Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns to Paramount+ on July 23, with the show’s penultimate season kicking off a 10-episode weekly run that wraps September 24 — and the cast made the announcement in style, touching down at CCXP Mexico in Mexico City to debut the first season four trailer in front of a packed crowd.
Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, and Paul Wesley took the stage at the annual event to reveal the premiere date and screen the new teaser, with Anson Mount leading the full ensemble as Captain Christopher Pike. The trailer shows the Enterprise crew traversing a desert landscape on horseback and facing off against what appears to be a Tyrannosaurus Rex — visual shorthand for the genre-bending approach the show has built its identity around.
Wesley, who plays a young James T. Kirk, joked that the July 23 premiere date was “on purpose” since it falls on his birthday. He also described what season four excavates about his character: “We explore a little about Kirk’s past and the demons that are haunting him.”
Wesley credited William Shatner — the actor who originated Kirk in the 1966 original series — for a public show of support that clearly still resonates with him. “William Shatner did not have to do that,” Wesley said of Shatner sharing his blessing on social media. “I thought that was so incredibly generous of him and very classy.”
Romijn offered a sweeping endorsement of where the show now stands: “We’re so proud of this show, and we’re really proud of season four — and season five. We really think it’s our best season yet.” She also confirmed the season contains dinosaurs. Gooding focused her preview on the continuing evolution of Nyota Uhura. “She talks back,” Gooding said. “She stands up for herself. I think we’re getting closer and closer to Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura.”
Analysts who reviewed the trailer noted it appeared to signal a more serious tone than the divisive third season, with some suggesting the production deliberately leaned into traditional Star Trek storytelling — though a confirmed puppet episode and the dinosaur sequence show the show has not abandoned its willingness to experiment.
The show has already completed filming on its fifth and final season, which will introduce Thomas Jane as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy and Kai Murakami as Hikaru Sulu — bringing the series closer to its inevitable convergence with the events of The Original Series.
