Strange New Worlds Has Solved Its Biggest Star Trek Problem In Season 4

Four seasons into its run on Paramount+, Strange New Worlds is finally addressing the biggest problem with its position in the Star Trek canon. The show is set almost immediately before the beginning of the franchise’s original series, leaving it with a lot of work to do in preparation for Captain James T. Kirk’s command of the USS Enterprise.

Yet, the previous three seasons of this prequel series have compounded matters, by developing divergent and tangential character arcs, as well as an approach to storytelling completely different in style and structural from the original Star Trek. If Strange New Worlds weren’t very good, it’d be easy to dismiss these differences as non-canonical aberrations. The problem is, it’s brilliant.

In recent years, it became increasingly difficult to see how showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers would be able to square the circle, essentially concluding their show by setting the scene for Star Trek: The Original Series. However, Strange New Worlds season 4’s character changes and structural shifts are beginning to do just that.

As many fans have noted, this new season already feels much closer to the classic Star Trek episodes of the 1960s. The original show is increasingly becoming a reference point for the latest character developments and storylines. For instance, Strange New Worlds season 4’s fourth episode introduces us to the Klingon mind scanner mentioned in Star Trek’s very first season.

Season 4 Is Bringing Strange New Worlds Closer To The Original Series

If the new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seems weird to viewers who’ve now been watching it for more than four years, it’s no accident. The show’s writers have had to take the bold decision of sacrificing a certain amount of narrative and tonal continuity as its story approaches The Original Series in broader chronological terms.

So far, Strange New Worlds season 4 has successfully achieved the delicate balance between staying true to itself and preparing viewers for the changes that are about to come thick and fast. For one thing, it’s skillfully pivoted towards the episodic “adventure of the week” format central to the structure of the original show.

Season-long conflicts between the crew of the USS Enterprise and singular villains appear to be a thing of the past. Meanwhile, romantic subplots introduced in earlier season of Strange New Worlds have been pared back as franchise favorites are gradually becoming the 1960s versions of themselves.

On the other hand, characters we know will have to be removed from the picture prior to the starting point for The Original Series are being allowed to shine like never before. La'An Noonien-Singh and Erica Ortega have been excellent additions to the Star Trek canon, so thoroughly deserve their moment in the limelight.

Star Trek’s OG Characters Are More Like Themselves In Season 4

Besides the further development of these secondary characters, Strange New Worlds season 4 is applying the changes to Spock and Kirk that The Original Series requires. Throughout the first three seasons of the show, Spock, in particular, has been depicted very differently from the supremely rational half-Vulcan who will later serve as Captain Kirk’s second-in-command.

What’s more, the relationship between Kirk and Spock has been far removed from the one we see in the Original Series. This fourth season of Strange New Worlds is making up for lost time by bringing the two characters closer together, following the shared bond they forged at the end of season 3.

This personal dynamic that lays the foundations for their future roles on the Enterprise. Spock is now more circumspect and philosophical in himself, too, which will be a welcome relief to longtime Star Trek fans. Strange New Worlds might be changing fast, but some of its central characters have never been more like themselves.