After last week’s season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds there isn’t a new Star Trek episode on Paramount+ for the first time since last October, but now we know exactly when Trek will be back with the return of Lower Decks.
Lower Decks season 3 in August
Paramount+ just announced that season three of the original half-hour animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks will premiere on Thursday, August 25, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S.. Following the premiere, the remaining nine episodes of the 10-episode long season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. The announcement is welcome news and fits expectations, as the first two seasons premiered in August of 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Returning for season three is the full crew, including Ensign Beckett Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome; Ensign Brad Boimler, voiced by Jack Quaid; Ensign Tendi, voiced by Noël Wells; and Ensign Rutherford, voiced by Eugene Cordero. The Starfleet characters that comprise the U.S.S. Cerritos’ bridge crew include Captain Carol Freeman, voiced by Dawnn Lewis; Commander Jack Ransom, voiced by Jerry O’Connell; and Doctor T’Ana, voiced by Gillian Vigman.
New poster
According to Paramount+ season three “challenges the U.S.S. Cerritos ensigns in (hilarious) ways they could never imagine, starting with a shocking resolution for season two’s epic cliffhanger finale.”
Paramount+ also revealed the official poster for the season.
Season 3 poster
Series creator and showrunner (and Star Trek superfan) Mike McMahan is keeping the tradition with the previous two seasons of having the official posters pay homage to the classic TOS movie era posters. So for season three, this one is a close match for the poster of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, except in this case it is Rutherford who gets the iconic center position.
Lower Decks streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Latin America and is available concurrently in Canada, where Lower Decks airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. It will be available on Amazon Prime Video in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Japan, India and more.
ICYMI: Lower Decks season 3 teaser and clip
We are still waiting for a full trailer for season three. It’s likely Paramount+ will reveal it during the Star Trek Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con next weekend.
A teaser trailer was released in April. [International version HERE]
And the latest episode of The Ready Room has a Lower Decks season 3 clip starting at 30:25. [International version HERE]
Reminder: Lower Decks Season 2 available now on Blu-ray/DVD
The 2-disc collection of Lower Decks season 2 arrived on July 12 on Blu-ray and DVD, featuring over an hour of bonus content including exclusive featurettes and commentaries. You can pick it up at Amazon on Blu-ray for $23.99. And the DVD is $19.99.
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Awesome looking forward to seeing S3. SNW S1 has been good but when it comes to writing and fan appreciation Lower Decks blows SNW out of the water. Lower Decks is like a love letter to all Trekkies in the world.
Does anybody know if Lower Decks will (also) be available on Paramount+ in markets where the show has so far been released by Amazon Prime? Or will it stay exclusively on Amazon Prime? Paramount+ is slowly expanding internationally but I wonder if fans in these countries will still need Amazon Prime to watch Lower Decks and Picard.
We’re trying to get confirmation. The official press release from Paramount says it is still on Amazon Prime Video in those regions.
I don’t really like Lower Decks, because Mariner and Boimler are both so selfish, but I’m glad it’s coming back soon, since a lot of my friends enjoy it. I wish they’d do to Mariner and Boimler what they did to Dal in Prodigy, though, and teach them that it’s not all about YOU!
i agree. Perhaps they could start moving the show more towards drama and less of the comedic thing just like The Orville is successfully doing now. That would be especially important if they’re going to really try to move some of the characters to live action — otherwise I think that would be very awkward and not work very well. And you’re right, now is the time for Mariner and Biomler to stop being dikheads and mature into believable Starfleet personal.
I still like the show just enough to watch it, but I really think Kurtzman needs to step in and right the ship as it’s kind of becoming a bit of a joke, and that recent misogynistic clip they showed illustrates how out of touch the show is with today’s societal issues,
Yeah, I think live-action versions of Mariner and Boimler would fit oddly in a non-comedic show. And really, I don’t find selfishness at all funny, and it’s not what I want to see in a Starfleet officer.
Agreed. They simply aren’t believable Starfleet starship personnel. If they were to say, “this is a comedic satire and not canon and we won’t be moving any of the characters to live action,” then I’d be fine with this, and I would actually enjoy the series more. But their insistence that this series is actually part of the Star Trek canon universe and that these characters could show up in a live action Trek series — we’ll I am just not down with that at all!
