What is the Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 release date? Strange New Worlds first warped onto screens back in 2022, and quickly became one of the most popular shows around. Following on from the end of Star Trek Discovery season 2, Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and Ethan Peck reprise their roles as the famous Captain Pike, Commander Chin-Riley, and Lieutenant Spock.
In a throwback to simpler times, the Star Trek series took an episodic approach to storytelling and was filled with tantalising plot threads and subtle easter eggs. It also toyed with genres, embracing comedy, horror, and survival episodes, all alongside the usual science fiction stories. The sci-fi series has been widely praised for managing to recapture that quintessential Star Trek energy.
So, now that Strange New Worlds season 1 has finished, there’s one question on audiences’ lips: what is the Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 release date and will the end of Discovery impact it?
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 release date speculation
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 release date has not been confirmed as of March 2023. However, there’s still plenty to speculate on based, and the recent announcement that Discovery season 5 has been pushed back to 2024 will have a big impact.
Filming for Strange New Worlds season 2 began back in February 2022, and has actually already concluded. This means that, technically, the series could drop at any point in the near future and will likely make its debut in 2023.
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Previously, it was expected that the Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 release date would have to wait until Discovery season 5 aired in order to maintain the current running order of the multiple Star Trek series. However, following the news that the Star Trek Discovery season 5 release date will be in 2024 (and that it will be the final season of the show) 2023 now seems open for Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2.
So, expect an official announcement of the Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 release date to come sooner rather than later, and not too long after the conclusion of Star Trek Picard.
This all means that, with Star Trek Picard season 3 ending too, Star Trek Strange New Worlds will become the strange new flagship TV series in the Star Trek franchise as the last live-action show standing.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 plot speculation
The big cliffhanger at the end of Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 1, was: what’s going to happen to Commander Chin-Riley? It was revealed earlier in the series that the character wasn’t a human, but in fact Illyrian – a race banned from joining Starfleet. In the final episode, the Commander was arrested for concealing her identity and was escorted off the Star Trek starship Enterprise.
How Captain Pike will deal with this, and whether or not this will open up space for Spock to become the new first officer, will likely be a major plot point in the Strange New Worlds season 2. Oh, and he’ll also have to continue dealing with the foresight of the impending disaster that awaits him.
Additionally, we know that Paul Wesley’s younger version of Captain James T Kirk will have a bigger role in Strange New Worlds season 2. This could mean that audiences get their first proper look at how the relationship between Kirk and Spock initially develops, before growing into what we see in The Original Series.
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Audiences should also expect there to be more development for some of the series’ supporting characters. Melissa Navia’s Lieutenant Ortegas was present throughout Strange New Worlds season 1, but only ever played a small part. Don’t be surprised if the character gets an episode dedicated specifically to exploring her character in a bit more depth.
Finally, it has been confirmed that an episode of Strange New Worlds season 2 will be a crossover with Star Trek animated comedy series Lower Decks. An episode within the season is going to see some members of the voice cast of Lower Decks appear in live-action. We assume that this will involve some time-travel hijinks, but other than that we’re still in the dark about the crossover. The only thing we can say for certain is that it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 cast speculation
The main notable absence from Strange New Worlds season 2 is likely to be Bruce Horak as Chief Engineer Hemmer. Hemmer was rather unceremoniously killed off in the back end of Strange New Worlds season one, so we’ve likely seen the end of his time on the show (though as always, this is science fiction. Expect the unexpected).
Other than Horak, the rest of the main Strange New Worlds cast of Star Trek characters lived to fight another day. One of the major announcements on Star Trek Day was that Hemmer’s replacement for the vacant Chief Engineer position has been found. Carol Kane will be playing the engineer Pelia, and she will be joining the main Strange New Worlds season 2 cast.
Who’s likely to be in the Strange New Worlds season 2 cast?
- Anson Mount as Captain Pike
- Rebecca Romijn as Commander Chin-Riley / Number One
- Ethan Peck as Spock
- Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh
- Jess Bush as Christine Chapel
- Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura
- Babs Olusanmokun as Joseph M’Benga
- Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas
- Carol Kane as Pelia
Paul Wesley’s Star Trek captain James T Kirk will return in the season and looks set to play a larger role – though don’t expect him to be joining the main cast just yet. Meanwhile, the character’s ill-fated brother Sam Kirk will also return in a guest role, alongside André Dae Kim as Transporter Chief Kyle, and Adrian Holmes as Admiral April.
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Of course, the season will also guest star Jack Quaid, Tawny Newsome, and potentially other members of the voice cast of Lower Decks in the much-anticipated crossover episode.
Speaking of the crossover, we’d be remiss to mention that Jonathan Frakes will return to Star Trek with more behind-the-camera work as the director of the episode. Other directors in Strange New Worlds season 2 Chris Fisher, Amanda Row, Eduardo Sanchez, and Dan Liu.
Strange New Worlds Season 2 trailer speculation
There is no Strange New Worlds season 2 trailer just yet. But, we do have our first official clip from Strange New Worlds season 2, which you can check out below.
The clip, which focuses on Lieutenant Ortegas, shows the pilot gearing up for a rare away mission. It’s not much, but it shows that the sci-fi series is set to continue where it left off. Strange New Worlds season 2 won’t be making too many changes to the tried-and-tested episodic, lower-stakes format of season 1, and fans will be very happy to hear that.
How to watch Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2
Strange New Worlds is exclusively broadcast on the streaming service Paramount Plus. Paramount Plus is where you’ll be able to find the majority of the Star Trek back catalogue, though there are still some series which you can still stream via other platforms. For the moment, at least.
Does Strange New Worlds season 2 still feel too far away? Then check out our definitive guides to Star Trek Picard season 3, Star Trek Discovery season 5, or dig deeper into Star Trek lore with our guide to the USS Titan.
