Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series revealed — Captain Pike is back

Star Trek has been undergoing something of a resurgence over the last few years, with two TV series underway, and three more planned. Now, another series has joined the roster: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This upcoming CBS All Access show will follow the adventures of Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise about ten years before Capt. Kirk took command.

We don’t know very much about the series, other than the fact that it’s happening, and it will star some fan-favorite guest stars from Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery. But thanks to a short video teasing Strange New Worlds, we can extrapolate a few important things about the show until we learn more officially.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast

We learned about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds from a video posted on the official Star Trek Twitter account:

In it, the show’s three principal cast members announced the show and talked a little about the basic premise. As such, we know that the show will star Anson Mount as Capt. Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as first officer Number One and Ethan Peck as science officer Lt. Spock. Fans may remember these characters from Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery — or from the original Star Trek pilot back in the ‘60s. They were played by different actors back then, though, of course.

For those who didn’t catch Discovery Season 2, Capt. Pike came aboard the U.S.S. Discovery as acting captain, while Number One remained in command of the Enterprise. Spock showed up later in the season to help solve some plot complications. The three characters also show up in some of the Short Treks adventures, where you’ll get to see Number One singing Gilbert and Sullivan, and Pike testing a subordinate officer’s loyalty.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds release date

Unfortunately, we don’t know the first thing about when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will come out. The announcement video didn’t give a date, nor did it tell us how far along the show is in production. Assuming the show hasn’t been filmed yet, it’s probably more than a year off, since a lot of TV production is on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ll update when we know more. For the moment, don’t expect this one before 2021, at least.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds story

While we don’t know the exact setup for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the three cast members did give us some hints. First off, it’s almost a given that it will take place aboard their ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise, sometime before Pike handed the ship off to Kirk in The Original Series. Strange New Worlds could theoretically take place before Discovery, but I imagine that setting it after Discovery S2 would make more sense. Now that the Discovery has set off on a one-way trip to the far future, the Enterprise will likely have to deal with the fallout back in the 23rd century.

The actors also hinted that the show will channel the optimistic, unifying spirit of The Original Series more so than the dark and sometimes cynical tone of Discovery and Picard. This could mean an adventure-of-the-week storytelling style — something that no Star Trek show has had since Season 2 of Enterprise back in 2002. Of course, thanks to on-demand viewing, it could still have more connectivity from episode to episode than The Original Series. Remember: If you missed an episode back in the day, there was no guarantee that you’d ever see it again.

In any case, that’s all we know about Strange New Worlds for the moment. If you’re already craving more Pike, Number One and Spock, some of the Star Trek Discovery novels deal with their backstories. You could also watch their adventures on Short Treks, in “Q&A” and “Ask Not.” Alternatively, you can see the characters as they were first introduced in the Original Series episodes “The Cage” and “The Menagerie.”