Background When
Alex Kurtzman, the co-creator and executive producer of
Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024), asked
Akiva Goldsman to join that series as a supporting producer, Goldsman believed—based on internet rumors—that it was a prequel to
Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969) following the under the command of Captain
Christopher Pike. He was disappointed to find this was not the case, and with his encouragement the
Enterprise was introduced in the
first-season finale (2018). Then co-
showrunner Aaron Harberts wanted to explore Pike, feeling he had not been seen much in
Star Trek, but was less interested in exploring
Enterprise crew member
Spock due to his many franchise appearances. Harberts was also reluctant to have an actor other than
Leonard Nimoy or
Zachary Quinto portray the character. However, Spock was confirmed to be in the
second season in April 2018.
Anson Mount was cast as Pike, and he revealed in July that
Rebecca Romijn would portray
Original Series character
Number One. Mount and Romijn signed one-year deals for the series as part of the producers' attempt to align
Discovery more closely with the wider
Star Trek continuity than it was in the first season. In August,
Ethan Peck was revealed to have been cast as Spock.
Development In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of
Discovery, Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with
CBS Television Studios to expand the
Star Trek franchise beyond
Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. Mount left
Discovery following the second-season finale, and fans began calling for him to reprise his role in a spin-off series set on the
Enterprise, alongside Romijn and Peck. Mount and Peck both responded positively to the idea. Mount said
Discovery long filming schedule was difficult and his return would involve "a lot of creative conversations", but he later added that he had never had such a positive response to his work as he did for Pike and the role "changed [his] life". In April 2019, Kurtzman was asked about the spin-off idea and said, "The fans have been heard. Anything is possible in the world of
Trek." At
San Diego Comic-Con in July, Kurtzman announced that the second season of companion series
Star Trek: Short Treks (2018–2020) would include three shorts starring the
Enterprise actors. He said this was a way to bring those characters and actors back, but would not prevent a full spin-off series from being made. In January 2020, Kurtzman said active discussions regarding a spin-off series had begun and he had been "tossing ideas back and forth" with Goldsman, who had moved from producing
Discovery to co-showrunning
Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023). Kurtzman said he would prefer for it to be an ongoing series rather than a miniseries, and said it could explore the seven years between
Discovery second season and the accident that seriously injures Pike in
The Original Series. Kurtzman soon said two unannounced
Star Trek series were in development for
CBS All Access. CBS All Access officially ordered
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to series in May 2020, with Mount, Romijn, and Peck confirmed to be reprising their roles. Kurtzman and Goldsman were confirmed to be executive producing alongside: their fellow
Star Trek producer
Jenny Lumet; Henry Alonso Myers;
Heather Kadin and Aaron Baiers of Kurtzman's production company Secret Hideout; Frank Siracusa; John Weber; and
Rod Roddenberry, the son of
Star Trek creator
Gene Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment. Akela Cooper and Davy Perez were set as co-executive producers. Goldsman wrote the script for the series' first episode based on a story he wrote with Kurtzman and Lumet, and was set as showrunner alongside Myers. Goldsman would also remain an executive producer and co-showrunner on
Picard. Myers joked that "
The Cage" (1965), the first
pilot episode of
The Original Series which stars the same main characters as
Strange New Worlds, could be considered the pilot for the new series as well, making it "the longest pilot-to-series pickup in the history of television". In September 2020, ViacomCBS (later renamed
Paramount Global) announced that CBS All Access would be expanded and rebranded as
Paramount+. A
second season of
Strange New Worlds was reported to be in development in November 2021, which Paramount+ officially announced in January 2022 ahead of the
first season's release. Goldsman expressed his hope that the series would continue until it caught up with the events of
The Original Series, stating: "We will continue on for as long as Paramount lets us. We will drive right into
The Original Series." Mount said he was willing to continue the series until fans felt Pike was on the same level as previous
Star Trek captains
James T. Kirk and
Jean-Luc Picard. Paramount+ officially announced a
third season in March 2023, ahead of the second season's release, and a
fourth season in April 2024 while the third was in production. Amid financial issues and
an ongoing merger process with Skydance Media, Paramount decided to end the series after four seasons. The showrunners did not want it to end without connecting to
The Original Series, and said they would need six more episodes to do that. Paramount,
CBS Studios, and Secret Hideout did not want a similar situation to
Discovery, which was denied a proper conclusion following its cancelation, and worked together to find a way for those additional episodes to be made. In June 2025, ahead of the third season's premiere and during production on the fourth season, a six-episode
fifth and final season was announced. Adam B. Vary of
Variety said the announcement was "something of a surprise". Goldsman and Myers said they were grateful to be given the abbreviated final season so they could complete their "five-season mission".
