It was just a few weeks ago when Paramount+ sent out a video announcing the final completion of production for the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. But there is already a strong indication they are getting ready to start up again for another season of the highly-anticipated series.
Strange New Season?
According to the latest update from industry newsletter Production Weekly (first flagged by SpoilerTV), Paramount+ is set to start up production on a second season of Strange New Worlds in February 2022 in Toronto, Canada. This is not officially confirmed by Paramount+ or anyone associated with the show, however, Production Weekly has a good track record for these kinds of things. Traditionally, Paramount+ does not announce season pick-ups until after the latest season of a show is already streaming or until production is about to start (or has already started). For example, while widely expected, the third season of Star Trek: Picard was not officially announced until Star Trek Day this year, shortly after production began in early September.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will begin streaming in 2022. While no release date has been set yet, it could likely follow season two of Picard which kicks off in February. So, May 2022 is a reasonable guess. The 10-episode first season went into production in February of 2021, wrapping up primary production right on schedule in late July. Pickup shots were done to complete filming in September and early October.
Ethan Peck as Mr. Spock in character reveal video
Strange New Worlds is set onboard the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike (Anson Mount). The show is set in the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series and is designed using a similar episodic structure. Strange New Worlds also stars Ethan Peck as Spock, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga, and Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura. The cast also includes new characters, with Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak is Hemmer (an Aenar).
For now, news of season two is considered unofficial, however, it is reasonable to assume Paramount+ would want more of the show. ViacomCBS recently extended executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s contract for five years, indicating a desire for more Star Trek Universe content for the streaming platform for years to come. Strange New Worlds was originally ordered as a series following a fan campaign asking for more of the Enterprise, Pike, Spock, and Number One after they were introduced in the second season of Discovery.
ICYMI: Strange New Videos
Star Trek Day character reveal video from September.
Season one wrap video from October.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will arrive on Paramount+ in 2022. International rights have not been announced yet.
Find more news and analysis for Strange New Worlds.
It really wouldn’t surprise me if its true. As stated in the article, streaming sites are thinking both long and short term. They want immediate subscribers for the new shows, but they are also thinking about all the future subscribers who will be tuning in just to watch the library of content years down the road. For Trek fans now, its immediate gratification to watch new content, but we obviously still watch all the old content too. And probably more people watch the older shows than the newer ones since they are in a lot more places. But probably down the line, all the content will be on Paramount+, at least in America. Being exclusive definitely works. Look at Marvel/Star Wars on Disney+.
And look at the other shows. The animated shows automatically got two seasons. Picard second season was also greenlit before season one even aired. Same for season 3 before season 2 started. Same thing happened with LDS. DIS season 4 was announced a few weeks after season 3 started. So my guess is this really par for the course for all these shows. They know they need as much content as possible and most of these shows will probably get 4-5 seasons minimum unless views just drop WAY down. I think PIC, DIS and SNW will probably get around 5 seasons and the animated shows could go longer. And lets also be honest, until they figure out another big franchise to get people subscribing for it in the millions like Trek probably does, it only make sense to keep adding Star Trek as much as possible.
I will also say although people were very skeptical of putting a Trek show on a streaming site or feeling practically offended they had to pay for a Star Trek show in their life, it’s working out incredibly for fans now. If Discovery was put on CBS instead of AA, I just don’t think we would have so much of it now. Sure its CBS, home of cloned shows, but my guess is Star Trek is infinitely more expensive than a NCIS or Criminal Minds show and would’ve had to perform strongly out of the box. And if it went to CBS it would probably just be stuff like a direct TNG reboot or something like the ‘new’ CSI show now which is just a reboot of the original CSI show. In other words just play it safe as possible.
People may not be in love with all the new shows now, but we’re getting more Star Trek today than we gotten in over 20 years and pretty varied stuff which I personally love having.
I disagree about Picard. It really sounds as though it will wrap after season three.
Kurtzman has said he thinks Discovery could match the seven seasons of the 90s series. If it’s built it’s own audience, why not? After all they have only just settled in the late 31st century.
