Ever since it was announced, we knew Star Trek: Strange New Worlds would not only bring us back to Discovery’s take on the pre-Captain Kirk Enterprise crew, but push contemporary Star Trek back to a more adventurous, episodic style of storytelling. Now, we have a glimpse at just how—and also how it plans to bring back a seemingly disillusioned Captain Pike in the process.
Paramount+ has dropped the first official trailer for Strange New Worlds, opening on what looks like a rather down-in-the-dumps Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike—not on the bridge of the Enterprise where we last saw him, but in the snowy Mojave, tending to his horses and in general being rather glum. Considering Strange New Worlds is set after the events of Discovery’s second season—which saw, from Pike’s perspective, Michael Burnham and the crew of the Discovery seemingly sacrifice their livelihoods to be flung into the 31st century, to save the galaxy from the sinister AI Control—it’s hard not to imagine why Pike is glum, consider he got a shocking view of his own future along the way to Discovery’s sacrifice.
But what will coax Pike back to boldly going? It looks like exactly what you’d expect to draw any bright-eyed Starfleet officer: promises of adventure, the magic of exploration, and lots of gorgeous shots of wild alien worlds and strange spatial anomalies. Narration from Rebecca Romijn’s Number One—now given the name Una Chin-Riley—leans into the fantastical joy of space exploration, that “our first visit from the stars is always the province of children’s stories and science fiction, until one day it isn’t,” as we’re treated to glimpses of those strange new worlds they keep talking about, alongside Starfleet away teams, the Enterprise herself, and ultimately a shaved, snazzily-uniformed Pike ready to do some exploring. It does all look pretty enough that it’s worth taking a break from horse riding through blizzards, at least.
Strange New Worlds—which also stars Ethan Peck as Mr. Spock, Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura, Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga, as well as Bruce Horak, Christina Chong, and Melissa Navia as brand-new Trek characters Hemmer, the intriguingly named La’an Noonien-Singh, and Lieutenant Erica Ortegas, respectively—is set to begin streaming on Paramount+ May 5.
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