Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is in production, and Paramount+ should release the new episodes ASAP rather than drop them all in 2025.
Summary
- Paramount+ should release the first 5 episodes of Strange New Worlds season 3 in mid-to-late 2024 to give fans the resolution they want and fill a gap in their Star Trek content schedule.
- Splitting season 3 into two parts wouldn’t disrupt the show’s episodic nature, and it would ensure that there are episodes of Captain Pike and the Starship Enterprise to look forward to in 2024 and 2025.
- Strange New Worlds has become more popular than Star Trek: Discovery, making it the flagship series on Paramount+ once Discovery concludes with season 5. There’s no reason to wait until 2025 to see all of season 3 when the first 5 episodes could be released by the end of the year.
Paramount+ should release Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 in 2 parts. Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike is over, production on the long-delayed Strange New Worlds season 3 is ramping up in Toronto. Strange New Worlds was about to start filming the 10-episode season 3 in May for a potential 2024 release when the Writers Guild of America went on strike, followed by the actors joining the picket lines in July. Strange New Worlds season 3 filming is now expected to start in December and continue into July 2024.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 ended with a dire cliffhanger involving the cannibalistic Gorn. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) was ordered by Starfleet to retreat and not engage the Gorn. However, USS Enterprise crew members Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), Lt. Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte), and Dr. Joseph M’Bena (Babs Olusanmokun) were kidnapped and beamed aboard the Gorn ship. Making matters worse, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) was infected by the Gorn and is on death’s door. This left Pike in a dire no-win scenario, and it’s an intense cliffhanger that fans need to be resolved.
Why Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Should Be Released In 2 Parts
It makes sense because Strange New Worlds is episodic.
Even if postproduction isn’t finished on all of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s episodes, the first 5 episodes should be released as soon as possible, preferably in mid-to-late 2024. Paramount+ has the final season of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 on its 2024 schedule but the streamer will lack Star Trek content for the final months of the year. The first half of Strange New Worlds season 3’s episodes can conceivably be completed and released by fall 2024. This would solve two big problems by giving Paramount+ new episodes of what’s arguably its most popular Star Trek series to showcase, and it would give the fans what they want: the conclusion of Strange New Worlds season 2’s cliffhanger.
Strange New Worlds could also start production on season 4 and have those episodes ready for release in 2025, eliminating problems like the enervating 2+ year interim between Star Trek: Discovery seasons 4 and 5.
Splitting Strange New Worlds season 3 also makes sense because of the nature of the Star Trek prequel. Strange New Worlds is episodic, not serialized like Star Trek: Discovery, so breaking up season 3 into two halves wouldn’t severely disrupt the show’s narrative. Strange New Worlds‘ character arcs are serialized, but each episode is a self-contained story that usually breaks and redefines genre. Releasing Strange New Worlds season 3 in 2 parts ensures there are episodes about Captain Pike and the Starship Enterprise in 2024 and 2025 to look forward to. Conceivably, Strange New Worlds could also start production on season 4 at the end of 2024 and have those episodes ready for release in 2025, eliminating problems like the enervating 2+ year interim between Star Trek: Discovery seasons 4 and 5.
Strange New Worlds Becomes Star Trek’s Flagship When Discovery Is Over
Strange New Worlds will carry Star Trek’s torch.
Star Trek: Discovery is the show that kicked off this bold new era of Star Trek on Paramount+, but there is evidence that Strange New Worlds eclipsed it in popularity. Captain Pike, Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) were so well-liked in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 that fans clamored for them to get a spinoff. Indeed, Strange New Worlds is the first Star Trek show fans literally demanded, and audiences have turned out for the show. Most Strange New Worlds season 2 episodes broke into the Nielsen streaming top 10, a feat matched only by Star Trek: Picard season 3.
All eyes will be on whether Star Trek: Discovery season 5 can also chart in the Nielsen streaming top 10.
When Star Trek: Discovery wraps up with season 5 in 2024, and with Star Trek: Picard over while no Star Trek: Legacy spinoff is in development, Strange New Worlds easily takes the crown as the flagship Star Trek series on Paramount+. Strange New Worlds is an accessible series that harkens back to vintage Star Trek, and its innovating, risk-taking stories and fabulous cast have won over Star Trek fans old and new. There’s no reason to make audiences wait until 2025 to see all of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 when its first 5 episodes could be streamed by the end of the year to satisfy the fans and Paramount+’s needs.