SNW will likely get a minimum three seasons, but after that, it will really depends on how well the concept and format work out for modern audiences.
By the way, the craft guilds in Toronto are indicating that preproduction work is rumoured to be starting later this month. Given the heavy load in pre design of virtual sets/locations for the AMR, this sounds about right for a March start for production.
Yep. They appear to have had a 3 season arc from the beginning in mind for PIC.
https://trekmovie.com/2019/02/04/patrick-stewart-says-star-trek-picard-series-is-set-up-to-run-three-seasons/
They could of course change their minds, but the person whose mind you’d have to change is Sir Patrick Stewart. I think he’s good doing it for the 3 seasons he got pitched initially, not sure how he’d feel doing more, especially because COVID has lengthened the process to producing a season of TV and these CBS Trek shows take quite a while as it is. He has lots of other stuff going on and he’s not exactly a young man, he might like his time back.
Again the point is that it’s not etched in stone. That was said when the show was filming. But the fact Goldsman clarified that statement later and said they could see it going five seasons or more after first season already aired sounds like they are at least considering it now; including Stewart.
But Matt, the current pace of television production pre-Covid was far more accelerated than in the days of TNG. Sir Patrick might find a Covid pace nostalgic, or at least familiar. Could’t it be more likely that he may be just fine with it?
It was still 5 – 6 months pre-COVID, yeah it’s not the 8-ish months of a season of TNG, it is still half of the year. They also spend a lot of time on preparing the sets, lighting, and being careful to set up shots to integrate with VFX. So a modern Trek episode takes nearly 2 weeks to film, whereas in the old days they banged out an episode in 7 to 10 days. So in the end it’s still a huge chunk of time away from other things — time an actor must be available to shoot at any time, and there’s still very long days, just like before. During COVID this is made quite a bit worse, by taking much longer, and being isolated most of the day in your dressing room while setups are done, etc. No one likes it.
I don’t think they probably do as much social distancing onset these days now that pretty much everybody is vaccinated. They’ll still have masks and regular test it though.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to convince Patrick to film Seasons 4 and 5 back-to-back next year and then call it a day. Stewart could then be done and by the time season 5 airs it have been in the can for like 2 years lol
I think the shows will evolve. Eventually Stewart leaves and a La Sirena series continues without him. Maybe Pike meets his fate and SNW continues as TOS Year 1 with young Kirk. I expect Discovery will reach its natural conclusion around season 5 or 6.
It really depends on what these shows are competing with for space in the menu of Trek offerings.
Last word we had was that Paramount+ wouldn’t add another live action series until one had wrapped, but that was under the previous head of streaming and Paramount+.
SNW seems to have nudged out the Michelle Yeoh S31 vehicle, but a spin-off with La Sirena and the rest of the Picard new crew might have to complete with priority for that spot in the schedule.
But who knows, perhaps they’ll move back to to the idea of having 4 or 5 live action shows in rotation.
For Picard, I’m only going on an interview Akiva Goldsman said last year about it:
Star Trek: Picard’s voyages aren’t coming to an end any time soon. Akiva Goldsman is one of the co-creators of the series. He isn’t sure when the show will end, but says they’ve considered going three seasons, five seasons, or until star Patrick Stewart gets bored. “I mean, I think we have discussed it as both a 3 season show, a 5 season show, a ‘let’s just keep going forever’ show…” Goldsman tells Collider. “Star Trek: Picard in my view will go as long as Patrick Stewart wants to do it…
https://comicbook.com/startrek/news/star-trek-picard-number-of-seasons/
So yeah, it may have originally JUST been a 3 season show back in 2018/2019, but at one time Discovery was a show the producers were adamant was going to stay in the 23rd century and that we will never see Spock showing up on it. In other words, things change. ;)
And of course it could still end after season 3. My main point is the fact they are now suggesting it can go longer means probably all of these shows can run for a long time. If you are renewing shows before their current season even starts it means you either have a lot of confidence in the show or just trying to rack up as much content as possible. Hopefully the answer is both.
For Picard, it now sounds like it’s up to Stewart more than anything which also means the ratings must be pretty strong to even throw that out there.