One of the actors actually suggested a “Who framed Roger Rabbit” approach with a mix of the animated and live characters. Jesus, can you imagine an animated Mariner giving back talk to a live action Picard/Patrick Stewart…WTF? If they did that then I might have to drop Star Trek as my number one viewing hobby. We all have our limits, lol
I could imagine that. It would be hot.
Cold shower time at your house? ;-)
I’m guessing you can’t wait for that 4K Blu-Ray Boxed Set of Howard the Duck? lol
That would require the show…not to be a comedy. It’s like saying “I love elephants, I just wish they came without tusks and trunks.” Not in the nature of the beast.
It’s working great for The Orville, which started out as a satire/comedy, but is now basically, live action standard Star Trek. Been watching S3 — so much improved!
I don’t see why LDS could not make the same gradual transition given we would expect the characters to mature and move on with the careers…plus the move to live action would be more seamless as well with the maturity and more realistic and believable behavior of these Starfleet personnel in LDS.
Didn’t orville get canceled?
No, The Orville is going strong. Season 3 is currently airing which has longer episodes with a bigger budget then previous seasons. Fingers crossed Disney will renew it for a fourth – the cast and crew have all said they’re up for more in interviews.
It’s low hanging fruit for all the women to be horny for an oblivious Boimler, but the only solutions would be to cut the joke, which is churlish, or add in a male or robot or androgynous character who also has the hots for him. Comedy is a mine field now.
The show is and always will be a comedy, and the rather extreme lengths The Orville went to to become a more dramatic show are in advisable for this type of cartoon. It’s always been written and animated to be an exaggerated take on Trek.
As for Mariner and Boimler, they reset like most cartoon characters, but they also have been seen to learn plenty of lessons and make mature decisions. They don’t need to be fundamentally changed into characters who are less believable as lowly ensigns though.
‘Kurtzman needs to step in’ said no Star Trek fan ever. Do you work for him? Also, Lower Decks is misogynistic? Sorry, but that’s a load of crap.
Lol, did I miss your appointment to Sheriff here? ;-)
In my opinion, the clip they released several days back is kind of the old tv style definition of misogynistic tropes that we really don’t need on 21st century Star Trek shows. It is what it is. And yea, I think Kurtzman providing more oversight could potentially fix things like that…my opinion.
You have different opinions, and that’s fine.
Calling a beloved show which is not misogynistic and is actually extremely progressive misogynistic is gonna get you some flack though. I don’t think you grasp what misogyny is? Because women being interested in sex is not misogyny. Please leave your thinly veiled puritanical ideas at the door please
And before you say it, I absolutely respect your opinion of not liking the show. That’s fine! There are 5 shows on rn, some people are bound not to like at least one of them. But calling something misogynistic is bound to get people on edge and you know it. I also think comedy is a very difficult thing to make 100% objective statements on because I showed that clip to someone (who is a woman) and she said that she liked that it was women hitting on a guy instead of a guy hitting on women. Just because you aren’t a fan of a scene doesn’t mean it’s misogynistic and to say that it is is incredibly reductive.
OK, I just emailed the link to a female associate of mine, and she watched the scene, and texted this back to me: “It’s juvenile, sexist, and besides that, it’s not even funny.”
This is all anecdotal for both of us. I propose we agree to disagree?
#Layla
LOL, I am as liberal as you can get, dude. I simply call it as I see it.
And Two-and-a-Half Men is obviously considered a beloved show by many given it’s ratings, but it’s obviously misogynistic. So being a beloved show is mutually exclusive from have an attribute of misogyny in it.
You disagree, no worries.
BTW, I never said the entire show was misogynistic. I clearly referenced that clip in my comment as being misogynistic.
Why would you want to make the show boring?
They’ve definitely been spoiling us lately, because now six weeks feels like an impossibly long time to wait for more Trek.
I totally agree!
Did anyone else think the briefly (and not very clearly) seen USS Farragut on Strange New Worlds looks somewhat like USS Cerritos? 🤪
Totally looks like a California Class. https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/star-trek-farragut.html
I was kind of hoping there would not be so long of a break. I seem to remember someone at Paramount+ saying something about nonstop Star Trek for 2022. Guess not (sad face).
Come on dude, SNW concluded right before summer vacation season started and now we’re getting LDS right after summer vacation season ends. A July start would violate TV Series Marketing 101.
You’re not wrong! Like at all. It’s just that Star Trek makes my heart sing. But I’ll for sure binge watch SNW a few times in the meantime.
I hear you, dude LLAP! :-)
Oh, I do love a Bob Peak homage. I want that poster as an actual poster I can mount and frame and hang on the wall.
That poster is fantastic lol!
I love this show. It sucks we have to wait 6 weeks for it now. I think it will be well worth the wait and I’m guessing we are getting the trailer for it at comic con now.
I’m feeling petulant that Star Trek is on summer hiatus for new releases.
I can understand why it’s happening; I know that there are new market rollouts going on through into 2023, but personally I really want Paramount to reach its goal of new Trek content 52 weeks a year.
Tiger2, I know you’ll say “Who would have thought we’d have this in 2016?”
But I’m still in spoiled preschooler mode.
And our kids are about to get their wish of a Disney+ subscription for the summer.
Trekmovie, in addition to the poster poster being influenced by TSFS poster, there’s also elements with the vertical lighting effects of TMP poster – my take anyway.
it’s a really nice poster!
Looking at the schedule, I assume this is when the next batch of shows will come out (assuming there are no large breaks longer than 1-2 weeks):
Lower Decks: August 25th
Prodigy: November
Picard: Mid-January
Strange New Worlds: Mid-March
So if it sticks to this that’s not too bad! And yes Discovery is most likely coming out in May or June of next year, it’s just hard to say since they just started filming but probably out by next June.
Picard unlikely to be January I reckon. I would say Discovery in late January going into mid-late February, Picard late March going into very early May and SNW from mid May to late June.
Discovery has only started production on season 5 very recently. Filming season 4 took 10 months. Season 5 should be faster because it has fewer episodes and because they should have more experience now shooting under COVID conditions. But still, I don’t think there is any chance the season will be finished (incl. post production) by beginning of next year.
On the other hand, both Picard and Strange New Worlds have already finished filming on their new seasons so it’s very likely that at least one of the two shows, if not both, will be released before Discovery.
Discovery just started shooting last month. They probably won’t finish shooting until 6-8 months.
Picard and SNW next seasons are already shot and in post production.
Disco season 5 can air before filming ends.
I hope it doesn’t. After the horror stories I’ve heard about post-production being rushed and chaotic on so many movies and shows, including Picard and Disco, the last thing these shows need is more frantic behind the scenes drama and stress. They can take their time, we don’t adhere to strict release dates anymore.
Dude, that makes no sense given DSC S5 production just started.
I think we are going to get Picard starting before the end of the year, but you might be right. I bet they will get this info out at ComiCon.
I think it was announced somewhere that Picard S3 is coming in February. If it runs 10 episodes that takes it to April or May, depending on when it starts. My guess would be SNW S2 starts in May.
Ah really? If true, that would make sense too. They probably want to stretch the shows out as much as possible.
Yeah, I think it was Brent Spiner himself who mentioned that it would probably start airing in February.
Yep you’re completely right. Spiner himself said it was most likely February. I went and tracked down his quote and it was reported here a month ago lol.
So if that’s true, then SNW will probably be out next May. So basically both shows will be out a year from their previous seasons like Lower Decks has also been. Disappointing but makes sense. And if you push everything out too soon, then you would have huge gaps in 2023.
Awesome news. It’s gonna be a tough wait.
As Scotty might say, Aye!
In other news, did you guys hear Eaglemoss has gone out of business? I was still hoping to complete my collection of the Star Trek Graphic Novels, but I guess that ain’t gonna happen. I was talking to someone who recently quit the company and she told me it had terrible management who didn’t know what they were doing.
Really, really bad news… Seems true, the shop is down… Seems like they have overstretched. I gave up collecting when moving into a smaller flat two years ago but I really wanted to add the most important hero ships in the future… that’s not going to happen now. Sad.
That’s unfortunate.
Eaglemoss had excellent quality models, based on the ones we got for our (now) teens.
It sucks for those of us who collected the parts works. I have a lot of gaps in my sets because they took my money and never delivered the missing items.
Without the slightest doubt the best post DS9 Star Trek. This and the Orville. Then nothing and then SNW somewhere at the back. Looking forward to SNW season two though.
Man that’s some high praise! I love this show but I’m not sure even I can go that far! 🤣🤣
Lower Decks in 41 days and counting!!!! Damn I can’t wait! 😄😄😄