Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Is Their Best Yet — And The Surprisingly Simple Reason It Beats Season 3
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is poised to be its defining run, with bigger swings, higher stakes, and the boldest adventures yet.
Strange New Worlds is already looking past its bumpy third season. Showrunner Akiva Goldsman says season 4 is not just on track — it is a step up — and for once, the reasoning is some refreshingly candid, inside-baseball stuff about production realities.
Why the team thinks season 4 will be better
In a new chat with TrekMovie, Goldsman basically said the difference this time is time. No more stop-and-start chaos. No staffing shakeups. No strike hanging over the room. Just a normal, continuous season of TV — which has been rare for, well, anyone the last few years.
"We just had more time [for season 4]... more continuous time. We didn't have staffing changes. We didn't have a strike... And starting up and shutting down and starting up again is complicated."
He also called season 4 "the best work we've done."
That may sound mundane, but it is exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes turbulence that can kneecap a season, and Goldsman does not sugarcoat it. The 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes forced everyone to slam the brakes mid-process, and according to him, the ripple effects were very real.
Season 3: delayed, disrupted, and divisive
Season 3 finally arrived this July and wrapped last week, but it came in hot after strike delays and the start-stop headaches Goldsman describes. Fans noticed. It is the least well-received season of Strange New Worlds to date and currently carries the lowest audience score for the series on Rotten Tomatoes.
What the show is (and who is on the bridge)
If you are new here: Strange New Worlds is the Star Trek: Discovery spin-off that follows Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the Enterprise crew before The Original Series. Ethan Peck plays Spock, and Rebecca Romijn is Number One. Season 1 landed in 2022, season 2 hit in 2023, and season 3 got pushed because of those 2023 strikes.
Leaning into the cast's strengths
Co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers says the smoother season 4 runway let them write to what this cast does best and even push them into new territory. His barometer is simple: if the room is having fun, the show usually is too — and by his account, season 4 was a blast to make.
When to expect it
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is set to arrive sometime in 2026.