Fans and creators gathered at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend to celebrate everything fan. Promoting forthcoming films and television shows required the finest and brightest talent from the networks and production companies. With the current Star Trek revival, Paramount+ dispatched the casts of three currently airing programmes to participate in a massive Star Trek Universe discussion on the big Hall H stage on Saturday. There was no shortage of talent in attendance.
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. A few days after completing its first season, the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds sat together for an interview to discuss their experiences. Producers Rod Roddenberry and Alex Kurtzman, as well as showrunner Henry Alonso Myers, all joined the group for the discussion. The Lower Decks cast members Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid returned to the stage just a few minutes into the conversation, hosted by actor and filmmaker Lea Thompson.
What at first looked to be an amusing in-joke became one of the most important announcements made by the panel as a whole. Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds will cross over in Season 2 of Strange New Worlds, according to Mount. An unconnected conversation from Kurtzman prompted Alonso Myers to begin discussing an adult crossover episode for the franchise’s adult animated series during a panel discussion at Comic-Con. The crews of these two shows will collaborate on the episode, which will contain a mixture of live-action and animation.
Given that Strange New Worlds takes place more than a century after Lower Decks, it’s impossible to predict how the two ships will come into contact with one another. Because of a positive reaction to the show’s second season and its cast members Mount, Peck & Rebecca Romijn, Strange New Worlds was formed. As they reminisced about their first steps on Discovery’s set, Mount and Peck spoke about what an honour it had been to return to the Enterprise’s bridge. When the three of them first met while working on Discovery, even if Romijn couldn’t make it, Mount remarked that they instantly connected.
He went on to claim that the Strange New Worlds team felt the same way and that they had truly formed a family as a result. Gooding and Wesley also talked about how humbling it has been to play characters like Nyota Uhura and James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek series. 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 her remark. Wesley, on the other hand, expressed his gratitude for having received William Shatner’s blessing as Kirk.
Instead, Chong was a newcomer to the series who played a role akin to that of Khan Noonien-Singh, the notorious Trek villain. She hinted that in Season 2, we would witness a new side of La’an, one that is more influenced by Khan’s character qualities. Also, Alonso Myers said we’ll probably see more Gorn in the future since they’re “too fascinating and engaging.” Aside from the fact that Uhura is a very musical person, Thompson praised Gooding’s singing in the first season and hoped to see more of it on Strange New Worlds. After that, Chong joined the entire crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” in honour of Wesley, who had just turned 40 at the time of the panel. Each episode of Strange New Worlds, with its planet-of-the-week storytelling format, has the ensemble gushing about how much fun it is to explore different genres. It’s been a while since we’ve taken a big swing, but this season we’re going for it.
There are several in Season 2 that go even greater than the fairytale episode, as Gooding informed the crowd when Thompson brought it up. According to Peck, Spock will continue to experiment with his human emotions in Season 2 of Star Trek. the love triangle that Spock is embroiled in with T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) and Nurse Chapel (Susan Sarandon), the actor went on to say that those feelings will have a significant influence on his own relationships (Jess Bush). Despite the excitement of bringing Kirk to life in the season finale, Wesley is eager to offer viewers a new side of the character in Season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In Season 2, we’ll see Kirk as a young lieutenant on the Farragut, and he’ll be part of the normal chronology.
When we next see him, we should expect a lot more levity than we got from his visit in the season finale. ‘Star Trek’ has never done something like this before, according to Alonso Myers, and he can’t wait to show it off in Season 2. Kurtzman and Roddenberry were asked about the chances of further Deep Space 9 programming appearing in the greater Star Trek world during the panel’s audience Q&A segment. Despite the fact that the Lower Decks Season 3 teaser hinted at a voyage to the International Space Station, Kurtzman was careful not to give too much away in his response.
Their goal is to continue telling stories with these characters while paying homage to their past. He also informed the audience that two new series are now in production, but which of the many intriguing Star Trek concepts will make it to screen is still up in the air. The second season of Strange New Worlds is expected to premiere on Paramount+ sometime in the year 2023.