‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Offically Has Dinosaurs and Muppets in Season 4

This year, at CCXP in Mexico City, Collider’s Steven Weintraub had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the stars of Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This chapter of the beloved sci-fi franchise is coming to its close, with both Seasons 4 and 5 wrapped and ready to go, and at the convention, Paul Wesley, Rebecca Romijn, Celia Rose Gooding, and Ethan Peck carefully teased the episodes to keep an eye out for, the seasons’ most thrilling beats, and more.

In Season 4, the U.S.S. Enterprise crew embarks on all-new adventures across the final frontier, bringing them face-to-face with their own inner demons as well as new foes. The teaser trailer, first unveiled at CCXP this year, shows planetary phenomena, dinosaurs, and the crew boldly testing their limits every step of the way. And while the clip shows the fantastical elements fans have come to love from Strange New Worlds, some moments hint at a much darker story this season. In particular, a shot of Kirk screaming is not only chilling, but feels foreboding with what the cast has to say about the Season 4 scripts.

Don’t miss the full conversation in the video above or the transcript below, where the stars tease their favorite future episodes from Seasons 4 and 5, epic Pike (Anson Mount) hair on a Muppet, and how the final scripts made them feel. Plus, Romijn teases returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Doomsday.

Paul Wesley's Favorite Episode Was "Emotionally Difficult"

But good luck guessing which one it is!

COLLIDER: I really can't wait for Season 4 and for Season 5. I definitely am curious, though, because you have filmed the next two seasons, which is the episode of these two seasons that you cannot wait for fans to see?

CELIA ROSE GOODING: Season 4. The Season 4 finale, for me personally.

REBECCA ROMIJN: I feel like I'm scared to answer the question without spoiling something.

No spoilers.

GOODING: Yeah, I said the number.

ROMIJN: I can't remember the numbers.

ETHAN PECK: I don't remember a lot of what we filmed.

GOODING: It was almost a year ago today.

PECK: It was such a blur.

ROMIJN: And we shot them back-to-back. But we're so proud of Season 4 and Season 5. We think they're by far our strongest.

PAUL WESLEY: There's an episode in Season 4 that I'm really excited about.

GOODING: Do you remember the number?

WESLEY: No.

PECK: Episode 7?

WESLEY: No… Maybe? Whatever.

Let me actually do a follow-up. I saw the teaser trailer that they're releasing at CCXP here, and there is a shot in the trailer of you behind doors screaming, and the doors close. What do you want to tease about that scene?

WESLEY: Actually, that’s the episode. I like that one. It's very unique in contrast to the other episodes.

PECK: It was emotionally difficult to play.

'Strange New Worlds' Has Everything – Dinosaurs, Muppets, and Lots of Tears

"I think I cried at every end of the scripts for the season."

The trailer also shows dinosaurs. Why the F does Universal own dinosaurs? Everyone can play with dinosaurs. So what do you want to tease about dinosaurs in Star Trek?

ROMIJN: The cool part that I can share is that we got to work with one of the puppets from Jurassic Park, and that puppeteer was incredible. The puppet had so many facial expressions and moved in such a complicated way. There's a fight scene between one of our characters and that puppet that almost took me out of the scene. I was really so in awe of this puppeteer and this puppet. It was really amazing getting to do that.

I honestly can't wait. I'm also curious because there are Muppets in Season 4… You guys are looking at me like I’m crazy. Am I completely wrong?

GOODING: Allegedly.

WESLEY: Are you high, man?

ROMIJN: [Laughs] What are you talking about?

Please, I've seen Pike's hair on the Muppet, and it is, like, the size of the room. It's massive. What do you want to tease about that episode? Because to me, that sounds amazing.

GOODING: The Pike puppet hair is as big in person as it looks on TV. That's what I can tease. [Laughs]

ROMIJN: I'm so sorry. It's so hard to do these. They're going to cut a finger off if we say too much.

Let me ask you this. Is it early in the season or late in the season that fans will see Pike's hair the size of this room?

PECK: Latter half.

ROMIJN: It’s later in the season.

GOODING: I thought it was smack-dab in the middle.

ROMIJN: I think it’s a little later.

PECK: We're unclear.

WESLEY: I wasn't in that episode, so I have no idea.

PECK: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Weren't you?

WESLEY: Actually, yes. I was.

ROMIJN: Do we look like a bunch of idiots up here?

