I Hope Strange New Worlds Is Star Trek’s Last Prequel

After Star Trek: Strange New Worlds comes to a close, the franchise should move on from prequels. Following the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his Enterprise crew, Strange New Worlds takes place just before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series.

With its incredibly compelling cast of characters and classic Star Trek stories, Strange New Worlds has been a major success for Paramount+. Captain Pike makes for a dynamic lead, and Strange New Worlds offers fascinating insights into a period of Star Trek history that had only been hinted at before.

Strange New Worlds allowed the franchise to add more depth to characters like Ensign Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), who didn't always get much to do on TOS. While I'm glad Strange New Worlds exists, I'd like to see the Star Trek franchise boldly go into the future rather than continue exploring its past.

Why Strange New Worlds Should Be Star Trek’s Last Prequel

Star Trek Should Boldly Look Toward Its Future

While Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made the most of its status as a prequel, the franchise should focus on the future as it moves forward. Strange New Worlds itself is a spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery, which began as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, but truly found its footing after launching its characters into the far future of the 32nd century.

Prequels are always tricky because they have to set up a story that has already been told without outwardly contradicting anything. This limits the types of stories that prequels can tell, and inevitably upsets fans when things don't quite line up with the original timeline.

This was part of the problem with Discovery's first two seasons, as it made big (and controversial) changes to Spock's (Ethan Peck) story and the look of the Klingons. Strange New Worlds, too, has retconned some elements from TOS, including Starfleet's history with the Gorn and Spock's romantic relationships.

Star Trek's upcoming Discovery spin-off, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, will take place in the 32nd century, exploring an unknown period of Star Trek's future. Other potential Star Trek projects, like Star Trek: Legacy or the live-action comedy being developed by Tawny Newsome and Justin Simien, would be set in the 25th century, presumably after the events of Star Trek: Picard.

Two Possible Star Trek Movies Could Still Be Prequels

Star Trek 4 & An Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie Would Be Star Trek Prequels

In 2009, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film reinvigorated the franchise, in a prequel following a young James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his future Enterprise crew. Star Trek (2009) and its subsequent sequels took place in an alternate universe created when the Romulan Nero (Eric Bana) arrived from the future and destroyed the USS Kelvin.

Even before Star Trek: Beyond premiered in 2016, a fourth Star Trek film featuring the same cast had already been announced. Despite this, Star Trek 4 has yet to be made, although most of the cast have expressed an interest in doing at least one more film.

In January 2024, Paramount Studios announced plans for another prequel film set "decades before" J.J. Abrams' movies. With a script by Seth Grahame-Smith, this Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie has tapped Toby Haynes to direct, but very little news has been shared about the film since its announcement.

Haynes, who directed episodes of Doctor Who and Andor, as well as the "USS Callister" episodes of Black Mirror, seems like a solid choice to helm a Star Trek film. However, it remains to be seen whether this particular prequel or the long-rumored Star Trek 4 will ever make it to the big screen.

Why Star Trek Needs To End Prequels & Move Forward

Star Trek Has A Wide Open Future That Remains Unexplored

Between Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery's first two seasons, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the Star Trek franchise has explored a lot of its past. The franchise has thoroughly explored the events leading up to the creation of the United Federation of Planets, as well as the events leading up to Captain Kirk's (William Shatner) command of the Enterprise.

After the success of Star Trek: Picard season 3, fans have been clamoring for the proposed spin-off, Star Trek: Legacy. A show like this would allow the franchise to continue telling stories with beloved characters like Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine, while also diving into a period that Star Trek has yet to explore.

Setting Star Trek stories further into the future will also allow the shows to take full advantage of CGI and other modern technology without having to explain why everything seems more advanced than it did on Star Trek: The Original Series or Star Trek: The Next Generation.

While there's still a period of time between the final TOS movie and the beginning of Star Trek: The Next Generation that has yet to be fully explored, Star Trek should focus its gaze on the future. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is proof that prequels can work when done well, but Star Trek has spent enough time looking back at its past.