

What Could Happen In Season Two?

Just days after the Season One finale, the Strange New Worlds team is already hyping up Season Two. Co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman promises that it will be “bigger and better” than Season One, while Melissa Navia, who plays Lieutenant Erica Ortegas, calls the new season electrifying. “This particular season we’re filming, Season Two, has been electrified because of the fact we’re filming Season Two, but we’re getting to watch the world experience Season One,” she said. “And so, we’re seeing all that love and that’s infoming what we’re doing. It’s just been two seasons of an amazing crew, [and] an amazing cast.”

But what can viewers expect for their favorite characters? We can look to Star Treks past for clues. Given that many of the characters go on to appear elsewhere in Star Trek canon, it seems safe to guess that those characters will return for Season Two, including Pike, Spock (Ethan Peck), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Cadet Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), and Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun). The future looks dark for Number One, who in the final cliffhanger of Season One was arrested for concealing her genetic modifications from Starfleet. No doubt Season Two will involve Pike & co.’s quest to free Number One; her trial could also have major implications for the future of genetic engineering in Starfleet.

Mount hinted to Esquire how Pike will be different in Season Two, now that he’s been visited by an alternate older version of himself and reached some degree of acceptance about his fate. “I would say he’s more resolute after the finale of Season One,” Mount said. “He tried out the idea of having his cake and eating it too. It didn’t work, and strangely, when he realizes there’s no honorable way out, that’s a relief. The older Pike made it very clear: you still have a choice. But to somebody like Pike, it isn’t a choice. So this is a choice that almost makes itself, and it is a tremendous relief. He doesn’t have to worry about it anymore. His job now is to make every day count as much as possible. There's a lot of freedom in that.”

Olusanmokun also confirmed his future with the show, saying that Season Two will explore “a darker side” of his character, including “his contentious relationship with the Klingons.” Newcomers like Erica Ortegas and La’an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) have a less certain fate than those who are canon-guaranteed, but both have confirmed their return. La'an did take a leave of absence from Starfleet near the end of Season One, casting her future with the series into jeopardy, but now, on-set photos reveal that she’ll be back for Season Two. Chong was spotted filming Season Two in Toronto with Paul Wesley’s James T. Kirk (more on that below). Fans of everyone’s favorite security chief can breathe a sigh of relief.

Navia confirmed the return of Ortegas, speaking to CinemaBlend about what lies ahead for her character. “In Season Two, we’re going to see more about her background, and we’re going to see more about just how important flying the ship is,” she said. “I know fans want to see more, and I’m just like, ‘Just have a little bit of patience. It’s coming!’” She also touched on what’s next for the collegial bond between Pike and Ortegas, whose humorous rapport has touched fans. “I think we’re going to see more backstory with Ortegas and Pike," Navia said. “What we see [now] though, is essentially a Captain that trusts his helmsman, and vice versa... One thing that fans have pointed out was that Pike frequently refers to her as Erica. I don’t think Anson or I ever thought anything too much about it, but I love that he does because you see that there is this friendship there that is not just official, but it doesn’t undermine the fact that they are professionals and that they trust each other in life or death situations. So yeah, you’re gonna see more of that in Season 2.”

What About the Villains?

About those pesky Klingons: Season Two is shaping up to be downright golden for Star Trek baddies. Costume designer Bernadette Croft teased “a cool redesign for one alien species,” leading Inverse to speculate that it may be Klingons getting the glow-up, given Pike and M’Benga’s history with the famously contentious warmongers. Meanwhile, executive producer Henry Alonso Myers all but confirmed the return of Season One standout Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel), an intergalactic pirate who could become a recurring villain. “That was the idea; create a charismatic villain who steals the show and whom we want to see again and again,” he told Inverse. “We would love to see more of Angel, absolutely.”

Along with Angel comes another villain: Sybok, Angel’s lover and Spock’s estranged half-brother, whose unexpected comeback in Strange New Worlds made major waves with Star Trek fans. Viewers saw only the back of Sybok’s head, but Myers confirms we haven’t seen the last of him. “When and if we see Sybok again, we will see his face, absolutely,” he promised. Though some fans may have groaned at Sybok’s shocking return, given that the character originates from the long-derided Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, no doubt Myers and his fellow producers brought Sybok back for more than just a cameo. And hey, if Sybok is back, why not go for broke and bring in other legendary Trek villains? It wouldn’t be too out of left field for iconic baddie Khan to appear, given that he’s a relative of La’an. But Goldsman isn’t letting anything slip; when asked about the possibility of a Khan cameo, he said, “The Paramount rep on the line has an electric staple in my tongue, and I give a wrong word—well, that’s bad for me.”

