Various options for the future of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have been discussed, including the possibility of a two-hour movie.
That’s according to Number One actress Rebecca Romijn, who revealed that the show’s final run had been something of a “negotiation” with Paramount, and that another idea had been to to wrap up the show by making a streaming movie instead.
Previous seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have clocked in at 10 episodes, something that does not appear to have been an option for the series’ final run. Instead, its showrunners were initially told the popular series would be given a two-hour movie to wrap up its plotlines — before they insisted they needed more time.
“And six [episodes] — I don’t know if I should say this, but six was a negotiation,” Romijn said at the STLV: Trek to Vegas Convention, in comments first reported by TrekMovie. “Normally it was 10 episodes, but they offered us a two-hour movie and [co-showrunners] Akiva [Goldsman] and Henry [Alonso Myers] said we can’t wrap up these storylines in just two hours. And so they got [six episodes].”
Despite Paramount’s decision to end Star Trek: Strange New Worlds sooner than many fans would have liked, the decision was at least made in time for the show’s writers to craft a final run of episodes in the knowledge the series was ending — something which wasn’t the case on Strange New Worlds’ parent show Star Trek: Discovery.
Production has now finished on Strange New Worlds’ fourth season, which will air in 2026, with its fifth and final six-episode run expected to film next year.
“I think we feel very lucky to get a season five,” Romijn continued. “Not all shows do. And we get to wrap up all of our storylines. I think most of us know where we’re going and what happens to us. Not all shows get to have that. Some are surprised by the news that they don’t get a next season, and so everything ends abruptly. I think we feel grateful.”
By the time the Enterprise warps off into space at the end of Strange New Worlds, the series is expected to catch up chronologically with Star Trek: The Original Series. That said, there are hopes among fans that some of the show’s characters could still continue, in a fresh series showing later exploits of the crew.
While there hasn’t been a full Star Trek film released in theaters for over a decade, Paramount recently turned its plans for a Section 31 spin-off TV series into a streaming movie — albeit to negative results. Last week, the film’s star Michelle Yeoh spoke out for the first time about Section 31’s universally negative reception, and admitted “there were some things that we could have done better.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
