They may be selling off the set, but there are still two more seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to come, with the fourth season arriving in July. After some mixed reactions to season 3, the executive producers of the series are trying to reset the narrative about the series set onboard the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike.

More episodic and character-focused

The third season of Strange New Worlds featured a lot of genre hopping as well as a return to the recurring Gorn as villains storyline. We have heard talk of a pivot in season 4 before and in a new interview with Polygon, executive producer and co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman confirmed that this upcoming season will not have a “big bad” like the Gorn, calling season 4 “pure Strange New Worlds.”

We do know that season 4 will have a puppet episode, which is certainly another one of those genre big swings, and something Goldsman reveals results when Pike suffers “an unexpected and terrible transporter accident.” However, the showrunner assured that kind of storytelling isn’t the focus of the new season, saying:

“We move around in terms of tone, we move around in terms of genre, and then we drive it to the last six episodes, which is pretty singular.”

(L-R): Rebecca Romijn as Una, Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh, and Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas in season 4, episode 1, of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+

More Kirk and Spock, but no Shatner

In earlier interviews, the cast has talked about more character-focused episodes in season 4, which Goldsman also confirmed, specifically for characters that aren’t part of TOS, like Ortegas and La’an. However, in the same interview Goldsman along with executive producer Alex Kurtzman confirmed how the new season will start to focus on the new relationship between Kirk and Spock, with Kurtzman telling Polygon:

“We know what they’re like in The Original Series, but we don’t know how they got there. You don’t want to just come in and give people exactly what they expect at the end. It would get really boring. We wanted to give each of them something to strive for as a character, something to learn about each other, something to be surprised by. That continues this season in a big way.”

There has been some speculation that William Shatner might appear in Strange New Worlds. In fact, Shatner himself has indicated there was some outreach from unspecified producers  and as this new season spans the official 60th anniversary coming up in September, the timing would be just right for such a major appearance. And in the Polygon interview the producers confirmed that they did try to make Shatner’s return happen, including developing several scripts, but it never came together. Still, Kurtzman is sanguine about how they wrapped up their work on the show, saying:

“I think if you get to the end and there’s nothing left for you to want to do, then that’s more of a disappointment. I’m proud of every episode we’ve done, but I feel like the best dinners you come to don’t leave you feeling stuffed. They leave you wanting more.”

(L-R): Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk and Ethan Peck as Spock in season 4, episode 2, of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+

ICYMI: CCXP 2026 Trailer

The 10-episode fourth season premieres on July 23. Paramount+ has not announced a release date for the fifth and final season. Here is the trailer released last month at CCXP.

 

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