There have been numerous Star Trek TV shows for Paramount+ subscribers to enjoy in 2022, including the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Arriving three years after Anson Mount debuted as Christopher Pike in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, Strange New Worlds follows Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise more than half a decade before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. Strange New Worlds Season1 was met with critical acclaim, and with Season 2 coming out in 2023, Mount has talked about how he and the rest of the cast and crew are “going for the rafters” in this next batch of episodes.
Although the final episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 planted a few seeds for plot threads to bloom in Season 2, we haven’t been told much about what to expect story-wise from Season 2. That being said, Anson Mount made it clear to Collider that Season 2 will be kicking things up several notches from what Season 1 had to offer, saying:
If you thought we took some big swings in Season 1, and we did in a lot of different ways, we're going for the rafters in Season 2.
While Anson Mount kept tight-lipped on how exactly he and his fellow Star Trek: Strange New Worlds reach said rafters in Season 2, earlier in the interview, he compared this upcoming season to Season 1 by saying it’s like “Christopher Guest in Spinal Tap, discovering that these knobs all go up to 11.” I never thought there’d come a day when Star Trek and 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap would come up in the same sentence like this, but it certainly paints a unique picture about Season 2 is raising the bar. After calling Strange New Worlds showrunners Akira Goldsman and Henry Alonso “courageous,” Mount stated the following about how the show is pushing the envelope:
I really am not a conservative storyteller, at all. I am all for saying, ‘Fuck tradition, let's do it our own way.’ But I've even found myself going, “Really? Can we really do this?” Their mantra is that Star Trek can be a lot of things. Star Trek isn't Star Trek because there's no such thing. Star Trek can be a lot of things because Star Trek, as the best TV does, operates as a metaphorical platform, and when you jump into that wholly, you can really find a lot more elbow room than you think, including playing with not just story, but genre.
Anson Mount will be joined by all of the other main cast members from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds except for Bruce Horak, whose character Hemmer died in the episode “All Those Who Wander” (although Horak informed CinemaBlend that we’ll be seeing more of him in the Star Trek franchise). As far as newcomers go, the only person who’s been announced so far is Carol Kane’s Pelia, the Enterprise’s new chief engineer. We’ll also be seeing more of Paul Wesley’s James T. Kirk following his debut as an older version of the character from an alternate timeline in “A Quality of Mercy,” and it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Star Trek: Lower Decks actors Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid will appear in live action as their characters Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler in a Strange New Worlds Season 2 episode.
We’ll continue passing along information about what Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 hold in store for fans and when it will premiere on Paramount+. Until then, use our 2022 TV schedule to keep up to date with what’s currently on the air and premiering for the rest of the year.
