Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' cast is saying goodbye as the series wraps production, and here's what this means for the show, characters, and fans. The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is completing filming in Toronto, bringing the 'five-year mission' of Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) Starship Enterprise to a close.
Paramount+ renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for a shortened 6-episode season 5 when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 premiered in June 2025. Filming of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's 10 episodes wrapped in July. The final two seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are expected to premiere on Paramount+ in 2026 and 2027.
The fact that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds produced two seasons so rapidly, especially after a two-year wait for season 3, can understandably be confusing. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' actors announcing on their social media that they are exiting the show also left some fans worried their characters are being killed off and what it means for the show.
However, everyone who is bidding farewell right now is doing so after wrapping Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5, which means they make it to the end of the series. This includes Christina Chong's Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding's Ensign Nyota Uhura, Martin Quinn's Scotty, and Jess Bush's Nurse Christine Chapel.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Is Over For The Actors & Crew But Not For Fans
Even though Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is over for the actors and crew in terms of filming and production, it's not over for audiences yet. Between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seasons 4 and 5, there are still 16 episodes to come on Paramount+. While 16 episodes don't seem like a lot, it's still more Strange New Worlds to look forward to.
The actors who play the crew of Captain Pike's Starship Enterprise may be saying goodbye to their characters, but they're not quite done with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The cast will still be promoting the series over the next two years, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' actors are frequent and popular guests at Star Trek conventions around the world.
Paramount+ Hasn’t Greenlit Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Captain Kirk Spinoff
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, as fans have come to know it, is about to end, but after the fifth and final season streams on Paramount+ in a couple of years, what happens next? One possibility is the Star Trek: Year One spinoff proposed by Strange New Worlds' executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers.
Star Trek: Year One would ostensibly be a spinoff about Captain James T. Kirk's (Paul Wesley) commanding the USS Enterprise with Spock (Ethan Peck). According to Goldsman and Myers, Strange New Worlds goes right to the bleeding edge of the start of Star Trek: The Original Series, and Year One would tell new stories set between Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: The Original Series' "Where No Man Has Gone Before."
However, Star Trek: Year One is just an idea, and it's unclear if it has been formally pitched to Paramount Skydance. Regardless, the new owners of Paramount+ must be aware of Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers' Star Trek: Year One plan. Whether it happens, and a new Captain Kirk show is in Paramount Skydance's developing plans for the Star Trek TV franchise, is anyone's guess.
Which Strange New Worlds Characters Would Join Star Trek: Year One
If Star Trek: Year One does happen, it would require negotiating new contracts for various actors from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for the spinoff, including the crucial players, Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck. Wesley, for his part, has publicly expressed his enthusiasm for continuing to play Captain Kirk.
Given which characters are canonically part of Captain Kirk's USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series, here is who from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds would need to come back for Star Trek: Year One:
|
Strange New Worlds Characters Needed For Star Trek: Year One |
Actor |
|
Captain James T. Kirk |
Paul Wesley |
|
Commander Spock |
Ethan Peck |
|
Lieutenant Uhura |
Celia Rose Gooding |
|
Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott (Scotty) |
Martin Quinn |
|
Nurse Christine Chapel |
Jess Bush |
In addition, Dr. Joseph M'Benga also appears in Star Trek: The Original Series, even if he's no longer Chief Medical Officer under Captain Kirk, so Babs Olusanmokun might also return if Star Trek: Year One happens.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will have to reveal what happens to Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and Commander Pelia (Carol Kane), and explain why they exit the USS Enterprise when Captain Kirk takes over.
If Star Trek: Year One doesn't happen, unless another idea comes forth that would reunite the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the actors are done with the series from a production standpoint but will always remain part of the Star Trek family.
For the audience, we'll still be seeing a lot more of the Starship Enterprise for the next couple of years in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seasons 4 and 5.
