Star Trek: Strange New Worldsending with a short season 5 is better than what Paramount+ originally wanted, according to Rebecca Romijn. Paramount+ renewedStar Trek: Strange New Worldsfor its fifth and final season before season 3’s premiere in June 2025. However,Strange New Worlds' final run will only be six episodes instead of the ten of every prior season.
TrekCorereported from STLV: Trek to Vegas convention, where Rebecca Romijn, who plays Lt. Commander Una-Chin Riley, said thatStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 5’s six-episode order was the result of negotiations between Paramount+ and executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers. Previously,Paramount+ wanted to do"just"a two-hour movie. SeeTrekCore’s post below:
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers spoke toScreenRantaboutwhy season 5 is only six episodes, but made no mention of Paramount+ suggesting a two-hour movie. According to Goldsman:“I think that the studio sort of thought that we had essentially run our course after four seasons.”
“We said, ‘Hey, look, we made a set of promises to the audience around the idea of getting us right up to kissing distance with The Original Series.'“Goldsman continued.“And the studio said, ‘Yes, we agree, and we were part of that promise. Let’s re-explore how to do that in a way that makes sense for all parties’.”
Akiva further explained,“They came back and said, ‘Here are six episodes.’ Well, in fairness, they said, ‘What do you need to finish it?’ And we said, ‘We can do it in six’.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’plan was always to sync up withStar Trek: The Original Series’ beginning, handing the USS Enterprise from Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) to Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley). Goldsman and Myers also hope to depictKirk’s early voyages in a spinoff calledStar Trek: Year One.
Rebecca Romijn’s comments at STLV are the first time we’ve heard of a two-hour movie offered as a way to endStar Trek: Strange New Worlds. Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers knew that one movie-length story wouldn’t be enough real estate to bring the saga ofStrange New Worlds' huge cast of charactersto a satisfying finish.
Thankfully, Goldsman and Myers negotiated six episodes, even if 10 would have been preferable.Star Trek: Strange New Worldslooks like it also suffered from Paramount+’s cost-cutting and downsizing of itsStar Trekcontent, yet kudos to Paramount’s executives for realizingStrange New Worldsneeded more than a movie to wrap up its story.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season5 begins filming in fall 2025, whileStrange New Worldsseason 4 will likely premiere sometime in 2026. This means there are still 16 hours ofStar Trek: Strange New Worldsto come after season 3 wraps. It’s also possible and hoped-for that episodes ofStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 5 could be longer than an hour.
