Star Trek: Discovery is ending in 2024, and that announcement left a lot of fans worried about what overall health of the franchise may be going into the future. Fortunately, we didn't have to wonder for too long on that front, as it appears that everyone with Paramount+ subscriptions can look forward to watching new Star Trek for a while longer yet. Paramount+ officially renewed ongoing faves Strange New Worlds and the animated comedy Lower Decks, while also revealing when both will be returning in 2023, which is still loaded with upcoming Trek shows.
While the order in which we'll be receiving new shows isn't a surprise, it is certainly great to hear that new seasons are in place for a couple of the current offerings. Here's what we know so far for each series and what the future looks like for them on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 will premiere on Paramount+ on Thursday, June 15th, in the U.S, UK, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Which obviously means European fans will get to stream the premiere around the same time as fans in North America, which has long been a gripe for those across the pond. No word on whether the entire ten-episode season will roll out that way, but at least the premiere is locked in!
Paramount+ also announced that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will return for more throwback excellence with Season 3, which will also take place across ten episodes. That's great news for those who love the series, which seemingly appears to be most critics and Star Trek fans, so expect a lot more genre-mashing action in 2024.
Star Trek: Lower Decks
Star Trek: Lower Decks is back for Season 4 on Paramount+ and should appear on the platform sometime in the late summer. While an exact date hasn't been announced, one would imagine the franchise will try to prevent overlap between Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks and schedule the series sometime in late August or even September.
Just like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks was also renewed for a new batch of installments. Season 5 will be ten episodes, similar to this coming season, which will put Lower Decks in striking distance of Discovery's episode count. Whether or not that means that Lower Decks is coming to its own end, or if it will go on to become the most-tenured show of the new era, we'll just have to wait and see.
Star Trek: Prodigy
Star Trek: Prodigy will return in the winter for its much-anticipated Season 2. Led by actor Brett Gray and Voyager veteran Kate Mulgrew, Prodigy showed fans that even a Trek show made for a younger audience could deliver hard-hitting stories and some of the best episodes we saw in 2022.
Unfortunately, there is no definitive word yet on whether or not Prodigy will return for Season 3. It's possible that Season 2 will be split into two parts, as it went with Season 1, however, with fans having to wait a while longer for potential announcements about Season 3.
Stream all the new Star Trek shows right now on Paramount+. The future is still looking bright for the franchise, even if Discovery is ending, and there's a chance it'll only look brighter with fresh announcements potentially coming when First Contact Day arrives on April 5th.
