Star Trek announces Lower Decks/Strange New Worlds crossover at Comic-Con

Star Trek announces a bold crossover event at San Diego Comic-Con.

Big news beaming out of San Diego Comic-Con for Star Trek fans, courtesy of @NerdgazmTweets on Twitter:

That’s right! Fresh on the heels of revealing a brand-new season 3 trailer for Star Trek: Lower Decks (which is scheduled to start on August 25), Paramount Plus has announced the cosmic comedy will see what Deadline is calling a “major crossover episode” with the franchise’s newest series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

The crossover event will take place sometime during Strange New Worlds’ second season (premiere date not yet known). In it, Lower Decks protagonists Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler will visit the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike.

The first true crossover the franchise has seen since Prime Spock appeared in Star Trek (2009), this episode should be one for the Trek record books.

The next Star Trek crossover will combine live action and animation

We Star Trek fans are nothing if not astute. No doubt many are noticing that Lower Decks is an animated series—the franchise’s first since The Animated Series (1973-74)—while Strange New Worlds is live action.

Turns out the creative teams behind the shows are aware! Per Deadline, the episode will somehow utilize both media:

"In this special crossover episode, featuring both live-action and animation, we’ll see Ensign Beckett Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome, and Ensign Brad Boimler, voiced by Jack Quaid, from Lower Decks, joining the U.S.S. Enterprise in season two of Strange New Worlds."

Mixing animation and live-action is a venerable Hollywood tradition. Disney’s Mary Poppins did it. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? did it. Arguably, Star Trek has done it every time computer-animated effects share the screen with live-action characters.

Trek veteran actor and director Jonathan Frakes will direct the episode, so at least we know there will be an experienced and trustworthy hand at the helm.

Will this unexpected and sure-to-be unforgettable crossover pave the way for other bold new experiments in Trek storytelling formats? Perhaps we’ll finally get a true musical episode after all!

Only time will tell. Stay tuned to the news from Comic-Con for more developments!