5 Exciting Ways Strange New Worlds' Season 3 Will Change Captain Pike's Star Trek Prequel

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 promises to change Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise prequel in 5 exciting ways. After a 2-year wait, the highly anticipated Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 premieres July 17 on Paramount+, following its world premiere on June 14 at the Tribeca Film Festival. Strange New Worlds season 3 will continue the Star Trek prequel series' genre-bending voyages and evolve the stories of Captain Pike's Starship Enterprise crew.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's premiere, "Hegemony, Part II," picks up directly from Strange New Worlds season 2's ending cliffhanger. It's clear Captain Pike and the Starship Enterprise will find a way to defeat the Gorn and rescue their kidnapped crew members, but the thrill will be watching how our Starfleet heroes triumph over the killer alien reptiles. Once the Gorn are in the Enterprise's rearview mirror, however, Strange New Worlds season 3 is poised to take Star Trek in new directions it hasn't gone before.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds boasts serialized character arcs along with Star Trek: The Original Series' episodic format. Captain Pike and the USS Enterprise's crew grow and evolve, and they already have by leaps and bounds in Strange New Worlds' first two seasons. Strange New Worlds season 3 promises mystery, adventure, and romance for the Starship Enterprise's heroes. By the time Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is over, the show and characters look to be changed in these significant ways.

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5Captain Batel Surviving Means The Gorn Can Be Beaten

Batel Survives Her Gorn Infection

Captain Marie Batel's fate was a major part of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's cliffhanger. Batel was infected by Gorn eggs on Parnassus Beta when the alien reptiles invaded the planet. Marie was beamed aboard the Starship Enterprise, with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) making it her mission to cure Batel somehow. However, Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) was a prisoner on the Gorn's flagship, and Batel seemed like she had a slim chance of survival.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's trailer makes it clear Captain Batel survives the Gorn. Marie is romantically reunited with Captain Pike, and they even go on a landing party mission at some point in Strange New Worlds season 3. Batel looks good as new, and that means a significant shift in Starfleet's conflict with the Gorn, who were poised to invade the United Federation of Planets' space. Pike and the Enterprise will find a way to beat the Gorn, perhaps ending their immediate threat until they return in Star Trek: The Original Series.

4La’an Smiles & Dances In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3

Looks Like La'an Changed Her Paradigm

Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) bared her heart out in song, promising herself she would "change her paradigm" in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical episode. Not only does La'an survive her kidnapping and 'reunion' with the Gorn in Strange New Worlds season 3's premiere, but the new trailer shows a lighter La'an in demeanor and footwork. La'an smiles effusively in Strange New Worlds season 3's trailer, showing that she is moving past her self-imposed limits of getting too close to her crewmates on the Enterprise.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's trailer teases that La'an and Lieutenant James T. Kirk's attraction will continue, but La'an literally finds a new dance partner in Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck). La'an and the Vulcan Science Officer will cut a rug in Strange New Worlds season 3, perhaps because someone is getting married in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 2, "Wedding Bell Blues." La'an's newfound lightness also finds her cosplaying in Strange New Worlds season 3's Hollywood murder mystery holodeck episode directed by Jonathan Frakes.

3Dr. Roger Korby Meets Spock Years Before Star Trek: The Original Series

Spock Doesn't Seem To Handle Meeting Korby Well

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's trailer offers a first glimpse at Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O'Sullivan), who is Nurse Chapel's (Majel Barrett Roddenberry) ex-fiancé in Star Trek: The Original Series. Korby coming aboard Strange New Worlds, just as Chapel is leaving to join Korby's archaeological fellowship, indicates the Star Trek prequel will show the relationship that was only hinted at in 1960s Star Trek. None of that bodes well for Spock's romantic designs towards Christine.

Lieutenant Spock meeting Dr. Roger Korby - and the Vulcan Science Officer punching Chapel's new love interest - is a retcon that the two met prior to Star Trek: The Original Series. It remains to be seen in Strange New Worlds season 3 whether Spock and Korby will be rivals all the way through, as there is also a shot in season 3's trailer of Spock, Korby, Chapel, La'an, Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Beto Ortegas (Mynor Luken), working together on a landing party mission.

2Uhura Finally Has A Star Trek Romance

With Ortegas' Baby Brother?!

Ensign Nyota Uhura finally gets a love interest. One of the new romances teased by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's trailer is Uhura getting flirty (and maybe more) with Beto Ortegas, the younger brother of Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia). Erica is confirmed to survive her Gorn abduction, but now faces something possibly even more dire in Strange New Worlds season 3: her baby brother dating her best friend.

Uhura has waited nearly 60 years for a romantic storyline of her own. Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) famously kissed Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) in Star Trek: The Original Series, but Nyota never got much in the way of character development or backstory, much less a love interest. Lieutenant Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) joining Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gave hope that audiences could see the origin of Scotty (James Doohan) and Uhura's flirtation in the Star Trek movies. That could still happen, but Uhura looks like she'll date Beto Ortegas first.

1Lt. James T. Kirk Gets His First Taste As Captain Of The Enterprise

Could Strange New Worlds Show Kirk's Kobayashi Maru?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds bringing in Lieutenant James T. Kirk was a nod to Jim's future as Captain of the Enterprise, and Strange New Worlds season 3 has the most blatant tease yet. Strange New Worlds season 3's trailer shows Captain Pike counseling Kirk about his decisions as a starship Captain, and Kirk looks like he'll face a crisis while in command of the Enterprise. Luckily, Kirk will have Lieutenant Spock by his side, setting the stage for their eternal friendship.However, there is another possibility for why Kirk is in command of the Enterprise: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 could be depicting Kirk's infamous Kobayashi Maru test. J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) showed cadet James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) cheating the no-win scenario at Starfleet Academy, but Strange New Worlds may be showing Kirk's ingenuity in Star Trek Prime Universe canon. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, like Star Trek fans, knows Kirk's first, best destiny, and season 3 will continue laying the groundwork for the future Captain of the Enterprise.