Inside Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4: Cast & Showrunners Reveal New Details (Exclusive)

Published Jul 22, 2026, 4:06 PM EDT Go inside Strange New Worlds season 4 with exclusive interviews featuring the cast and showrunners behind Star Trek's boldest season yet. Inside Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Boldest Season Yet (Exclusive Cover Story) Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has never been shy of ambition, but season 4 ups the ante in its mission to take Star Trek to places it's never been before. A critical darling and audience favorite, the new season's tagline confidently lays it all out: to "Boldly go one step closer to where it all began." Season 4 is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' bridge to its fifth and final season, laying the bricks for the stated end of its 'five-year mission' to set up Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) passing the USS Enterprise to Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley). Season 4 will also delve more deeply into the show's beloved characters and deliver more outer space adventures in the classic Star Trek style. And, of course, there are 'big swings.' (Yes, that means puppets.) For our exclusive cover story, ScreenRant's Liam Crowley and Tatiana Hullender interviewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast members Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Martin Quinn, Carol Kane, Paul Wesley, and executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, to discuss what's to come in season 4 and look ahead to the fifth and final season. In addition, our cover story features several exclusive images from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4. Strange New Worlds Season 4 Is A Big Part Of Star Trek’s 60th Anniversary 2026 is Star Trek's 60th anniversary year, which kicked off with the premiere of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but Strange New Worlds season 4 is the centerpiece of Paramount+'s celebration of Gene Roddenberry's venerable franchise. This includes a gala Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where Strange New Worlds will be joined by luminaries from every era of Star Trek. Henry Alonso Myers likens his and Akiva Goldsman's stewardship of Star Trek to "someone hand[ing] you a really expensive old car. You get to drive around across a bunch of things that people wouldn't normally drive on. You get to drive superfast. You want to try things that people haven't tried. You want to try things that you know it does well, and then you want to hand it off to the next group and hope that you didn't break it." I feel personally incredibly lucky to have worked on this show. There are a million different versions of Star Trek at this point. All I cared about in my heart and soul was that people who hadn't seen Star Trek before would watch this and think 'I'm gonna watch more of that,' because that's the feeling I had when I watched the original series as a kid. Goldsman connects his experience back to his childhood watching Star Trek "daily on WPIX Channel 11 in reruns in New York" in the 1970s, when there wasn't much Star Trek beyond the original 79 episodes and the animated series. The Academy Award winner is proud that "we got to be part of making more [Star Trek], and now [we will be] standing there, amongst others at Comic Con, going, ‘Hey, this is a celebration of the continuing legacy of Star Trek.’ As Henry said, we got to help it move forward." Designing Season 4's New Stories, New Experiences & A New Feud On The Enterprise Season 4 is the last of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to consist of 10 episodes. Season 5 will be only 6; a compromise from the 2-hour wrap-up movie Paramount+ proposed. In terms of selecting which episodes to make, Goldsman explains: "I think that we've always tried to pick and choose in a way that served the storytelling. The Casablanca idea, the noir idea, serves as an Una exploration of self. I think fundamentally, once we pick a thing, we're always at risk of going too far because that's what we're trying to do. We're really trying to reach the very edge of where the genre can tell us more in a Star Trek episode than might traditionally be told. And that's often the trick, right? Bend it, just don't break it." Exploring Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' diverse cast of characters has always been a core tenet of the series. As Goldsman hinted, one season 4 episode will be a Number One-centric (Rebecca Romijn) noir story inspired by Casablanca. This is one of several nods to famous movies in season 4; the dinosaurs in season 4's premiere are an obvious homage to Jurassic Park. Trusting the writers and producers was elementary for Babs Olusanmokun, who plays Dr. Joseph M'Benga. "This season was more about being open to a new experience and what the writers and the producers were going to offer," he said. "Just being open to that and giving your thoughts here and there and trying to bring that alive as truthfully as possible." Martin Quinn, who plays the young engineer Lt. