There have been a lot of Star Trek shows coming out in the past few years, but few have captured hearts and minds like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This prequel series follows Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise, filling in the years before Captain James T. Kirk took over the ship in the original series. After experimenting with weightier storytelling in Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, Strange New Worlds signified a return to form for the franchise with its adventure-of-the-week episodes and lighter tone.
It's obvious that Paramount+ knows it's got a hit on its hands, because Strange New Worlds has already aired two seasons and has a third on the way in 2025. But that's not all! The show also got an early renewal for season 4 all the way back in April of 2024, so we've known for a while now that we've got a few more outings with Pike on the Enterprise ahead. And the latest news coming out of Starfleet indicates the fourth season may start filming even earlier than expected — which means we may be watching it even earlier than expected. It's exciting times on the final frontier!
This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which just published an interview with Paul Wesley, the actor who portrays young James T. Kirk in Strange New Worlds. The interview is primarily about how Wesley launched his Brother's Bond Bourbon business with his Vampire Diaries costar Ian Somerhalder, but it did contain an interesting tidbit about the filming schedule for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as well.
"Definitely, for me, neither takes a priority," Wesley replied when THR asked how he balances his time between acting and his business endeavors. "I mean, it’s one of these situations where, with acting, it’s very much a freelance job. For example, I’m going off to shoot season four of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in February, and they know that. So, I’ve accounted for that time, and I’m committed to that, and Ian’s gonna take over some of my duties, and I have other team members. I need to be in front of the camera. I need to do things, as far as finding characters. That, for me, that’s rewarding. I’ve done it since I was a child. I’ve literally been doing theater since I was in third grade, and so I have to continue doing it. And also it feeds the product. If I’m doing well, then the company’s thriving as well, because I have more eyeballs on me, I suppose."
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 to film in February 2025
It's important to note that the February date is just when Wesley is being called to Toronto for filming — for all we know, it could start even earlier than that for other actors. But regardless, it's good to have a finite time window where we know production will be ramping up on Strange New Worlds season 4. This means it'll likely be filming before season 3 even releases in 2025. And that makes it very possible that we could get season 4 in 2026, which is fantastic. Take that, two-year-gap norm for genre shows!
Of course, Strange New Worlds isn't the only Star Trek show on the way. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy began production last month in Toronto as well. That one stars Holly Hunter as the head of the titular Starfleet Academy which trains prospective members of Starfleet. Paul Giamatti plays a mysterious villain, and Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, Zoë Steiner, and Sandro Rosta play new recruits at the academy. It's also expected to feature appearances from a bunch of Star Trek veterans like Tig Notaro, Oded Fehr and Mary Wiseman from Star Trek: Discovery and Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager. Starfleet Academy is an ambitious show, and it's going to be interesting to see how it stands besides the likes of Strange New Worlds.
So strap in for more Star Trek in 2025 and 2026! Something tells me it's going to be a good few years in Starfleet.
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h/t TrekMovie.com