Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Returns With High Stakes

Paramount+ has released the official trailer for season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The third season is set to premiere on Thursday, July 17, 2025. The trailer is only the second official look at the new season, which was first teased with a brief April trailer, after footage was shown at last October’s New York City Comic-Con.

Season 2 of Strange New Worlds concluded with the Enterprise under attack from the Gorn, who were on an invasion mission against a Federation colony world. After a firefight, several crew members and other survivors are taken hostage, while Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) has to make a decision in the season finale—either obey orders and retreat, or disobey Starfleet and attempt a rescue mission. As can be expected, Pike takes the latter route.

The October footage that was released is a brief continuation of the finale, showing the Enterprise crew picking up right where the previous season left off. It starts with a space battle that is already underway—elevated stakes, high tension, and the sort of thrill that has become a trademark of the series. The adversaries, of course, are the Gorn. The trailer released today furthers that thread and teases a conclusion to that particular conflict, as well as a look at new threats and new adventures to come.

While the main cast of the Enterprise returns for season 3, the familiar Gorn foes will also be resolved, but a new foe will also make an appearance. This new enemy will test not only the bonds of the crew of the Enterprise, but also their mettle and resolve as a Starfleet team. Season 3 will also be playing with storytelling a bit more than the previous seasons, incorporating some episodes that expand beyond traditional Trek to touch on a variety of genres and tones. Themes of faith, duty, love, but also comedy and mystery, along with some notable tonal shifts, will be a part of the season. That was the focus of the April trailer, but it’s now confirmed by Paramount+ as part of the season’s official description.

New additions to the cast for the new season include Cillian O’Sullivan as Dr. Roger Korby. Korby is a recurring character from Star Trek: The Original Series, originally played by Michael Strong. In the in-universe timeline of Strange New Worlds, Korby is an archaeologist who has gained some notoriety in the field of medical archaeology and is the long-absent fiancé of Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). In the second season finale, he is listed among the hostages, but has now been confirmed for the new season. His return is bound to cause complications for Chapel, who has moved on with a budding romance with Spock (Ethan Peck).

Season 3 will also feature recurring roles for guest stars Rhys Darby and Patton Oswalt, who are no strangers to delivering comic performances. The April trailer teases a variety of episodes, but with a focus on action-packed adventures and lighter “B-story” fare. The new trailer also follows this suit, showing members of the Enterprise crew interacting in more intimate, casual settings, along with romance and subplot navigation, but also messy science experiments gone wrong and everything in between.

There is a curious moment near the trailer’s conclusion, showing James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) being temporarily in command, sitting in the captain’s chair. Kirk’s involvement in the events of season 3 has yet to be elaborated upon, but from the dialogue, it is known that it will serve as some form of training or learning experience for him. Pike leaves him with the following charge for the time spent in command: “The choices you make in that chair, they are yours to make and yours to live with.”

The trailer concludes with an easy, classic, “Oh, Shazam!” moment in pure Spock and Oswalt’s Vulcan interaction. Spock (Peck) initiates a demonstration of a “high five,” but when his new Vulcan friend asks to go “down low,” Spock yanks it and lets the quick “too slow” handwave happen. The Vulcan’s confused response is, “Why would you do that?” To which Spock matter-of-factly responds, “Because you are too slow.”

Premiere Date and Season 3 Release Schedule

Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will premiere on Paramount+ on Thursday, July 17, 2025. New episodes will release weekly every Thursday, through to September 11, 2025, for a run of roughly eight weeks.