‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Wins By Going More Boldly With Season 2
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns on June 15 with ten new adventures. We’ve seen the first six–here’s what we can tell you.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is, in many ways, of the past. The show focuses on an era that predates The Original Series. But more than that it also endeavors to tell stories in an episodic way, something we don’t see much in 21st-century dramas.
And this storytelling style pays off big in the first season. We get wonderful character pieces, and adventures that teach us about the enduring hope of the human spirit, and, above all else, we get what the title promises: strange, new worlds. SNW is weird and that is wonderful. Singing comets, Vulcan body swaps, space pirates, and medieval storybook fantasies greet us week-to-week. On SNW, anything can happen.
If you enjoy that as a mission statement, good news: season two only goes harder. In the second season’s first six episodes, things only get more strange, more new, and more classically Trek than ever before. Without giving anything big away, here’s some of what you have to look forward to.
Photo Credit: Michael Gibson. Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Gets Movie Poster-Worthy Episodes
Over a decade ago, Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat pitched a concept for the show’s seventh season. He imagined a version of his show where every episode felt like a massive movie with a wild corresponding movie poster. “Asylum of the Daleks.” “Dinosaurs On a Spaceship.” “The Angels Takes Manhattan.”
The execution of that season is okay, but the idea is brilliant. And in a way Star Trek: Strange New Worlds feels like it’s taking a page out of that era of Doctor Who‘s book, albeit with much better results. This is a season with bombastic space adventures and thrilling courtroom dramas. The show leaps across time and deconstructs the nature of episodic television. And, of course, there’s always room for Vulcan hijinks.
Every episode is a big swing. This season the writers are not afraid to risk it all. For a series whose most famous trait is its comfortable throwback quality, there’s a lot this season that is going to challenge fans both old and new. I can hear the arguments in my head both in favor and against some of the most brash choices the writers make with season 2.
If all Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ever did was look backward, there would be no point to it. The one thing to know more than anything else about season two is that boredom doesn’t enter in. And you can bet that in between episodes people will be talking non-stop. This is the height of water cooler television.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Carol Kane is a Revelation
Early on in the marketing for season two, we found out that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was getting a new engineer in the form of one of the most distinct voices in television–Carol Kane. And if you know anything about Kane, you know that she is an unexpected choice.
In theory, Kane feels like a piece from a completely different puzzle smashed onto Star Trek’s frame. But then again, Star Trek’s entire mission statement is “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations”.
You do not have long to wait to meet Kane’s character Pelia. And she is, in fact, a completely different energy from anything we’ve ever seen on any Star Trek series before. And that is unequivocally a good thing. Kane is dynamic, puckish, and enigmatic. That she does not fit is what makes her fit. And if that sounds like nonsensical double-speak, I promise you will know exactly what I mean by the time her first scene ends.
Kane appears in three of the six episodes we’ve seen. As you might expect from such a big star, she probably wasn’t available as much as the rest of the cast. She’s the modern equivalent of Whoopi Goldberg joining Star Trek: The Next Generation. She’s not there all the time, but when she does show up, the writers make it count.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
James T Kirk – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Edition
In the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, we meet the risk-taking, straight-shooting James T Kirk — but not the one we’re used to. Not only is Paul Wesley a brand new actor in the role of Kirk, but his first outing isn’t even a main continuity Kirk. In the season one finale “A Quality of Mercy” we meet a Kirk at the start of an endless Romulan War. He’s a far more serious Kirk than the ones we’re used to.
Season two sees the return of Wesley’s Kirk, but this time we get a much different incarnation. This Kirk still feels new, but also has elements of both William Shatner and Chris Pine’s incarnations. Most importantly, it’s clear that Paul Wesley seems to be having the time of his life.
This Kirk is quippy and quirky, but he’s full of empathy, too. This isn’t the “I’ll bone everything that moves” Kirk of Star Trek Into Darkness. This is the Kirk who falls asleep on a pile of half-read books, head filled with romantic ideals and adventures he’s both had and will have. He’s rooted in family, both literal and chosen. This James T Kirk loves being alive and you feel it in every interaction.
Yes, as we know from the trailers, there’s a lot at play between Kirk and La’an. But of equal importance is how he interacts with Uhura and his brother Sam. In short, there is an unnamable it-factor that makes someone James T Kirk and Paul Wesley has got it. He’s an absolute joy to watch and a perfect addition to the series.
Photo Credit: Michael Gibson. Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Risk is Our Business
More than anything, the biggest takeaway I have from the first six episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season two is that the stakes are high, maybe higher than they’ve ever been. And there’s a dual meaning there.
In the textual sense, the characters take big risks, often leaping before they look. There are calculated gambles, too, but ones with at-times uneasy pay-offs. There are moments coming which will shock you. There’s a constant tightrope act at play between what this show can be and what it must be to fit in with Star Trek: The Original Series. You may think you know who these characters are and where they’re going. I promise you–you know nothing.
On a metatextual level, you can feel the budget Paramount is spending on this show. And the team behind the series is fearless with that budget. The first episode alone feels absolutely enormous. And in many ways, the six episodes feel like they are stretching what Star Trek can be. Whether or not that pays off is in the hands of the people watching. But I hope they embrace the sheer audacity of what SNW has to offer this year. It is, unquestionably, the future Star Trek deserves.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts its second season on Paramount Plus beginning June 15, 2023.
