Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the latest entry in the Star Trek franchise, following the adventures of Captain Pike (Anson Mount) as the Captain of the USS Enterprise about ten years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series when Captain James T. Kirk becomes Captain. The series has been praised for bringing the franchise back to its roots in a number of ways, from the colorful production design, hopeful optimism with high ideals, and episodic structure that skews closer to the original series than Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard. The series premiered on May 5, 2022, and ran for ten episodes, with the great season finale airing on July 7, 2022.

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Paramount+ was so confident about the series that they renewed it for a second season before a single episode aired, and filming took place between February and July 2022. This means that much of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was mapped out and planned before any audience reaction to it and likely was planned closely together to play out as one storyline. It is currently scheduled to premiere sometime in 2023, but no general time frame has been given. Despite its status as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, there are still plenty of places for the series to go. Here are some suggestions of where season two should take Stark Trek: Strange New Worlds.

To Strange New Worlds

     Paramount+

This one seems a little self-explanatory given the title, but it is interesting how little of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds involved actually visiting other planets. The series features the crew encountering different species but much of it takes place across starships, like their encounters with the Gorn and only a few planets have been visited with only two major alien civilizations.

This is partially done because the focus of season one is to establish the various characters, their personal relationships, and arcs going forward. However, with season two, it would be great for the series to see the crew exploring new planets and encountering new alien species that have not been featured in the franchise before.

Number One’s Fate

The biggest plot point to resolve for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the status of Una Chin-Riley aka Number One (Rebecca Romijn), who was arrested by The Federation for lying about her status as an Illyrian and the Federation’s strict rules about genetic tampering. Pike vows he will get Number One free, and it is likely that is where the premiere of season two will pick up. It’s unclear if Number One will remain in Starfleet custody, with them trying to earn her freedom becoming a major arc for the season, like Pike wrestling with his fate was for season one.

Number One originated in the first pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series but was written out in the second pilot and did not reappear in the franchise until Star Trek: Discovery, so it is known she will not be a member of the Enterprise crew under Captain Kirk. That leaves her potential fate up for debate and an interesting concept to explore. Just because she was not seen or referenced does not mean she has to die or be arrested, but the creators will need to find a way to give her an exit from the Enterprise eventually. Her imprisonment will likely be the motivator for La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) to return to the Enterprise after she stepped away in the ninth episode of season one.

More Classic Star Trek Crew Members

Due to its status as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, it makes sense the supporting cast of the series would feature many iconic characters from the original series. Currently, the main cast includes Spock (Ethan Peck), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) from the original series, and the season finale featured future Enterprise captain James Kirk (Paul Wesley). Season two could introduce another classic Trek character to the series.

It is already confirmed that Paul Wesley will reprise his role as Captain Kirk in season two, likely laying the foundation for his and Spock’s future friendship. Season one already hinted at Scotty, although he was never seen and only heard off-screen in the future timeline set during the original series episode ‘The Balance of Terror,’ yet the ship might need a new engineer following Hemmer’s (Bruce Horak) death. The most obvious would be Janice Rand, the ship Yeoman in Star Trek: The Original Series who stopped appearing halfway through season one. Similar to how the series has redefined Nurse Chapel, they could do the same with Rand and give this long-forgotten character some justice.

The Return of Angel

Season one introduced audiences to the villainous Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel), who was posing as Starfleet Counselor Aspen. Angel was in charge of a group of space pirates and was working to free her lover, Sybok who is also the half-brother of Spock. Angel had a great screen presence and was a fun but also dangerous antagonist that could be a good recurring enemy for the Enterprise, similar to Harry Mudd in Star Trek: The Original Series. Spock, Nurse Chapel, and Pike all have conflicts with Angel that need to be resolved and hopefully, the character returns in season two.

Re-Exploring Kelvin Timeline Stories

     Paramount Pictures

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes place in the original Star Trek timeline, apart from the Kelvin timeline that rebooted the series with J.J. Abrams’ film version, the 2009 Star Trek. Those films diverge from the main series at the birth of James Kirk, meaning that the events of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds never quite happen the same way in those films, and Pike has a different fate. Yet there are still characters that have to exist in a different form before the divergence.

There are plenty of characters introduced in the Kelvin Timeline that were not present in the original series, like Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller), Krall (Idris Elba), and Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who were never seen or referenced in the original timeline but must exist somewhere, even if their fate is different, and it would be interesting to explore in this new era. What was Admiral Marcus like in the original timeline, one when Vulcan wasn’t destroyed and he didn’t want a more militarized Starfleet? Are Krall and his people still out there waiting to attack the Federation? Does that mean that without the events of the Kelvin timeline, Jaylah is stuck there never to be found? All interesting questions that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds could explore, allowing the Prime timeline to explore the stories of the Kelvin timeline in a reverse of how the Kelvin timeline was informed by the original series.