The third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is in production, but Paramount+ has already greenlit Season 4. Meanwhile, the planned seven season arc for the animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks, as things stand now, will not be getting the money for Season 6 and 7, concluding its run on the streamer with its Season 5, which will debut in the fall.
Strange New Worlds — set in the years when Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) commanded the USS Enterprise, and featuring younger versions of several legacy characters, including Spock (Ethan Peck), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Kirk (Paul Wesley) — has been a fan favorite since it premiered on Paramount+ in 2022. Season 2 of the series, which included a musical episode and a crossover episode with Lower Decks, made Nielsen’s chart of the 10 most-watched streaming original series over multiple weeks. That’s not just the top 10 sci-fi series. That’s the top 10 series out of everything being streamed. Its Season 3 premieres in 2025.
Lower Decks explored strange new storylines and storytelling opportunities for Star Trek when it debuted in 2020, as both an animated comedy and a series that focused on the junior officers of the USS Cerritos: Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero).
Will this fifth season be the last we see of the occasionally dysfunctional crew of the Cerritos? Keeping in mind what happened with Star Trek: Prodigy late last year when the beloved series suddenly found itself cut off from Paramount production monies, only to find a new home at Netflix, it’s not impossible that Lower Decks might find a new production partner willing to cough up the funds needed to finish the seven year story arc. If we were to make a prediction unsubstantiated by any tiny shred of actual evidence to support it, we would predict that Netflix is the most likely streamer to come to the rescue.
Jack Quaid, the voice of the skittish Ensign Bradward Boimler, posted this on his Instagram:
Hello Lower Deckers. I’m so sad to announce that Paramount Plus won’t be moving forward with more seasons of Lower Decks. I can’t begin to tell you what an honor it’s been to be a part of this show and the Star Trek universe at large. I am unbelievably grateful for 5 awesome seasons with this wonderful family. I want to thank each and every person who put so much of their hard work and talent into every episode. You are AMAZING. The good news is that everyone who makes Lower Decks LOVES making Lower Decks. I could play Boimler for 17 more seasons. No joke. I’m serious. I love that purple-haired nerd. Hopefully we find a new home, but until then please look forward to an amazing season five (airing this fall). LLAP???
“It has been incredibly rewarding to continue to build the Star Trek universe, and we’re so grateful to Secret Hideout and our immensely talented casts and producers,” said Jeff Grossman, executive vice president of Programming at Paramount+. “Strange New Worlds has found the perfect blend of action, adventure and humor. Similarly, Star Trek: Lower Decks has brought the laughs with an ample amount of heart to the franchise across its four seasons. We can’t wait for audiences to see what is in store for the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos in this final season.”
“Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds are integral to the Star Trek franchise, expanding the boundaries of the universe and exploring new and exciting worlds,” said CBS Studios president David Stapf. “We are extraordinarily proud of both series as they honor the legacy of what Gene Roddenberry created almost 60 years ago. We are so grateful to work with Secret Hideout, Alex Kurtzman, Mike McMahan, Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers and the cast, crews and artists who craft these important and entertaining stories for fans around the world.”
It is at least a bit surprising to this writer to read the statements of Paramount execs waxing rhapsodic about Star Trek shows, while at the same time canceling them. Thinking things through, though, Paramount’s pockets are not infinitely deep. They cannot just keep making new Star Trek and keep paying for it all without regard to how well each production is doing. To make new Star Trek, they have to let go of some of the old stuff, because they simply can’t afford to pay for all of it at once.
And yet, there is more Star Trek on the way. The made-for-television movie Star Trek: Section 31 recently concluded production with star Michelle Yeoh, and the new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will begin shooting later this year. There is enough Star Trek to keep the deck plates humming for a while, probably at least into 2028. Anson Mount’s run as Captain Christopher Pike of the U.S.S. Enterprise eventually must end as a new Captain Kirk takes over the big chair, and there’s a built-in assumption of a Five Year Mission once that happens, and the fact that Strange New Worlds is the setup for that happening is the most obvious trope in fandom right now.
That should take Star Trek at least into 2030. Beyond that, who knows? It’s a big universe. Star Trek fans will be there to help create and discover it.
Where to Write
There is a petition on Change.org that has been set up in the hopes that the voices of a very large number of people can be added together to influence Paramount (or whomever might come after) to pay for more seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Go here to add your name to the list.
If you want to write directly to Paramount, you can do that too. The address is:
Paramount
1515 Broadway
New York NY 10036
-30-
President of Krypton Media Group, Inc., radio personality and station manager of SCIFI.radio. Part writer, part animator, part musician, part illustrator, part programmer, part entrepreneur – all geek.
