Strange New Worlds S3 Brings New Guest Appearances

Fans of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds received an early Christmas gift on Wednesday, as Paramount+ released the official trailer for the third season of the Star Trek series. The third season is currently scheduled to premiere on July 17, 2025, and it will also continue the weekly schedule, with new episodes dropping on Thursdays. That will bring the third season to a total of 10 episodes, as the last new entry is planned for September 11, 2025. It should also be noted that the upcoming third season already has a renewal, as Season 4 will be produced.

The teaser trailer, released back in April, offered a brief preview of the space adventures to come in Season 3. The full trailer was expected at some point, but had not arrived until now. Instead, last October, the series released some footage at the New York City Comic-Con event, which showed how the third season will pick up immediately from where Season 2 left off.

At the time of the season finale, the Enterprise was under attack by the Gorn. The arachnoid alien race had invaded a Federation colony world and, in the process, some of the crew of the Enterprise were captured and taken hostage along with many of the planet’s survivors. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) was left with a choice between following Starfleet orders to retreat and avoid the risk of additional casualties or going against Starfleet to try and rescue the hostages. Choosing the latter, he takes his crew into harm’s way, and the trailer shows the latest in the series of nail-biting space battles that are a trademark of the series.

The scenes shown in the trailer indicate that the third season will see the continuation of the conflict with the Gorn. The trailer also promises that the crew will finally find some respite from the Gorn, even as a new adversary is discovered, who will put the Enterprise through its paces and test its mettle and resolve.

The series seems set to continue in the style of the first two seasons. As revealed in the teaser trailer, the new episodes will include adventure, drama, as well as side stories. The different episodes will span a variety of genres, some very much Trek-like, but also more focused on topics like faith, duty and religion, romance, comedy, and mystery. This is not new for Strange New Worlds, but Paramount+ has also stated that the variety of genres has not previously been seen in any other Star Trek series.

Also new to the series is main character Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O’ Sullivan), played by Cillian O’ Sullivan, who will join the main cast in a recurring role. The character first appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series as played by Michael Strong. In the Strange New Worlds timeline, he is a noted archaeologist, specializing in medical archaeology, and is the long-lost fiancé of Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). As Chapel and Spock (Ethan Peck) have developed a relationship, it will be interesting to see how Korby’s return will change things.

Two other new cast members are confirmed for Season 3, in the form of guest star Rhys Darby and Patton Oswalt, two veteran actors well known for their comedy work. The teaser trailer showed how the season will see a variety of episodes, including action/adventure, as well as more comedic side stories. The new trailer shows the latter in particular, with the Enterprise crew enjoying some downtime, getting to know each other better, and bonding. They will also be getting into some romance and Vulcan science experiments.

The last scene in the trailer to note is when James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) is asked to take over the captain’s chair for a brief period, even as it shows what it is like for him to command the Enterprise. It is not clear what the circumstances of Kirk taking over the chair are, but it will be a new experience for him, with Captain Pike telling Kirk, “The choices you make in that chair, they are yours to make and yours to live with.”

The trailer also ends with the first real laugh-out-loud moment from Spock and Patton Oswalt’s Vulcan character, showing the lighter side of the show. As the two exchange a “high five” in what seems to be Vulcan tradition, Spock does it once, and then, as they move to “go down low,” Spock does the “too slow” routine to Oswalt’s character. As the confused Vulcan asks, “Why would you do that?” Spock answers, “Because you are too slow.”