Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks renewed for two seasons
The renewal follows recent news that the flagship series Star Trek: Discovery will conclude its fifth season.
Paramount+ is boldly doubling down on its ever-expanding Star Trek universe: the streamer has renewed the popular series Strange New Worlds, which debuted to critical acclaim in the summer of 2022, for a first season for two seasons each of Trek ever and the quirky animated comedy series Lower Decks.
The news comes just weeks after news that the flagship series Star Trek: Discovery, which launched the entire streaming universe Star Trek on CBS All Access in 2017 before the streamer became Paramount+, has entered its fifth season will end. Between this news and the fact that Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard will be her last, it seems like Phase 1 of what fans affectionately call Nu-Trek is coming to an end for another franchise to borrow
Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks are unique in that they will host a crossover event in the coming period. How do you combine a live action show with an animated series? Especially series that take place in different centuries?
Strange New Worlds is a spin-off of Discovery and is set aboard the USS Enterprise in the immediate years before James T. Kirk took over as Chair, chaired by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) with Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Number One. Lower Decks is set in the years after Star Trek: Nemesis and even bridged part of the gap between that film and Star Trek: Picard. Apparently this crossover episode will mix live action and animation – it was helmed by franchise MVP director Jonathan Frakes. If anyone can do it, they can.
In general, Trek franchise overlord Alex Kurtzman, a sort of Kevin Feige of the franchise, has hinted that crossovers will be limited and the many series currently airing and yet to be announced won’t “build on anything,” so as the “Star Wars” series is revealed on Disney+.
This allows Trek to be nimble and focused on character-driven, original storytelling grounded in ideas, ethics and exploration, the essence of forward-thinking creator Gene Roddenberry – fans adored the episodic nature of Strange New Worlds. Although set in a different era, it evoked the ‘Star Trek’ ethos of the ’90s more than any other new series to date. It has a capacity for awesomeness that can be summed up by one of the few but incredibly cool things we know about Season 2: Carol Kane has joined the cast.
Season 2 of Strange New Worlds debuts June 15 on Paramount+, with Season 4 of Lower Decks following later this summer. The kid-centric series Star Trek: Prodigy will return for Season 2 this winter. And Discovery Season 5 will debut in early 2024.
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https://www.indiewire.com/2023/03/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-lower-decks-renewed-two-seasons-1234823703/ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks renewed for two seasons