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, gives an interesting hint about the state of the Starship Enterprise's crew when Strange New Worlds season 4 begins: We find the characters at the start of season four really burnt out. That's talked about, and [they're] kind of worked to the bone. Of course, when work is stressful… frustrations with your coworkers are really going to come to a head. Captain Pike's crew functions as a found family, but Star Trek's 23rd century isn't always as harmonious as Roddenberry declared Starfleet to be a hundred years later. In Strange New Worlds season 4, a surprising feud develops as Scotty and the USS Enterprise's hotshot pilot, Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), are at loggerheads. "Martin was just wonderful. He is truly the best Scotty." Scotty and Erica may get on each other's nerves, but Quinn has high praise for Navia: "Melissa is just amazing and just so fun to play opposite." Navia gives the love right back to Quinn: "Martin was just wonderful. He is truly the best Scotty. We could not have landed a better Scotty, and he can touch on everything. And so, seeing him play with those comedic elements and getting to bounce off of him was just very easy." Regarding Ortegas vs. Scotty, Quinn explains, "I suppose [a rivalry] probably should have been expected. These are two characters with egos in different kinds of ways, and of course, they were going to butt heads at some point. Now that I think of it. I'm surprised, actually, before now, it hasn't come to a head." Finding out whether Scotty and Erica find common ground in season 4 is worth the ride. Meanwhile, one Enterprise crewmember faces an enemy within. Christina Chong tells SR that Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh, who has been haunted by her evil ancestor, Khan, will struggle with the aftereffects of becoming a Vulcan in Strange New Worlds season 3: With that Vulcan transformation, she thinks that her augmented DNA has been activated. And so, [in] season four, she's dealing with all of that. The anger, the paranoia, and ultimately, it culminates in a journey of self-acceptance down the line. Strange New Worlds Season 4 Dials Back On 'Love Stories In Space' "Love Stories in Outer Space" was an apt description of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, especially of season 3, coined by its showrunners. However, season 4 noticeably dials back on romances, at least in the first six episodes seen by SR. Except for Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck), no USS Enterprise crew member has been at the center of more romantic entanglements than Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), who sparked a new love affair with Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O'Sullivan) in season 3. Bush explains that Chapel is on a different path in season 4: Love is still very present for her this season. It's just examining love in a different way, and it's more about her having to decide or confront how she wants to be loved, and how she wants to love, and what might be standing in the way of those things for her in her personal development. And having to cross some pretty vulnerable thresholds in that way, and deciding to commit to people, and to allow people to commit to her, and the fear that might be associated with that. So yeah, there's still very much deep love for her; it's just a different flavor. Goldsman has a novel explanation for how and why Star Trek: Strange New Worlds approached love stories. Likening the earlier seasons to adolescence, he says "the arc of the show is developmental and... requires growth." Since the characters were evolving, there was "a kind of frenetic obsession with mating that is adolescent. And so, in the adolescent phase of the arc of the show, there was a lot of 'Who's with who?'" And now, as we get towards the more adult version of the characters, that settles [in season 4]. Doesn't mean there aren't some surprises coming, but the issues that we deal with become different, more nuanced, older. And then finally, what we're trying to do with our last season is something very different than ‘Who do we fall in love with?’ It's, 'How do we say goodbye?' Meanwhile, Myers offers assurances: "We will explore romance again in season four, for sure, 100%." Captain Pike Wrestles With Existential Questions Captain Christopher Pike is the most beloved captain of Star Trek's Paramount+ streaming era. Indeed, it was audiences falling in love with how Anson Mount embodied Pike in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 that resulted in Mount leading his own spinoff. When Strange New Worlds season 4 begins, Captain Pike is still mourning the loss of Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano), who gifted him with an alternate reality where they lived happily into old age together. Mount explains how his ending with Batel impacts his role as captain of the Enterprise in the new season: That experience of being given this gift of a complete life alleviates him of all these questions about how he's going to spend his final days or how he's going to suck the marrow out of them. And so he has to start thinking more about his decisions in terms of how he spends that time, how that is affecting the people around him... this whole time, he's been relearning this lesson of, ‘The journey is the destination.’ But is it really a complete journey without an ending? For years, Pike has been aware of his tragic future, in which he's destined to be disfigured and confined to a wheelchair. However, Mount pushes back on the idea that Pike is facing "a doomsday clock" because "he doesn't die" in his future. "That's one of the more interesting things about playing this role is that when I get this question, people keep referring to his, quote, ‘death,'" Mount says. "What does that say about our attitude towards differently abled people in this country? It's very revealing." Mount feels that "the bigger questions [Pike faces] are more existential, and not just for himself. He has to start contending with the idea that maybe his holding on to something is starting to affect the journeys of the people around him. He has so much love for his bridge crew and the people around him, his family, that he has to really ask himself if what he's doing by continuing in the chair is selfish." Number One Will Command More Missions Away From The Enterprise Rebecca Romijn is positively giddy that Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley is leading more away missions in season 4. A beloved legacy character from the original Star Trek pilot in 1965, when Number One was played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, Una has received a full name, a compelling backstory, and was court-martialled when she revealed to Starfleet that she is a genetically engineered Illyrian. "I think she spent so much time hiding who she really was," Romijn says about Una's new attitude in season 4. "Having been cleared after her court tribunal in “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” getting to see this completely different, confident, freer Una who requests more time on planet and wants to take on more of a leadership role - it's just a different side of Una. We're watching her spread her wings." Una has been the finest First Officer in Starfleet for many years, but, of course, she doesn't know that her future will not involve taking over the USS Enterprise from Captain Pike. Nor will she remain Captain Kirk's Number One when the ship becomes his. Romijn is coy about Strange New Worlds season 4 asking the pivotal question of whether Number One wants to be Captain of the Enterprise: I would say she's got an eye on more and more leadership. I think she's really enjoying being in command, and we're going to really get to enjoy that side of her for season four. Kirk & Spock Will Grow As Individuals & Deal With Family Issues Strange New Worlds season 4 will continue to build the friendship between Lt. Spock and Lt. Commander James T. Kirk, the defining bromance of Star Trek. The trailer hints at Kirk and Spock growing closer, and even becoming huggers. However, they still have a lot of growth to come as individuals. Having already wrapped five seasons of Strange New Worlds as Spock (and one season in Star Trek: Discovery), Ethan Peck says there isn't an aspect of Spock he wishes he could have explored. "I mean, no. I think they were far more ambitious than I was in terms of exploring new aspects of the character. They threw him into so many crazy different genres and situations. They had him singing, they had him dancing, they've got him talking to and kissing puppets." It's truly far beyond what I could have expected and hoped for, and quite frankly, would have chosen for myself, because I found myself in so many situations where I didn't really know how I was going to make it work. How I was going to keep it Spockian. And they really trusted me with so much, and I was really flattered by that. And having done it all, I'm very proud and satisfied, and was so privileged to have done it. James T. Kirk got a taste of starship captaincy in season 3. Paul Wesley says that he "loved that episode where Kirk ended up inadvertently killing all of these people who were on the scavenger ship, and he was wrestling with these decisions." When asked whether there are aspects of Pike's style as Captain that Kirk is filing away for future use, Wesley muses, "I remember the Pike speech to Kirk afterward, where he talks about [how decisions like those] are his responsibility. He's going to have to accept these choices that he's made. I think Pike is very much someone that Kirk really looks up to. I think Kirk is nowhere near close to being ready for the chair." What's so compelling about watching this series, in my opinion, is that you get to watch the evolution of these characters become who they are. Anson is so good at playing Captain Pike, and even me as an actor, I learn from him. He has a sort of stoicism, but also a charm that I think is very compelling. I try to look at that and go, ‘Gosh, how can I emulate that in some capacity as captain eventually?’ It has previously been revealed that Kirk's young son, David Marcus, will appear in Strange New Worlds season 4. (Played by the late Merritt Butrick, David was an adult when he was introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.) Young David will force James to face his choice to be an absentee father. I think that we will understand more about Spock's idea of family to a great degree as we get into seasons four and five. "I think it's a huge choice that he has to make," Wesley explains. "He has to decide between his career and being a good father. And unfortunately, sometimes you choose careers where you cannot be present. And I think that is deeply painful for him. But he has this mission. I think he has a higher calling that he feels he needs to be there for his crew, and for the ship, and for the mission. And so, we get to see some more of that actually in season four and season five, and it's a critical part of Kirk's development." As for Spock's complicated family life, Peck is tight-lipped about whether the Vulcan