Star Trek: What's changing in season 4 of Strange New Worlds
The creators also reveal what they had planned for William Shatner as Kirk
The new adventures of Pike, Kirk, and the rest of the crew are just around the corner. The fourth season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" premieres on Paramount+ on July 23, 2026. With the release date for the new episodes fast approaching, Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman have now shared their thoughts on the upcoming season. The two co-creators and executive producers of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" have revealed that something will be different: This time, there is no "Big Bad."
The individual episodes will therefore not be tied together by a season-spanning threat, such as the hostile Gorn species from previous seasons. Instead, the fourth season will feature even more self-contained episodes than before, as Goldsman and Kurtzman explain in an interview with Polygon. The focus will be on stories that center primarily on the characters.
Strange New Worlds season 4: Focus on standalone stories
In doing so, the creators are placing even greater emphasis in the fourth season on what sets "Strange New Worlds" apart from other "Star Trek" incarnations of recent years. Series like "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Picard" tell a cohesive story within their respective seasons, with one episode building on the next. While "Strange New Worlds" also features storylines that are revisited from time to time – including the ongoing battle against the Gorn – the series primarily stands out for its varied standalone episodes, which function largely independently of the rest of the season as self-contained stories. And sometimes they take formally unconventional approaches, such as the musical episode "Subspace Rhapsody."
Akiva Goldsman describes the fourth season to Polygon as "very pure 'Strange New Worlds'." He adds:
"We move around in terms of tone, we move around in terms of genre, and then we drive it to the last six episodes, which is pretty singular."
By "the last six episodes," Goldsman is referring to the final fifth season, which will bring "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" to a close. While the first four seasons each consist of ten episodes, the last will only have six.
The City on the Edge of Forever: William Shatner was set to return as Kirk
Chronologically, the stories in "Strange New Worlds" take place before the original 1960s TV series that first brought the "Star Trek" franchise to life. The focus is on the crew of the Enterprise, exploring space in the 23rd century. Anson Mount plays Christopher Pike, the captain of the starship. His successor one day becomes James T. Kirk, portrayed by William Shatner in the 1960s series and by Paul Wesley in "Strange New Worlds."
The creators of "Strange New Worlds" had actually planned to feature Shatner as Kirk in an episode of their series. They intended to tie in with the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," a tragic story from the original series that is considered a highlight of the entire "Star Trek" franchise. In that episode, Kirk travels back in time to 1930s New York, falls in love, but ultimately returns to the Enterprise. In "Strange New Worlds," viewers would have seen, in an alternate timeline, what would have become of Kirk if he had instead remained in the past. Despite working on several scripts for such an episode, it was ultimately never produced.
Exploring Kirk's past
Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman would have loved to tell the story with Shatner. As Kurtzman emphasized to Polygon, however, there's also something to be said for not reaching every destination at the end of a journey:
"I think if you get to the end and there's nothing left for you to want to do, then that's more of a disappointment. I'm proud of every episode we've done, but I feel like the best dinners you come to don't leave you feeling stuffed. They leave you wanting more."
The good news: Even without a guest appearance by William Shatner, Kirk fans can look forward to the fourth season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." As Kirk actor Paul Wesley recently revealed at CCXP Mexico, the season will delve into his character's past – as well as the demons that haunt the hero. So Kirk is likely to play an important role in the new episodes as well. The trailer shows what else the fourth season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has to offer:
