Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns to Paramount+ for a 10-episode Season 4 with a fifth already announced as its last. That means SNW and its core cast — including Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock, and Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley, aka “Number One” — grows ever closer to Star Trek: The Original Series, and what we already know of these characters’ futures. So, questions of canon and continuity. But there is also adventure! And romance! Puppets?! And strange new worlds in literal, the stuff Star Trek does best. The rest of the main cast returns, including Carol Kane as Pelia; also stepping onto the bridge in Season 4 is Bianca Nugara, a veteran of Tell Me Lies and Heated Rivalry.  

Opening Shot: We see a horse’s galloping hooves. Wait, what show is this? But it’s only Captain Pike (Mount), La’An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), and Dr. M’Bega (Babs Olusanmokun) in futurized western wear.

The Gist: The latest away team adventure is just ending as Strange New Worlds begins its fourth season, and once the excitement of riding horses through a Robert A. Heinlein-like sci-fi landscape of floating mesas has worn off, Pike is left to his thoughts. Of Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano), and the sacrifice she made in the Season 3 finale. And of his own future. But there is no time to pause, because Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes) has sent Pike and the Enterprise on a new mission. It’s an interstellar storm, and in typical SNW fashion, it’s full of unexpected challenges.

“Don’t you think a glimpse is worth a little risk?” A famous Star Trek universe understatement. The storm creates havoc aboard the Enterprise. It knocks out crucial systems. And it reveals a potential new threat in a massive ship of unknown origin. While a small group led by Number One explores the possibility of vital resupply on a nearby planet — check out those super-cool Away Team leather jackets — Captain Pike engages with the mystery ship’s captain, Commander Cassel (Saffron Burrows). And Cassel has legit questions about Starfleet’s delicate balance between Do No Harm assurances and proton torpedo deployment.       

Quantum entanglements, iridium leaks, fuel cell explosions, and bizarre landscapes that resemble Land of the Lost: SNW has a lot to handle in its latest voyage. But it’s a team effort, which is something this series has always done very well. Everyone contributes to a solution, from Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and life sciences whiz George Samuel “Sam” Kirk (Dan Jeanotte) to chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Martin Quinn) and Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), though the latter might be developing a rivalry. And while the romance between La’An and Spock seems to be in full swing, comms officer Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) is having trouble connecting with Cadet A’Sha (Nugara), her new Vulcan mentee.   

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The latest Star Trek series dropped earlier this year, Starfleet Academy, which features Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti. And with Season 4 of Strange New Worlds leaning into genre experiments like the cast becoming puppets, we gotta bring up one of its best moves in this vein, the Season 2 live-action/animation crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks.  

Our Take: Man, we are so on board with this show. Beam us up! As they say. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds caught a little bit of heat after its third season — the scuttlebutt said it lost its narrative focus, made strange new detours, and even bagged on the conclusion. To which we say fine, whatever, you can’t please everybody, and especially not with SNW hewing ever closer to TOS and canonical Star Trek time stamps. Whether it’s our perception or via conscious decision, Season 4 launches hard toward excitement. We know these people well by now, we’re wholly invested in their individual journeys, which to us takes precedent over any thorny issues of series universe connectivity. We about melted when La’An sees Spock waiting for her in the transporter room, after she returns from a mission in a leather duster and telescope-brimmed cowboy hat. “You wanted to see me in my outfit, didn’t you?”

It’s something Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has done very well, how it’s made known characters into being more individually well-known by the viewing audience. And this only raises the stakes as they seek out what the galaxy has to offer. The series-historical connectivity stuff, it’ll get to that. What makes us adore this series is how much it infuses character traits as expressed into its exploratory action. Oh no, the Enterprise is threatening something as weighty as the Prime Directive? We’ll be happy to watch Christopher Pike solve it with his Big Quip Energy.

Performance Worth Watching: Naturally, the visual effects in Strange New World are powered at TV-level. But an Away Team shuttle is rendered sharply, and this season the on-ship environment looks super-crisp. The bridge of the Enterprise seems to float between two acrylic planes.   

Sex and Skin: Not really that kind of show, but SNW continues to develop its intriguing romance between La’An and Spock.

Parting Shot: The Port Galley on the Enterprise is hopping after Pike gave his crew some downtime. Lots of little details in these scenes, such as who interacts with whom, or the glittery green martini-like cocktail Uhura orders at the bar.   

Sleeper Star: Christina Chong, as Enterprise security officer La’An Noonien-Singh, remains the people’s champ among a talented field of SNW Sleeper Star contenders. There is even a tease about more of the character’s strengths on the horizon.   

Most Pilot-y Line: Leave it to Anson Mount to deliver a line with appropriate amounts of winking. “Well Number One, you wanted a mission on a ‘strange new world’? Looks like you got one.”

Our Call: Stream It! Make it so! Season 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brings its well-established character development to bear on a new round of intergalactic missions, Starfleet protocols, and the stardust of light humor. It’s a nice way to spend time with a crew we feel we know, no matter where the final frontier takes them. 

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.