science officer's family members (including his half-brother Sybok, teased in season 1) will appear in season 4. "I think that we will understand more about Spock's idea of family to a great degree as we get into seasons four and five." The USS Enterprise Crew Evolves In Season 4 Image credit: Paramount+Image credit: Paramount+ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 will have a special focus on characters like La'an and Ortegas, who don't go on to join Kirk's Starship Enterprise crew in Star Trek: The Original Series. Meanwhile, the crew members who will stick with Kirk have many steps to take before they become the versions fans know in TOS. Dr. Joseph M'Benga has one of Star Trek's most shocking backstories. A former Starfleet black ops assassin, M'Benga clocked many kills during the Klingon War of 2256-2257. The doctor also murdered a Klingon war criminal-turned-ambassador (played by Robert Wisdom) in Strange New Worlds season 2 (and got away with it). However, Olusanmokun says that Dr. M'Benga's killing days are now behind him. I think he's trying to run away from that. He is trying to drive his soul away from that aspect, from that part of him, that part of his experience. He's trying to look forward in the best light possible. As chief engineer of the USS Enterprise in The Original Series, Scotty was famously in love with his starship. In Strange New Worlds, the younger Scotty is on the path to becoming a "miracle worker." Lt. Scott is still learning the Enterprise's ins and outs, with the help of the chief engineer, Commander Pelia (Carol Kane). For Scotty, keeping the Enterprise shipshape borders on obsession. Quinn admits, "I found it hard to fathom, ‘If this ship doesn't work, we all die.’ That is such a huge idea. And it really felt like our Titanic moment." Whereas Pelia "kind of takes a back seat so that Scotty has to kind of step up. It's one of the lessons that he ends up learning, and he slowly becomes closer and closer to that Scotty that we all know and love, the miracle worker." Pelia is perhaps the most eccentric character Strange New Worlds introduced. An immortal Lanthanite, the 5,000-year-old Pelia has a counterpart in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), who is half-Lanthanite and lives in the 32nd century. Carol Kane says of Hunter's fellow immortal of the same species, "I did not realize that we were sharing this Star Trek reality together. I have not talked to her [about it]. Holly and I have done several plays together, so we have an ongoing conversation. She's a genius, as you know, and I love to talk to her any time. But we actually haven't [talked about being Lanthanites]." The heart and soul of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), who keeps the Enterprise connected as communications officer. Uhura joined Captain Pike's starship as a Starfleet Academy cadet, but she has grown by leaps and bounds towards becoming the confident Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series. I think she is slowly but surely beginning the journey of who am I when I am not performing, and who am I when I am not centering my utility? Where is my humanity? Where does it live? What does it look like? And how do I feel about it? She turns. She starts off very inward, but in a very insecure way and in a very defensive way. And now that she has established and become very comfortable with her place on the Enterprise, she turns inward in a way that is very reflective and appreciative. Gooding hints that Uhura's evolution will be the focus of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's finale, "Tomorrow's Enterprise." "We see that all throughout season four, but especially in the finale of season four," Gooding explains, "which has been every time I get to talk about it, I cannot help but mention how excited I am for fans to see this sort of conversation and story that she goes on, especially in that finale episode. It's the work that I personally, shamelessly, am proudest of." Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4's Puppet Episode, Explained "Big swings" was a term that Strange New Worlds' executive producers popularized, if not coined. The show's bold genre-bending has yielded critically acclaimed successes, such as season 2's Jonathan Frakes-directed comedy crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek's first-ever musical. However, season 3's holodeck murder mystery and Vulcan farce missed with fans. Now, here comes season 4's puppet episode, which could be the biggest swing of all. Captain Pike turned into a puppet was the first thing announced about the new season at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, and Star Trek fans have bounced between apprehension and cautious optimism ever since. No matter how Strange New Worlds' puppet episode is received, it was a daunting technical effort by the production, which teamed up with The Jim Henson Company. Myers says it was a six-month process of prep and development between himself, Goldsman, co-writer Dana Horgan, director Jordan Canning, and the Henson Company. We had to bring in a large group of puppeteers to help with the performances. Obviously, we had to rebuild some elements of our sets in order to be able to handle puppeteering. We had to write a script. We spent a lot of time trying to find ways to make this idea, which we all found amusing and interesting, but also emotional, feel like a Star Trek episode. Like, really