Star Trek Discovery Spinoff Strange New Worlds Starts Filming & Casts 5 More Stars

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has officially begun production; the highly anticipated series has also announced the rest of its new crew. A spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery, Strange New Worlds will take place in the era before James T. Kirk took command of the Enterprise. This time around, the captain's chair is filled by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), who commanded the Enterprise for several years before Kirk. Mount began playing the role in Discovery season 2, when he became that ship's temporary captain.

The character of Pike was created for the very first Star Trek pilot in 1964, "The Cage," played by Jeffrey Hunter. Along with Pike were crew members Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Number One (Majel Barrett). The latter was Pike's trusted, slightly enigmatic first officer, who will be played in Strange New Worlds by Rebecca Romijn. Lieutenant Spock was a crucial player in Discovery season 2; played by Ethan Peck, this younger version of Spock doesn't have quite the steel grip on his emotions that Leonard Nimoy's older, more seasoned Spock did in Star Trek: The Original Series.

As production on the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds begins, we're getting more details about the series. Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers will be co-showrunners, with Goldsman directing the pilot. The show is also adding actors Babs Olusanmokun, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, and Melissa Navia as series regulars. Their specific roles are yet to be revealed, but the cast has assembled for a video commemorating the beginning of production on the series. Check it out below.

Strange New Worlds is set to be a slightly different Star Trek series for Paramount+. While Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard are heavily serialized and lean on prestige television rhythms and tone, Strange New Worlds is set to be something of a throwback, with largely self-contained adventures.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is just the latest in a long line of Paramount+ projects involving the final frontier. In addition to the popular Discovery and Picard, there's Star Trek: Lower Decks, an adult-aimed animated series that lovingly sends up the franchise. Waiting in the wings is Star Trek: Prodigy, a family-aimed animated series that will involve a group of alien teenagers who steal a derelict Starfleet ship; that show will also somehow bring back Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Kathryn Janeway. But of all the currently in development Star Trek projects, Strange New Worlds is likely the most anticipated. It's a show audiences essentially willed into existence with the favorable reception to Pike and his version of the Enterprise in Discovery season 2. Fans won't have to wait much longer to see if Star Trek: Strange New Worlds can live up to that hype.