The San Diego Comic-Con attracted a wide range of fans and creatives over the weekend. Promoting forthcoming films and television shows required the finest and brightest talent from the networks and production companies. Star Trek fans were in full force at the Paramount+ panel at Comic-Con, which included cast members from three of the shows presently running, including Enterprise, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. First up were Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden, who appeared in Star Trek: Picard, before the actors of Star Trek: Lower Decks shared some exciting information about Season 3, which premieres next month.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stars Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, Christina Chong, and Paul Wesley were on hand to discuss the show’s first season.
Showrunner Henry Alonso Myers joined them along with co-producers Roddenberry and Kurtzman. Lower Decks stars Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid returned to the stage only minutes into the conversation, which was moderated by actor and filmmaker Lea Thompson. As it turned out, what looked to be a lighthearted in-joke evolved into one of the most significant announcements made by the whole panel. Mount was the first to announce that Season 2 of Strange New Worlds will have a Lower Decks crossover episode. We had already started thinking about a crossover episode with our adult animated series when Kurtzman called and offered the same thing, Alonso Myers noted towards the end of the discussion. Live action and animation will be combined in this episode, bringing together the casts of these two shows. We don’t know how these two ships will meet as Lower Decks takes place over a century after Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek: Discovery’s second season included actors Mount, Peck, and Rebecca Romijn, and as a result of the positive reception they received, the spinoff series Strange New Worlds was developed.
On the Enterprise, Mount and Peck talked about how humbling it was to be back on the bridge and how awe-inspiring it was to be on the Discovery set. Mount stated that even though Romijn was unable to attend, the three of them immediately hit it off when they first met on the set of Discovery. He went on to remark that the Strange New Worlds team felt the same way and that they had truly become a family. Both Gooding and Wesley expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to play the iconic Star Trek characters Nyota Uhura and James T. Kirk, respectively. Nichelle Nichols’ portrayal of Uhura on Star Trek: The Next Generation has had a lasting impact on the field of space exploration and representation, as Gooding noted in a remark she gave to the audience. William Shatner’s approval of Wesley’s role as Kirk was a source of pride for him, according to Wesley. Chong, on the other hand, came in as a new fan of the series and a new character tied to Khan Noonien-Singh, the notorious Trek villain. When La’an returns in Season 2, she may have a distinct set of Khan-inspired characteristics.
Alonso Myers also informed the audience that the Gorn are “simply too intriguing and thrilling” to be done with. In the first season, Thompson praised Gooding’s singing, saying that Uhura, like herself, is a very musical person and that she hopes Strange New Worlds will show us more of that side of her. To honour Wesley’s 40th birthday, Chong led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” with the rest of Hall H. “It is really exciting to portray new genres in each episode because of our planet-of-the-week storyline,” the actors said. During a panel discussion at Comic-Con, Mount said, “We took some huge swings in Season 1, but we’re swinging for the fences in Season 2.” It was Thompson’s reference to the fairytale episode that Gooding informed viewers there were more crazy episodes to come in Season 2.
“Spock will continue to grapple with his human side and explore with his human emotions,” Peck said of Season 2. “These feelings will have an influence on some of the most significant relationships in my life,” he said, apparently alluding to the love triangle between Spock, T’Pring (Gia Sandhu), and Nurse Chapel (Susan Sarandon) (Jess Bush).
It was amazing to bring Kirk to life in the finale, but Wesley is eager to show viewers another aspect of the character when we next see him later in Season 2. A lot younger and more impressionable Kirk will be waiting for us in Season 2 when he’ll be a young lieutenant on the Farragut. He also hinted that his reappearance will be lighter and more fun than the conclusion. Alonso Myers said that Season 2 will have things that have never been done before on Star Trek, and he is eager to share them with the public. Audience members asked Kurtzman and Roddenberry about the possibility of further Deep Space 9 content in the Star Trek universe during the Q & A segment of the panel at Comic-Con 2014. Kurtzman carefully avoided divulging any future intentions for the characters in Lower Decks Season 3, even if the show’s teaser hinted at a voyage to the space station. Their desire is to be able to develop fresh stories with these characters while still paying tribute to the past. There are two new series now in production, but which of the many interesting Star Trek concepts will eventually make it to the screen is still anyone’s guess, he said. Strange New Worlds Season 2 has yet to be given an official release date, however, it is safe to assume that it will be available on Paramount+ in 2023.