make it a Star Trek episode. We weren't trying to do a funny, crazy, different version of [Strange New Worlds]. We wanted to make it feel like the show, and so we spent a lot of time on that. Myers says the post-production of Strange New Worlds' puppet episode was extremely challenging. "There was a tremendous amount of post-time because you know you get performances from people, and then you add the performances again," Henry explains. "So it's like, you take your performer, and then you separate huge sections of them, and then you shoot each of them separately, and then you have to put them all together again." Anson Mount says he was shooting another episode during the filming of the puppet episode, so he wasn't on set with his felt Pike counterpart. Mount admits, "It was weird handing off to another artist that you've just met, and then getting back their interpretation of your interpretation, which you now have to go into a recording booth and do your interpretation of their interpretation of your interpretation. That was a head spinner, and it took us several go-rounds with ADR in order to get it right." Strange New Worlds' Failed Ideas For Guest Star William Shatner The biggest unfulfilled dream – and biggest regret of Goldsman and Myers – was not getting William Shatner to guest star in Strange New Worlds. Goldsman details their efforts over five seasons, and that there were plans for Mr. Shatner to share the screen with Wesley's young Kirk and Peck's Spock. There was an idea to get William and Joan Collins on screen together. And we talked about it. We got close enough to Zoom with Mr. Shatner, which was great. He was game. And, ultimately, the vagaries of the various sort of systems just… they didn't align. And you know, if I have one regret about Strange New Worlds, and it's probably the only one, at least so far, is that we were unable to bring Shatner's Kirk back. And yet we thought about all sorts of ways of doing it using TAS animation. Bringing him back with Paul in isolation, with Ethan, with Edith Keeler, the Joan Collins character, and we failed, and I regret it. We tried, and we tried, and we really tried. Myers adds: "This was an effort that started in the first season, and we tried, and we tried, and we tried, and we really tried. There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears put into this, and I hope [Mr. Shatner] will appreciate the genuine, sincere, long efforts that were put into this." Looking Ahead To Strange New Worlds' Final Season & Hopes For Star Trek: Year One Image credit: Paramount+ Strange New Worlds is expected to return in 2027 with its six-episode final season on Paramount+. Regarding the structure of those last episodes, whether they are standalone or will lean into serialization, Goldsman says, "I would say they're a suite. They're a set of episodes. I think they are tonally more singular than is typical for us." Going into greater depth, he explains: I think they're driving towards the obligation that we felt from the beginning of the show, which is how do we deliver the characters that have been with us to their known future, and how do we deliver those characters that we know less or don't know at all to their futures? And so, we actually start laying some track for that in four, but really, five is a goodbye. It is a six-episode goodbye. And it's not solemn, but it is all the colors of goodbye. And it's rare [that] you get a chance to end a thing. Shows typically get canceled or they have a finale. And [we] got to do it all. And we got the gift of getting to do it over six hours, and I'm tremendously proud. While Star Trek: Strange New Worlds definitively ends in season 5, Goldsman and Myers remain hopeful that their proposed Captain Kirk-led spinoff, Star Trek: Year One, can still happen – in spite of the rumored new direction for Star Trek brewing at Paramount Skydance. We love Star Trek. We loved working on the show. We’d love to continue working on it. Goldsman is staying positive. "I think I can say, on behalf of Henry and myself, that we're endlessly hopeful. There are no plans that we know of, [but] what we all say, and we mean it, is we stand at the ready. Everybody on the Strange New Worlds team would be thrilled to come play again. But not until they call us do we go back to the sandbox." Myers adds, "There are a million ideas that we have for the show, but obviously… We love Star Trek. We loved working on the show. We’d love to continue working on it. Like I said previously, it's a fancy car that we got to drive around in for a while. We handed it off to the next people. We'd be happy to take another spin if that's something that they believe that we should do." Watching Strange New Worlds season 4, it's clear the showrunners sprinkled in their deep love and reverence for Star Trek, especially The Original Series, in every episode. However, when it comes to what TOS callback he's proudest of, Goldsman teases, “The answer to your question for me is all in season five.” Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 premieres Thursday, July 23, on Paramount+, with new episodes debuting weekly through September 24. Release Date 2022 - 2027-00-00 Network Paramount+ Showrunner Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman Directors Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman Writers Onitra Johnson Franchise(s) Star Trek Creator(s) Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet