What is the correct chronological order to watch Star Trek

Ever wonder what to watch first from the world of Star Trek?

Star Trek is sprawling and robust and can be a bit overwhelming for people to get into. After all, counting all the canonical items on this list, you’re looking at 24 fully realized series or films. You’re looking at over 700 hours of content, and that’s just what we have as of June 10, 2022. That also doesn’t factor in the non-canon stuff or the stuff inspired by Trek, i.e. The Orville.

That’s why in this article you’re going to learn not what shows you should watch to start your Star Trek questing, but also what films and shows are in what universe.

That doesn’t mean every show is included, however.

Star Trek: The Animated Series is not on the list and the reason is that it’s not canon. At least not according to Paramount. According to Trek parent company Paramount, the series is not canon. Despite that, concepts from the cartoon have been canonized through other series. This doesn’t make the cartoons canon, only some information that may also be found in these non-canon stories. As it’s not canon, it’s not on the list.

We’re also not including Short Treks for a variety of reasons, but mostly because this list is focusing on long-running series about a core cast of characters; not an anthology series. So since it’s a side-project that has little impact on the timeline, we’re eliminating it to save us the headache of having to plant each episode in the timeline.

So below, in descending order, are the shows and films you should watch in order if you want a canonical experience. There are some films that overlap with some shows, don’t worry about that. They can be watched before, during, or after the series you’re watching without it affecting the overall plot of either.

Shows or films that time-traveled as part of the plot, but returned to their primary timeframe will just be included from when the show started. Discovery, on the other hand, is split in two as it has two distinct time periods that it occupies.

As for the Kelvin Timeline, which starts with the 2009 film, that’s included in both lists. The reason is that the elder Spock played by Leonard Nimoy is in fact the Spock from the original series, the subsequent films, and The Next Generation episode he camoed on.

Dash marks indicate the point in the Prime Timeline the point Spock left and then dash marks indicate the Kelvin timeline when he appeared.

The complete, chronological timeline of Star Trek

Prime Timeline

"(2151-2155) Enterprise(2256-2258) Discovery Season’s 1 & 2(2259 – ???) Strange New Worlds(2265-2269) The Original Series(2270s) The Motion Picture(2285) The Wrath of Khan(2285) The Search for Spock(2286) The Voyage Home(2287) The Final Frontier(2293) The Undiscovered Country(2364-2370) The Next Generation (2369-2375) Deep Space Nine(2371) Generations(2371-2378) Voyager(2373 – and 2063) First Contact(2375) Insurrection(2378) Nemesis(2380) Lower Decks(2383) Prodigy—— 2387 (Star Trek 2009 – see Kelvin Timeline for further details)(2399-2401) Picard(3188-???) Discovery Season’s 3-5"

Kelvin Timeline

"——-(2258) Star Trek 2009 Time travel from prime timeline made this universe.(2259/2260) Into Darkness(2263) Beyond"