Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Would’ve Ended The Show, Says Showrunner

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's executive producer and co-showrunner confirms that season 3's finale, "New Life and New Civilizations," could have been the end of the series.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

 just ended its divisive third season on Paramount+, with all episodes of season 4 already filmed, and the fifth and final season currently in production.

TrekMovie interviewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' 

executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers about season 3's finale.

Noting that they didn't end Strange New Worlds season 3's finale with a cliffhanger like season 2, Myers confirmed that "New Life and New Civilizations" could have doubled as the series finale. Read Henry's quote below:

No cliffhanger this time. When you wrote it, did you think this might have been a series finale?

Henry Alonso Myers: Yeah.

Akiva Goldsman also confirmed that when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

 returns for its final two seasons, the show is "done" with the Gorn, who have been villains since season 1, and the Vezda, the menaces introduced in season 3. Read Akiva's quote below:

So you are not done with the Vezda…

Goldsman: [laughs] We’re done with the Vezda, like we are with the Gorn…

Why Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Almost Ended With Season 3

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 was delayed for two years. 2023's combined WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes delayed filming of season 3 for 7 months. Meanwhile, Paramount Global was in the midst of being acquired by Skydance Media, which was completed in August 2025.

Paramount's sale to Skydance and continuing changes in the industry's streaming business model led to Paramount+ ending Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'

 producers braced themselves to be next, and season 3's finale was looked at as possibly being the end.

However, Paramount+ renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for season 4 in April 2024, during filming of season 3. This was looked at as the end of the show, with Paramount+ offering 

Strange New Worlds a two-hour movie to wrap up the series.

Instead, Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Meyers negotiated a 6-episode fifth and final season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

 to fulfill their promise to the audience to end the USS Enterprise's "five-year mission" and link up the ending to the start of Star Trek: The Original Series.

Our Take On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Almost Ending The Show

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's finale wrapped up many of the season's major storylines, established the friendship between Lt. Commander James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) and Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), and set up a new five-year mission for the Starship Enterprise.

With the emotional catharsis of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) saying goodbye to his love, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano), it's easy to see how Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 

season 3's finale could be looked at as the end of the series.

Thankfully, there are still 16 episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to come. Although a segment of Star Trek fans took issue with season 3's genre-focused direction, Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers told 

ScreenRant that they think season 4 is their strongest season.