Comicbook.com is not a credible source. They make stuff up all the time. They’re not journalism.
LOL, its a direct quote.
Straight from the horses mouth and where Comicbook.com got that quote from. It’s already marked so just press play:
So does that convince you or are you convinced someone went through the trouble of making a deepfake Akiva Goldsman. ;)
Straight from the horses mouth and where Comicbook.com got that quote from. It’s already marked so just click:
https://youtu.be/linm3oc5UF8?t=1690
So does that convince you or are you now convinced someone went through the trouble of making a Deepfake Akiva Goldsman. ;)
And he went a little further to explain that there was probably a 3 season guarantee for Stewart to do the show but the additional two seasons are optional if he chooses to keep going. Makes total sense.
Three replies saying the same thing weren’t necessary. In any case, I’m not saying the direct quote is wrong. If the statement was made, it was made. All I’m saying is that Comicbook.com is not a credible source–you’d be well-advised to get your news elsewhere.
The first reply got put into purgatory but I forgot to put in the YT link lol. And I knew whenever it came back I wouldn’t be able to edit it again, so I made a second one WITH the link this time. So I wasn’t trying to repeat myself twice. ;)
As for the web site regardless, the point is the article was still completely credible. It’s the internet, it doesn’t take long to figure out if he really said it or not, right? So it made no difference. Funny how no one else commented my original point though.
“Kurtzman has said he thinks Discovery could match the seven seasons of the 90s series.”
This would be strange. Netflix has the rights for international markets and P+ wants to expand internationally so it would be quite natural if they decided to shorten the tenure of DSC and commission new shows that they have full control over in all markets. Same with PIC / LDS and Amazon…
It’s just my guess but I believe either DSC 4 or 5 will be the final season but they will set up a new 32nd century show as a follow-up that can stream on P+ internationally…
I guess there are limitations to how strongly this could be conntected to DSC though. Maybe they can carry over some but not all characters and other elements from DSC such as spore drive but the show will have another name…
Mount’s Pike was in DSC S2 and I guess the new uniforms and subtle changes to the set may have something to do with Netflix.
As for PIC, I guess it’ll wrap shortly and make way for a Worf-centric follow up they can stream on P+ worldwide. Sir Patrick will not be able to do this show forever.
Garth Lorca, I believe that Netflix doesn’t have the exclusive international rights for Discovery indefinitely.
Matt, I recall an interview or quote with someone at Paramount+ or ViacomCBS who said that the renewal negotiations for Discovery were coming up. Perhaps Paramount+ will take over international distribution or Netflix’s new license will not be exclusive and P+ will run Discovery too.
Best guess for a new 32nd Star Trek show? Star Trek. By that I mean a series featuring the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. It doesn’t matter how many spin-offs or time periods there are, the voyages of the Starship Enterprise will always be at Star Trek’s core.
A new show on a 32nd century version of the Enterprise would feel pretty surreal. I would love to see that.
Streaming services need content, some more than others. Without Paramount+ it’s unlikely we would have this much Star Trek related content or that they would be afforded such massive budgets. Star Trek is not generating the numbers of views or critical accolades as original content featured on Disney+ but it’s doing what it needs to for Paramount+. If other original content begins to take hold, more likely than not we’ll see less Star Trek in the future as resources are shifted elsewhere for programming that appeals to a larger and more diverse audience.
Exactly!
And I’m not complaining. ;)
But we only have an entire new era of shows because Les Moonves was desperate to make All Access a viable product, that’s really it. Most of us never even heard of it when they announced a Trek show was arriving on it and it’s been around a few years by then.
We can argue about the quality of the service forever (although it has immensely improved in the last few years and the name change was a no-brainer) but Star Trek lives today thanks to it. I remember the build up to Discovery and so many kept wondering if and when we will see another show. I knew we would get another one, but I thought it would probably be 4-5 years of that show running similar to TNG and DS9. But they need the subs and throwing as much Star Trek on as possible is the safest bet to making that happen. And they were smart enough to both diversify the shows while bringing in tons of legacy characters so every old and new fan can find something different.
