Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has consistently remained a fan-favorite thanks to its lovable cast of characters and emphasis on episodic sci-fi storytelling reminiscent of the original Star Trek series that it serves as a prequel to. And while last year’s third season largely held true to that, it unfortunately ended on a sour note thanks to a mediocre, overly convoluted finale and the news that the series would end with a truncated fifth season currently scheduled for release in 2027. But in the meantime, we have one more full-length season to enjoy.
Strange New Worlds Season 4 largely avoids the pitfalls of Season 3’s ending and gets the series back to the fun, shenanigan-of-the-week science fiction that has made it so beloved. But with the show’s ending on the horizon, these particular adventures can’t help but feel like they’re missing something despite the overall consistent quality. Though please keep in mind that this only applies to the first six episodes, as that was what was made available to me at the time of writing.
What is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 about?
Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+
The intrepid crew of the USS Enterprise, led by Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, continues their journey through space, encountering old friends, new enemies, and continuously bizarre phenomena. As they try to take each new mission’s demands in stride, the crew finds community with each other as they work day by day to build the best future they can.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Review
Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+
Like I said earlier, Strange New Worlds‘ core appeal has been its episodic nature from the outset and its ability to tell completely standalone stories is one of the things I love most about it. But while the timelines may not line up for this to actually be the case, Season 4’s extreme aversion to almost anything resembling continuity feels like a massive overcorrection for the negative response to Season 3’s main villain arc and ending. Pike’s wife died at the end of the last season, and his grief and trauma are given exactly one passing mention before being entirely forgotten about.
There are a few exceptions, of course. Season 4 explores previous threads like La’an’s struggles with controlling her anger or Una Chin-Riley’s trauma over hiding her true identity for so long rather well. Plus, the way that various character dynamics evolve from previous seasons as well as within the context of just Season 4 is fun to see play out. But on the other hand, potentially compelling concepts from the back half of Season 3 get very quickly abandoned in an effort to return to the status quo of the first two-and-a-half seasons, and it can’t help but feel like wasted potential.
Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+
With all that said, this is still Strange New Worlds, and that means it’s almost always a fun time. Each episode feels different from the last; each one explores some new aesthetic or genre trope in a clever way while diving into character dynamics and relationships that make the already compelling cast feel that much more real. In particular, I really appreciate how the aforementioned La’an’s arc fully demonstrates that she’s more than her family and past while never shying away from the daily hardships she faces from that. Christina Chong has always been good in this role, but she particularly shines here.
Really, the entire cast continues to fire on all cylinders. Ethan Peck is the best Spock not named Leonard Nimoy you can ask for, Martin Quinn’s take on Scotty fits in with the established Strange New Worlds crew rather nicely, and characters like Melissa Navia’s Ortegas, Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura, and Carol Kane’s Pelia are the highlights of every scene they’re in.
Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+
And for as much as I lamented how the season glosses over Pike’s grief, it is rather refreshing to see a Star Trek show that doesn’t make the captain hog too much of a spotlight, and Anson Mount knows exactly when to step up and take charge of a scene and exactly when to step back and let someone else shine.
Is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 worth watching?
Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+
I won’t act like it isn’t disappointing to see Strange New Worlds Season 4 keep these characters running on a treadmill while waiting for their status quo to end and the TOS status quo to begin, but when this show is good, it is in fact really good. The character work and performances are strong, the episodic storylines are very inventive, and there’s at least one episode that legitimately ranks among the best of the series (You’ll know it when you see it). It would be nice to see the show boldly go forward more often, but if it continues to be this fun until the end, I’ll still be happy.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 premieres on Paramount Plus July 23. Six out of ten episodes reviewed.
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