Writing Kurtzman felt audiences had primarily responded to the "relentless optimism" of Pike, Spock, and Number One on
Discovery, and said
Strange New Worlds would explore how Pike remains an optimistic leader despite learning about his tragic future during
Discovery second season. Myers wanted to take advantage of his own experience in comedy to make the series lighter than the more dramatic
Discovery and
Picard, feeling that the purpose of the series was to carry on the optimistic messages of
The Original Series. It was important to him to explore current social and political issues in the series, as all previous
Star Trek projects had, and to ignore elements of characterization from
The Original Series that were no longer appropriate, such as its portrayal of female characters, in favor of a more modern approach. Goldsman described the series' approach to depicting younger versions of characters from
The Original Series as "inductive storytelling", explaining that the writers "can see where somebody ended up and then try to imagine how they got there". The showrunners put together a "five-year plan", inspired by the traditional
Star Trek five year mission, to show how the returning characters become who they are at the start of
The Original Series and what happens to some of the other characters. The series is more episodic than
Discovery and
Picard, a style closer to
The Original Series, but it takes advantage of serialized storytelling to develop character arcs. Myers said the writers wanted to bring a "modern character sensibility" to "
Star Trek in the way
Star Trek stories were always told. It's a ship and it's traveling to strange new worlds and we are going to tell big idea science fiction adventures in an episodic mode. So we have room to meet new aliens, see new ships, visit new cultures." Since the series has just ten episodes a season, unlike the 20 episodes or more that past episodic
Star Trek seasons had, the producers felt
Strange New Worlds was not able to just try things and instead wanted to show its full potential by giving each episode a dramatically different genre and tone. Goldsman said this was the only series he worked on where he wished to have double the number of episodes, as the writers had to discard ten good ideas for each ten that were selected for a season. One idea that never came to fruition was a fully animated episode inspired by
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–74), though the series does
crossover with the animated series
Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–2024) in the second-season episode "
Those Old Scientists". After working as a general science advisor on
Discovery and the other Paramount+
Star Trek series, astrophysicist
Erin Macdonald did the same for
Strange New Worlds. She said each series was on a "spectrum of science to fiction" and her role on
Strange New Worlds was mostly to help the writers remove the "
word salad" from science explanations and tweak other dialogue to ensure the correct terms were being used.
Casting Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn star in the series, reprising their respective roles of Christopher Pike, Spock, and Una Chin-Riley / Number One from
Star Trek: Discovery. Their characters were first introduced in "The Cage", which starred
Jeffrey Hunter as Pike,
Leonard Nimoy as Spock, and
Majel Barrett as Number One.
Babs Olusanmokun,
Christina Chong,
Celia Rose Gooding,
Jess Bush, and
Melissa Navia were announced as additional series regulars with the start of filming. Their roles were revealed in September 2021: Bush was cast in Barrett's other
Original Series role of
Christine Chapel, Gooding took over the role of
Nyota Uhura from
Nichelle Nichols, and Olusanmokun replaced
Booker Bradshaw as
Joseph M'Benga. Chong, Navia, and
Bruce Horak were cast as new characters La'An Noonien-Singh, Erica Ortegas, and Hemmer. Horak was the first legally blind regular actor in a
Star Trek series. After Hemmer's death in the first season, Horak returned as the character for a guest role in the second.
James Doohan's
Original Series character
Montgomery "Scotty" Scott had an offscreen
cameo appearance in the first-season finale, voiced by Matthew Wolf, before
Martin Quinn was cast in the role for the second-season finale. Quinn was made a series regular for the third season.
