The story
Captain Christopher Pike commands the USS Enterprise in the decade before Kirk takes the chair, flanked by a young Spock and his formidable first officer, Number One. Carrying the knowledge of a grim fate that awaits him, Pike leads his crew through largely self-contained missions to uncharted planets, first contacts and deep-space dangers, each one echoing the optimistic, exploratory spirit of the 1960s original.
Why it matters
Born from fan demand after Anson Mount's Pike won over Discovery viewers, Strange New Worlds revived the episodic storytelling of the original 1960s series in place of Discovery's serialised approach. Its genre-hopping, including a musical episode, made it Paramount+'s most-watched original Star Trek series over its first 90 days.
Notable facts
- It spins off from Discovery's 2019 second season, where Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn first played Pike, Spock and Number One. (source)
- Its second season features a full musical episode, 'Subspace Rhapsody'. (source)
- Paramount at first planned to end it after four seasons, before a six-episode final season was added in June 2025. (source)
- It is the first Star Trek series since The Next Generation to use the franchise's famous opening narration in its credits. (source)