Star Trek's Celia Rose Gooding Reveals Big Change To Strange New World's Future Enterprise Timeline (Exclusive)

Published Sep 24, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT John Orquiola is a New & Classic TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises. Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4's Finale - "Tomorrow's Enterprise"Celia Rose Gooding reveals a big change to the future USS Enterprise's timeline in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's finale. "Tomorrow's Enterprise," Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's epic conclusion, brings Lieutenant Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) from Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise face-to-face with her more experienced future self from the Enterprise commanded by Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley). The time-wimey tale of two Enterprises shows how much more confident Uhura from one year in the future is compared to the present-day Nyota. Speaking to ScreenRant's John Orquiola about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's finale, Celia Rose Gooding discusses the challenge of playing two Uhuras, separated by a year of experience serving under two different captains. Gooding then reveals that during filming, the time difference was three years instead of just one year. Read Celia's quote below: Celia Rose Gooding: "I think the hardest thing for me as an actor about that whole experience was existing in that in-between stage of hearing TOS Uhura speak on Strange New Worlds Uhura, with experience that Strange New Worlds Uhura hasn't had. No one has seen the things between the time that exists between these two characters. We'll see it in season five. We'll see pieces of it, but we're not going to see everything that lives between these two characters. And when we originally shot it, it was a three-year difference between the two of them, not just one year, and so it was easier for me to play them as different people." Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 takes place in 2262, but Kirk doesn't canonically become the Captain of the Enterprise until 2265. The change to when Kirk's starship in "Tomorrow's Enterprise" is set means the future Lieutenant Uhura comes from an alternate timeline where Pike was promoted to Admiral instead of Fleet Captain, and Kirk became Captain of the Enterprise three years early. In very Star Trek fashion, the alternate future in "Tomorrow's Enterprise" also branches out into another divergent timeline, which is caused by the death of Scotty (Martin Quinn). Scotty was alive and in a relationship with Uhura when we first see Kirk's future Enterprise, but his death aboard Pike's ship in the past changes the future so that only Uhura remembers that Scotty isn't supposed to die in 2262. When Jess Bush spoke to ScreenRant about playing future Nurse Christine Chapel in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's finale, she called Kirk's starship in the episode a "potential future for the Enterprise." All of this confirms that the future seen in "Tomorrow's Enterprise" isn't exactly how events will play out when Jim becomes Captain in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5's finale. Image via Paramount+ The reason for changing the timeline from three years in production to one year in the final version of "Tomorrow's Enterprise" may have to do with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' renewal for a fifth and final season. When "Tomorrow's Enterprise" was filmed, it was potentially the series finale since Paramount+ originally wanted to end Strange New Worlds after season 4. When Paramount+ ordered Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' fifth and final season, and the series was then able to depict how Kirk becomes Captain of the Enterprise, perhaps "Tomorrow's Enterprise" was shifted into an alternate future in post-production because Strange New Worlds' depiction of what 'actually happens' when Kirk becomes Captain in 2265 will play out differently. This also explains why Dr. Leonard McCoy was only mentioned in dialogue, because Thomas Jane hadn't been cast as Bones yet when "Tomorrow's Enterprise" was filmed. Regardless of the change to one year in an alternate timeline, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's finale shows the potential for Star Trek: Year One and how good the proposed spinoff about Captain Kirk's Enterprise could be. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is streaming on Paramount+ 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