Design Design work began by August 2020, with Jonathan Lee as production designer. Myers said they approached the series as if
Star Trek creator
Gene Roddenberry was making
The Original Series with modern technology and effects, keeping elements of the 1960s designs that still worked for a contemporary project while avoiding the parts that looked "cheap". He compared this to the first
Star Trek film,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which also used its budget and resources to expand on the original designs. Mount said the sets had a "mid-century modern look from the 1960s. There are some pieces that you might find in a super upscale version of
Macy's in 1967. It retains that cool '60s vibe, but in an updated way". The
Enterprise sets for
Strange New Worlds were updated from the
Discovery ones, such as the bridge set being more compact and closer to the size of the
Original Series set. The sets were designed to function like a practical starship, including moving components and pre-programmed monitor graphics that reacted to the actors, and a practical viewscreen to replace the visual effects that
Discovery used. Lee wanted the bridge to feel "warmer" than
Discovery cool blue and green palette, especially using the colors of the on-set monitor graphics to achieve this. The engineering, mess hall, and cargo bay sets were augmented with
virtual production technology. The props were also redesigned from
Discovery:
phasers,
tricorders, and
communicators all feature "retro" looks closer to those from
The Original Series. Bernadette Croft was hired as costume designer after working as an assistant on
Discovery. The Starfleet uniforms were updated from
Discovery, to have a more casual style closer to
The Original Series. Mount called them "a world of difference from the
Discovery uniforms. They're a lot more forgiving... more of a throwback." They retain the primary colors from
The Original Series (
Pantone colors are noted in parentheses): gold (Chai Tea) for command and control, blue (Duck Denim) for science, and red (Pomegranate) for communications, engineering, security, and tactical. Each division has an insignia that appears on their Starfleet badge, and as a pattern on the shoulders and arms. The uniform has a standard tunic and a longer jacket variation. The latter is similar to the
miniskirt-style uniforms worn by actresses on
The Original Series, which Croft initially wanted to avoid due to their "over-sexualization". Romijn encouraged her to make a more appropriate version because "you can make it look badass, and you can fight, you can do whatever you need to do in a dress". The series' version is gender-neutral and actors decide whether they want to wear it or the tunic style. Dr. M'Benga's tunic is light blue—Pantone color Blue Heaven—and has a flap in the front to approximate the look of modern
scrubs, while also taking inspiration from the costumes worn by
DeForest Kelley's Dr.
Leonard McCoy in
The Original Series. Nurse Chapel wears a white jumpsuit that is similar to the medical uniforms worn in
Discovery. Away-team members wear a gray jacket over their uniforms which are an homage to the jackets worn in "The Cage". The jackets have a round patch on the shoulder that was inspired by a costume worn by
William Shatner as James T. Kirk in the film
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Shoe designer
John Fluevog created futuristic versions of the "Cuban-style boots" from
The Original Series. The leather boots have a metal Starfleet delta insignia on the ankle.
Legacy Effects provided alien prosthetics for the series, and introduced new alien species in almost every episode. Per Goldsman's request, Legacy re-designed the prosthetics for Spock's ears and eyebrows to be closer to those used on Nimoy in "The Cage" than the ones from
Discovery. Prosthetics department head Chris Bridges convinced Peck to shave his eyebrows, which Peck had chosen not to do on
Discovery, to improve the process of applying the prosthetics and reduce the time it took from two hours to 70 minutes. The make-up and hair team worked on Spock's hairstyle and sideburns, creating a variation on Nimoy's look that suited Peck's face. In the initial edit of the series' first episode, Goldsman added a temporary title sequence using the one from
The Original Series, with the franchise's famous "
Space: the final frontier..." monologue and images of the
Enterprise in space. This inspired the actual title sequence which was designed by creative studio Picturemill. It begins with a "start-up sequence" where the
Enterprise becomes illuminated and Mount gives the opening narration, followed by visuals of the
Enterprise flying through interstellar locations and visiting the titular "strange new worlds". This was compared to the "exploratory-style title sequence" from
Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001).
Filming The series was filmed at CBS Stages Canada in
Mississauga,
Ontario, under the
working title Lily and Isaac. The directors were encouraged to bring a unique look and tone to each episode to highlight the series' episodic approach. Paramount+ constructed a
video wall to allow for virtual production, based on the
StageCraft technology used on the
Disney+ series
The Mandalorian (2019–2023). The new virtual set was built in Toronto by visual effects company
Pixomondo, and features a 270-degree, by horseshoe-shaped LED volume with additional LED panels in the ceiling to aid with lighting. The technology uses the
game engine software
Unreal Engine to display computer-generated backgrounds on the LED screens in real-time during filming; additional filming to support these visual effects took place in New Mexico.
Music By December 2020,
Discovery and
Picard composer
Jeff Russo had discussed
Strange New Worlds with Kurtzman, including how it "should be treated musically", but whether Russo would be involved in the spin-off had yet to be determined. In February 2022, Russo was revealed to have written the series' main titles music while
Nami Melumad was composing the rest of the score. Melumad previously composed the music for an episode of
Short Treks and the animated series
Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–2024). Russo's main theme is a modern adaptation of
Alexander Courage's
original Star Trek theme, and includes a
theremin to foreshadow Courage's vocal arrangement. Myers felt it was a "perfect metaphor for what we are trying to do" with the series, adapting elements from
The Original Series "in a bigger, more cinematic way" than was possible in the 1960s. A
soundtrack album for the first season was released digitally by
Lakeshore Records on April 28, 2023. A
soundtrack album for "Subspace Rhapsody", the second season's musical episode, was released on August 4, 2023; Lakeshore said there were no plans to release a full soundtrack album for the season. A
soundtrack album for the third season was released on November 7, 2025. ==Release==