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The Plot

     Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes place in the era before James T. Kirk became captain, following his mentor and predecessor, Christopher Pike. On the timeline, the series will happen after the events of Star Trek: Discovery and the original (failed) Star Trek pilot episode “The Cage” but will come before the successful Original Series pilot, “Where No Man has Gone Before.” As far as a stardate goes, Strange New Worlds should occur somewhere between 2259 and 2266. Given what we know about Discovery, tense relations between the Klingons and the Federation are likely to have a significant influence on the story.

The series was written by Akiva Goldsman, who will serve as a co-showrunner with Henry Alonso. Along with helping write Picard, Goldsman has several other prime titles on his resume, including Batman & Robin, The Da Vinci Code, and A Beautiful Mind. He was quoted as saying:

That kind of passion is always auspicious for an upcoming show.

The Cast

The cast has some familiar names from Star Trek: Discovery and some new ones. And along with being amazingly diverse, the way Starfleet should be, the characters imply some surprises for the series. Anson Mount and Ethan Peck will reprise their roles from Discovery as Christopher Pike and Spock, respectively. But Rebecca Romijn (pre-Jennifer Lawrence Mystique from the X-Men films) will be playing a series of original roles as Number One that’s been hinted at as being central to the plotline.

Also in the cast is Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, Babs Olusanmokun playing Dr. M’Benga, Bruce Horak as Hemmer, and Celia Rose Gooding playing Cadet Nyota Uhura, who undoubtedly will fall in love with Spock. Though the trailer has already betrayed the romance unfolding, it will likely be an enjoyable experience to watch that moment of “first contact,” as they say.

Two more recent announcements in the cast have made some very exciting news. One is that Christina Chong will be playing a character named La’an Noonien-Singh. Obviously a relative of the infamous Khan, Goldsman recently confirmed that there will be a connection between this character and Captain Kirk’s dreaded nemesis, though he was very hush-hush on the details. No less surprising is the fact that this person will be an officer on the bridge of the Enterprise! While it’s exciting to superimpose Khan’s superior strength and devilish intellect onto the character, it’s more likely La’an will be a eugenics scientist with some dubious morals. But big ethical questions were what made Star Trek: The Original Series the amazing innovation in storytelling that it was, so it’s impossible to be disappointed by this.

Last but not least, it was announced that The Vampire Diaries’ Paul Wesley will play James T. Kirk. So it seems the character will continue its reputation of being young and handsome. It’s unclear where this version of Kirk will fall into the story, but there are many opportunities for the young, inspiring mentee of Captain Pike amongst the stars.

Premiere Date

The series is set to be a fantastic predecessor to The Original Series and has a place in the Star Trek timeline filled with potential. The trailer certainly creates an atmosphere of excitement, but will it follow through on the tiny seeds of wonder it has planted about the story? Set to premiere on May 5, 2022, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set to boldly go where no series has gone before.