GOODING: Yes. [Laughs]

You've already filmed the series finale. What it was like reading that script, because it's the end of a chapter, and I'm just wondering how emotional it was, and what it was like filming that particular episode.

ROMIJN: I think it wasn't just that one. I think there were several episodes in [Season] 5. They did a great job of wrapping up a lot of character storylines in 5, and there are so many very, very, very emotional beats throughout Season 5. It wasn't just the finale.

GOODING: I think I cried at every end of the scripts for the season.

ROMIJN: There were a lot of tears in almost every episode of that season.

PECK: For me, it was just so exciting. I can't believe we got to do five seasons of a television show.

GOODING: In the streaming era.

PECK: And so to have reached the end, to have reached Season 5, was so spectacular to me. I just felt like this amazing sense of triumph after we finished everything. And it continues. We get to promote the seasons on and on, and we'll be connected with this role forever.

ROMIJN: Yeah, we still have two incredible seasons to look forward to, so there's nothing sad about it.

WESLEY: That said, I loved when I read the script for the finale. I was like, “Wow, this is so awesome,” just to wrap up this amazing set of seasons. It just was beautifully written.

'Strange New Worlds' Sulu Meets George Takei This Season

"They were fantastic."

I'm very curious about Sulu and Bones and how they interact with you guys. I know we're going to talk about that later, but is there anything you want to tease?

PECK: They're out there. They're out there.

GOODING: Their takes on the characters, I think, are going to make fans really excited.

WESLEY: Yeah, they were fantastic.

GOODING: Strange New Worlds’ Sulu got to meet George Takei, and I don't know much about how that interaction went down, but I can only imagine.

ROMIJN: Has that been announced?

WESLEY: Yeah.

GOODING: I’ve seen their picture together. Somebody posted it.

WESLEY: Oh, they did?

GOODING: Yes.

WESLEY: I thought you were asking if Sulu and Bones were announced.

GOODING: Yeah, there was a whole Deadline thing.

WESLEY: That was announced. I thought you were talking about the George Takei…

GOODING: You’re not well, friend.

PECK: This is gonna make great content.

In all seriousness, though, it has to be confusing for you guys because you are promoting Season 4 right now, but you've also filmed all of 5. So there's an element of, like, how long ago did you film Season 4, and “What the hell did we do that season?”

GOODING: A year ago today.

ROMIJN: Last year, and we shot them back-to-back. So it does get a little muddy when we try to remember various episodes.

WESLEY: It’s nothing compared to if I go to a Vampire Diaries convention, and I shot the show 15 years ago, and they're like, “So, in this season…” I’m like, “Are you out of your mind? I don’t remember a thing! What are you talking bout?”

This is probably the most important question I'm going to ask, and no one from Paramount is here or watching this, but in the last few weeks of filming Strange New Worlds, how much were you borrowing from set with every intention to bring it back? Because I would have taken literally everything.

ROMIJN: They were pretty generous with the things that we asked for. I think most of us took our uniforms home.

GOODING: I got an ear com, some earrings.

ROMIJN: I've got some of Spock's ears. I've got a couple of sets of Spock's ears. Paul says he got a phaser, but then we found out it wasn't one of the expensive phasers.

GOODING: It was styrofoam.

WESLEY: It wasn't styrofoam. It's wood.

ROMIJN: Okay, but it's not one of the real ones.

WESLEY: You know what I just realized? They asked me if I wanted my uniform, and I said yes, and then they never sent it.

ROMIJN: You can ask them now.

WESLEY: Yeah, I might have to do that.

GOODING: Send an email.

PECK: I brought home a little logic.

GOODING: Incredible. Wow.

Rebecca Romijn Says Filming 'Avengers: Doomsday' Was Surreal

Romijn played Mystique in X-Men.

Rebecca, I do have an individual for you, if you don't mind. At CinemaCon, I saw about two and a half minutes of Avengers: Doomsday, and the movie looked spectacular. I’m very curious what it was like being and filming on that, with just the amount of people. I heard one day that there were, like, 35 people.

ROMIJN: That was a very surreal day. I'll never forget it. There were two days back-to-back where we were all just kind of looking at each other, going, “This is crazy.” It was very surreal. Very surreal, also, to go back and reprise a character that I played over 20 years ago, being with my old cast and then also with a new cast. Very exciting.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 premieres globally on Paramount+ on July 23. New episodes will be released weekly.