Now they might run it into the ground fast lol. It took about 15 years when it was under Berman when people were finally getting sick of it. This could happen in half the time at the rate they are throwing on shows today. But hopefully if the shows become really good and find a decent balance they could run at least ten years before it needs another break. Maybe longer.
But is it better to get more bad Trek than less good Trek or no Trek at all?
Dude if it was that bad, you wouldn’t be watching it ;)
Yes I know the sports analogy. But if you’re paying to watch stuff you say you hate that much, maybe its time to just switch sports?
It’s called being a fan.
It also suggests there are enough eyes on the product that they are either making money on it, or as this medium isn’t really profitable for any of the players not named Netflix, Prime, or Disney, that it isn’t hemorrhaging cash.
I mean they are making five shows a year now, I have no idea how anyone can think otherwise lol. But of course we know there is a certain segment of haters out there who thinks it’s all a house of cards that will come crashing down any day now. But up is down in a lot of these people’s world.
Between the 5 current shows and all the confirmed seasons at the moment, we will already have 13 seasons of Star Trek. That’s already between 140-145 episodes by next year lol. No one is pumping out that amount of content on one franchise this fast unless enough people are watching it.
It kinda is par for the course with streaming shows. Think of two seasons now as one season from 20 years ago. When a show first gets OK’d it’s usually a 12 or 13 season order. About half a season. Sometimes the show is going so well that the network sees dailies or a completed episode or two before airing and decides this show is worth the risk and they give it a full season order. After that is when they decide if there will be a 2nd season or not.
The difference in streaming is that it is not unusual for shows to start with two season orders. Remember, these are short seasons. So two seasons is a full season for a normal show. The 2nd season may or may not be guaranteed, btw. It could be an option for the network to exercise at any time for any reason. Or not.
But in the end, it’s pretty common.
Which is why it’s not exactly a shock SNW has gotten another season. In fact, I don’t understand why they just don’t make all of the Trek shows at least two season orders from the beginning? Does anyone here REALLY thinks they are going to just make ten episodes of SNW and call it a day?
This is the Trek some of us have been waiting 20+ years for since Star Trek IV (well, maybe this and Prodigy, that’s surprisingly some final frontier Trek!).
Please don’t screw this one up!!
I still don’t understand why so many TOS characters have to appear in a series based on The Cage, where the only recognizable character was Spock.
Pike is a fan favorite. Most of the other characters are virtually blank slates, so there’s no harm.
I think it’s great seeing some of the TOS characters allowed to be cadets and junior officers working their way up.
I’m more worried about these new screenshots where the colors are being removed from the bridge to make it look more TNG dull.
Same reason Janeway is back on a new show where they clearly didn’t need her to tell that story, because more people will watch if you include her. It’s really that simple.
The other thing about SNW, they will want to grow the audience for Trek beyond old school legacy fans like myself and there is no better way to do that than to introduce relationships into the storyline, while making an effort to stick with canon.
We all know Chapel and Spock must have had some sort of relationship prior to what we saw in TOS as Christine was in love with Spock (she was no teenager with a silly crush in Naked Time) – so there has to be a story there and of course Uhura and Spock were together in the Kelvin Universe. So much to the chagrin of some legacy fans, I am sure the writers will have a hey day with those backstories – all in the name of growing the audience numbers. And I am sure Ethan will probably enjoy himself much more than if he had to play Spock as the non-emotional Vulcan we saw in TOS.
That makes no sense. “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” made it clear she’d only recently joined Starfleet to find her fiance. So, no, “we” don’t all know that.
Agreed.
We don’t know any such thing about a Chapel Spock relationship. All we saw was signs of a crush on Chapel’s part. Nothing more. Spock may or may not have been aware but that still as far as it ever went as far as we know.
Exactly. “We all know Chapel and Spock must have had some sort of relationship prior to what we saw” is simply an absurd statement. We don’t “all know” that at all–in fact, most, I would think, know the exact opposite to be true.
Completely agree about Janeway – legacy fans like seeing characters from the past. As you said, it is that simple.
