It goes without saying that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seemed like it was stuck on impulse power for most of season 3, and the third go-round of the show never could achieve warp drive. True, showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman deserve some credit. After all, they did bring back General Trelane (Rhys Darby) and even Star Trek: The Next Generation’s John de Lancie to voice the Squire of Gothos’ father with the younger Q playing it up as a wedding planner this time around.
However, the overall feeling of season 3 just didn’t live up to seasons 1 and 2, as the edge-of-your-seat storytelling from the previous seasons was missing in many cases — and then there was the focus to make several episodes more comedic and less dramatic. So, do SNW fans need to be worried about season 4 having similar problems? Well, the showrunners don’t think so. Myers said in an interview with Cinemablend: “I think that we're probably a little more serious in [Season] 4, but, you know we like to work in various genres.” Goldsman added:
“[Season] 3 was a very challenging season for us we had the strike, and we had the loss of folks, and we didn't quite get as strong a breath between? We’d stop and start, and folks who are really part of an episode then aren't there, and so you know it, in some ways a little more peripatetic than is typical for us. Season 4, I think, is our best work. Henry doesn't like it when I say that, but it felt very much in hand. We were always chasing a little bit on [Season] 3. [Season] 4 felt, in the best possible way, quite deliberate and fun.”
True, both The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strikes muddied the waters and halted the production of many television and film projects back in 2023. Nevertheless, the mass walk out of Hollywood talent shouldn’t be the sole blame for some of the shoddy SNW season 3 episodes. Frankly, those teleplays shouldn’t have gone into production until the scripts were perfected.
So, what’s your opinion on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3? Did you enjoy the episodes for the most part, or do the showrunners have their work cut out for them when it comes to trying to sway audiences back to watch what will hopefully be a far superior fourth season?
Share your thoughts and comments on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. With only two seasons of the show left to go, though, Myers and Goldsman don’t have long to right the ship — starship in this case. However, SNW seasons 1 and 2 were excellent, so, hopefully, season 4 will be able to boldly go where fans will want to follow on streaming.