And why stop at classic Trek when the show can think bigger? Ever since exiting Star Trek: Discovery in dramatic fashion in 2018, fans have been clamoring for the return of Jason Isaacs’ Prime Lorca—and now, Isaacs isn't ruling out an appearance on Strange New Worlds. Speaking with TheList, Isaacs revealed that he’s been talking with Goldsman about Prime Lorca. “I don’t want to come back just because he’s a fan favorite and do some version that isn’t anywhere near as good,” he said. “Where and if there’s space for a Prime Lorca arc, I’m all up for it. I don’t want to come back just to squeeze into that sausage skintight suit.”

Ultimately, if there’s one thing we can expect from Season Two, it’s more of what Season One gave viewers: classic Star Trek goodness, wrapped up in a modern package. Take it from Navia:

What’s Next for Legacy Characters?

Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries) has officially traded in his vampire fangs for a Starfleet uniform and joined the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, making his first appearance in the Season One finale. Wesley has been cast as James T. Kirk, making him the third actor to play the role (following in the footsteps of William Shatner and Chris Pine). Wesley calls his Kirk “a whole new look,” telling Gizmodo, “It’s an interpretation that’s different. Doing an imitation of either Kirks would be an insult... What is most important is to pay respect to the integrity of who Kirk is—his wants, his needs, his deep desires, his morality, his spontaneity, his instinct.”

This isn’t the last we’ve seen of Kirk, but co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers cautions that the Kirk of the Season One finale (which takes place seven years into an alternate universe future) isn’t the Kirk yet to come. “Yes, we’ll see more Kirk in Season Two, but he’s not this 2266 Kirk,” Myers told Inverse. “We will be meeting some new legacy characters next season. I feel like I gotta keep it a little bit of a secret right now.” Sharp-eared fans who heard a familiar Scottish brogue in a voiceover cameo during the Season One finale may hope that those legacy characters include Chief Engineer Scotty—and Myers isn’t ruling it out, but cautions that it may be awhile before Scotty beams up. “We will meet a new chief engineer— it’s not going to be Scotty,” he told Syfy. “There will be a new character who I’m excited for you to meet, but I’m not going to tell you who it is. It’s going to be a very different person, a completely different type of engineer.”

Though Pike and Kirk made their first collision in the Season One finale, no doubt it’s just the first we’ll see of their encounters as colleagues and friends. “We think the defining quality of Kirk is machismo or bravado,” Mount told Esquire. “The defining characteristic for Picard, perhaps, is intellect. I would like that defining quality for Pike to be the heart. That’s the best I can put it. Hopefully, Pike can give Kirk just enough of that heart for Kirk to avoid making the kinds of mistakes that he makes in this episode.”

Wesley, for his part, knows that Kirk has some growing to do. “As we get to know Kirk in Season Two, it’s a younger Kirk, it's pre-Enterprise Captain Kirk... at the end of the day, it’s a different Kirk,” Wesley told Collider. “It’s a different Kirk than we’ve seen. I think that was really the only way to do it, frankly. There’s no other way. Season Two, we get to explore a little bit more of Kirk. The Season One finale is plot-driven; it’s Pike’s episode. I mean, it’s Pike's show, let's be honest... but in Season Two, we get to have a little bit more exploration.”

And what of Kirk’s legendary friendship with another Starfleet officer, Spock? Fans of The Original Series know that this bromance will be the defining relationship of each officer’s life. What’s to come in Season Two seems promising, because the sparks are already flying. “In Season Two, we get to explore more of their dynamic,” Wesley told CinemaBlend. “I can’t get too much into it. What I will say is that Ethan [Peck] and I are actually genuinely friends now. It’s so funny, and I’m not sure if it’s subconscious, but we actually have this Kirk/Spock dynamic in real life. We chat, we hang out, we’ll grab dinner, we’ll go get a drink. We text all the time. We have this sort of natural thing that he and I have developed. It makes it so much easier on screen because we can kind of just be ourselves.”

When Will Season Two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Premiere?

Season Two has completed production and is set to be released in 2023. The jury is still out on just when the new episodes will land next year, but watch this space for updates as we continue to learn more.

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