One of the good things to come from Star Trek: Discovery has to be the emergence of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We’re going to have a look at what you can expect from it in 2022.

Demanded by the fans

We first saw Captain Pike in season two of Star Trek: Discovery. Alongside him was number one (played by Rebecca Romijn), and Spock, played by Ethan Peck. It is true that there was no initial plan to create a new series around these characters. But such was the love and praise they received from fans; it persuaded the creators to make it so. Ok, so Captain Pike’s tagline is ‘hit it’, but you get my point.
This could be the Star Trek series that the purist fans have been waiting for. Discovery has polarised opinion and Picard has had its criticisms. What we know so far is that Strange New Worlds will be going back to basics with the principles of Trek. Anson Mount who plays Pike has already said the show will be about optimism and exploration. This will please many fans who are desperate for that.

Another prequel

Now that Discovery has bounded several hundred years into the future, it seems ok to go back to prequel territory. We know that Strange New Worlds will be set a decade before the original series. It will follow Captain Pike at the helm, backed up by number one and of course Mr Spock. Showrunner Alex Kurtzman has also stated that the show will explore the seven years from Discovery, through to Pike’s accident in the original series. That leaves quite a lot of time for exploring new worlds and new civilisations. It’ll be interesting to see where the scriptwriters take the story. Will they encounter lifeforms never seen before? Or will they go down another route? We will have to wait and see.

Episodic

Much of the criticism that’s levelled at the new Trek shows is that they don’t follow an episodic format. It’s more of a continuing story arc that goes through the whole season. Previous Trek shows tended to bring a new story every episode, and this is what the writers are aiming to do with Strange New Worlds. Personally, I think that’s exciting. It gives the writers the chance to explore so many different stories and subjects but keeping character arcs flowing.

I think we can expect to see a fresh-faced and optimistic show in Strange New Worlds. It sounds like there’s going to be an old-fashioned approach to storytelling reminiscent of series gone by. That sounds like an exciting prospect.

Cast and crew

Such was the popularity of Anson Mount as Captain Pike it’s no surprise he agreed to portray the role for the new series. He’s a fine actor in his own right, but also brings a cool and calm persona to the captain’s chair. It’ll be interesting to see where he takes the character; particularly as he’s had a glimpse at his tragic future. Rebecca Romijn reprises her role as number one. An interesting fact is that Majel Barret (Gene Rodenberry’s partner) played number one in the 1965 pilot episode. Although that episode was never released publicly until 1998 it’s great to see that the character will be properly explored in this series. Mr Spock will also return, played by Ethan Peck.

Spock went through quite a journey on Discovery with his visions of the red angel, but I’d imagine this journey may be more serene. Producers have already said Spock will still be finding himself and won’t be the wise character from the original series. There is a whole decade of character exploration to go before that.

It’s also been said that Pike and number one will be portrayed as parental figures, particularly towards Spock. Reading between the lines, it looks like the focus will be on the whole crew. This is the opposite to Discovery, which revolves the plots around Michael Burnham. It’s also exciting to see that Jonathan Frakes has been announced the direct the series. His skills behind the camera have been proved already on Discovery, so no doubt he’ll bring that passion to Strange New Worlds.

Design

Set designers must have a hard job when updating science fiction sets without them looking too futuristic. The designers for Discovery managed to do a pretty good job of not making it look too futuristic. Being that Strange New Worlds is set a decade before the original series, the designers have a job to keep it with a similar theme of the original series. But they have to make sure it’s looking good enough for a modern audience. The producers have said the design for the ship work was completed eight months ago. They also hint that they want to keep some of the design elements from the original show. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how they incorporate both of those features.

Filming and musical score

The pandemic has messed with every film schedule over the past year, and Strange New Worlds is no different. We do know that filming officially began and the end of February and that’s it’s due to wrap in July this year. A lot of the scripts have already been completed, so expect to see a teaser trailer by the summer. There’s been no official word on a release date, but as a guess, a late 2021 release looks likely.

Something that is key to all Star Trek productions is the musical score. Jerry Goldsmith was heavily involved in the iconic Trek scores from decades gone by, and they were timeless. Composer Jeff Russo has already penned the Discovery and Picard series musical scores. According to Alex Kurtzman, the two have discussed the music for Strange New Worlds. Whether he will be directly involved in writing the music has yet to be confirmed.

All in all, Strange New Worlds looks like it’s going to be an exciting series. A return to the optimistic and exploratory Star Trek that Gene Rodenberry first wrote about all those years ago. We can’t wait.

Thanks for reading on what to expect from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. What would you like to see happen? Are there any rumours you’ve heard? What do you think the plot will be? Leave us a comment below.

Read what to expect from Season Four of Star trek: Discovery HERE.

Check out IMDB information on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds HERE.