‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Trailer Gives First Look at ‘Lower Decks’ Characters in Live-Action

After the triumphant “Star Trek: Picard” series finale, it’s important for Paramount+’s burgeoning “Trek” universe to keep the momentum up. And based on the “Strange New Worlds” Season 2 trailer that just dropped, that seems that’s very likely.

More than any of the other “Star Trek” shows on the streamer aside from “Picard” Season 3, “Strange New Worlds” put characters first, even building a whole episode around, say, Dr. Mbenga (Babs Olusanmokun) exploring a fantasy world created by his daughter as a way for him to process letting go of her. It was the kind of attention to detail that some of the supporting characters on “Discovery” had never quite received. In part because serialized storytelling simply makes that harder.

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Based on the Season 2 trailer, “Strange New Worlds” is definitely delivering another character-based season of storytelling: There’s a glimpse of Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) kissing an uncomfortable Spock, continuing the storyline of her crush on him from Season 1. And we see more of Ortegas’s daredevil flying. Not seen as much is what’s happening with Rebecca Romijn’s Number One, who was hauled off the Enterprise in the Season 1 finale by Starfleet Security for being genetically enhanced. But there appears to be a fun moment with the crew downing some bloodwine with Klingons.

If there’s any other “Trek” show on Paramount+ where character comes first, it’s absolutely “Lower Decks,” though. So, despite the fact that that show is animated and “Strange New Worlds” is live-action, and despite the fact that “Lower Decks” takes place almost 130 years later, they are somehow doing a crossover this season! And we got our first glimpse of Tawny Newsome as Mariner and Jack Quaid as Boimler, reprising the characters they voice on “Lower Decks,” but this time in the flesh. Katee Sackhoff went from voicing Bo-Katan on “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” to playing her in the live-action “The Mandalorian,” but this crossover is even that much more ambitious.

Watch the trailer below:

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season premieres on Paramount+ June 17.

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