I mean I was going to watch regardless, but having Janeway spiked my interest by a mile. And I suspect a lot of casual fans who see this as a ‘kids cartoon’ and not originally interested was willing to give the show a look once she was announced.
Completely disagree about Janeway. The comments from the showrunners clearly indicate that they needed Janeway, and not just a character to fill in for Janeway, for the show. To guide the new characters and, potentially, new audiences to the world of Star Trek. Just because it also pushes the nostalgia button also, doesn’t mean it wasn’t integral to the show. The showrunners have also said that if Mulgrew didn’t agree to participate, they didn’t know what they would have done.
What I’m saying is they didn’t need a KNOWN character for that. They could’ve just made up any random new holographic character to teach the kids about the Federation or how to put the ship into warp drive.
They clearly wanted a character the audience knew and could relate to on day one. That’s all I’m saying. Of course she will be important to the show, but they could’ve done that for any character considering it takes place on a brand new ship and show.
And I’m HAPPY they did that btw, but let’s be honest here, 3 of the 5 shows star iconic and known characters. Not only that, they also will have other known characters on these shows as well. It’s obviously a mandate from TPTB that these shows have characters like Chapel, Seven, Uhura, Chakotay, Data, Q, etc because they are trying to appeal to old fans as well as new. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s a business and they are trying to get as many subscribers as possible on a new streaming site. I’m just pointing out the obvious. And I’m very excited to see all of them back. ;)
“What I’m saying is they didn’t need a KNOWN character for that.”
You have no idea what they did or didn’t need since only a single episode has aired. It’s entirely possible the rest of the story required Janeway.
@Lorna
Had Janeway not been available then the story of Prodigy would have been different. Say Mulgrew just wouldn’t come back for example. Ok,so if they still want a legacy character maybe they try for Dorn and offer him Holocaptain Worf, or maybe they change the premis and try to have these kids on the trail of The Emissary. Ok those all fell through, get Bob Picardo, have him be that backup copy of The Doctor from Living Witness on his way back to Earth, and change the time period from the initial pitch. As a writer you are never just unable to proceed without a specific character.
First off, why do you always come off so rude on this site? You’re constantly snapping at other posters here and nearly every time no one is attacking or even talking directly to you. Take it down a notch.
Secondly, I understand they had came up with the idea with her character in it. I’m only saying they would’ve went back to the drawing boards and come up with a slightly different version with another character if that was the case. Do you honestly think the show was not going to happen at all if she said no? I love both Mulgrew and Janeway but there was always going to be a show with or without her.
Who cares said it all for me. That’s all I meant.
I believe Mulgrew was the first choice for the role, no doubt, but that if she had declined they would have reached out to other legacy Trek stars to fill that spot. Avery Brooks perhaps, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Robert Picardo, Robert Beltran, Brent Spiner (maybe he wouldn’t have minded playing Data again since it’s animation lol). It seems likely they are building to a larger mystery that involves the ship. I’m actually speculating here that we may see the real Janeway by the end of Season 1
Yes exactly! The producers said when they first came up with the show, Janeway was the first character in mind. Everyone agrees on that. And thankfully it worked out since they were able to convince Mulgrew to come back (which I think mostly because she didn’t have to put on a Starfleet uniform to do it, but still great she’s back in any form ;)).
But if she said no, there are tons of other legacy actors who would’ve said yes and they would’ve just reworked the show a bit and we would be talking about that character today.
I get the feeling that CBS/Paramount/Viacom (I’ve honestly lost track of who owns who and whose merged with who at this point), would love for there to be Star Trek year round on Paramount+ to keep people subscribing. With 5 shows currently airing, filming, or in post production (Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy), and with each series usually being at least 10 eps in length (with Discovery having last had 13 eps in Season 3), that’s at least 50 weeks of Trek that could air one week after another. And honestly, I’m all for it! I always hated the summer downtime when the Berman-era Trek’s where on air, and there is obviously precedent for this when we had 23 straight weeks at the end of 2020 when Disco Season 3 aired one week after the LD Season 1 finale.
ViacomCBS owns Paramount.
Just consider it the direct descendant of Lucille Ball’s Desilu Studios…. Because it is a continuum.