Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Short Final Season Is Still Better Than What Paramount Plus Wanted

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ending with a short season 5 is better than what Paramount+ originally wanted, according to Rebecca Romijn. Paramount+ renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for its fifth and final season before season 3's premiere in June 2025. However, Strange New Worlds' final run will only be six episodes instead of the ten of every prior season.

TrekCore reported from STLV: Trek to Vegas convention, where Rebecca Romijn, who plays Lt. Commander Una-Chin Riley, said that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5's six-episode order was the result of negotiations between Paramount+ and executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers. Previously, Paramount+ wanted to do "just" a two-hour movie. See TrekCore's post below:

Why Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 5 Is Ending With Six Episodes Instead Of A Movie

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers spoke to ScreenRant about why season 5 is only six episodes, but made no mention of Paramount+ suggesting a two-hour movie. According to Goldsman: "I think that the studio sort of thought that we had essentially run our course after four seasons."

"We said, 'Hey, look, we made a set of promises to the audience around the idea of getting us right up to kissing distance with The Original Series.'" Goldsman continued. "And the studio said, 'Yes, we agree, and we were part of that promise. Let's re-explore how to do that in a way that makes sense for all parties'."

Akiva further explained, "They came back and said, 'Here are six episodes.' Well, in fairness, they said, 'What do you need to finish it?' And we said, 'We can do it in six'."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' plan was always to sync up with Star Trek: The Original Series' beginning, handing the USS Enterprise from Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) to Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley). Goldsman and Myers also hope to depict Kirk's early voyages in a spinoff called Star Trek: Year One.

Our Take On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Ending With Six Episodes Instead Of A Movie

Rebecca Romijn's comments at STLV are the first time we've heard of a two-hour movie offered as a way to end Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers knew that one movie-length story wouldn't be enough real estate to bring the saga of Strange New Worlds' huge cast of characters to a satisfying finish.

Thankfully, Goldsman and Myers negotiated six episodes, even if 10 would have been preferable. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds looks like it also suffered from Paramount+'s cost-cutting and downsizing of its Star Trek content, yet kudos to Paramount's executives for realizing Strange New Worlds needed more than a movie to wrap up its story.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 begins filming in fall 2025, while Strange New Worlds season 4 will likely premiere sometime in 2026. This means there are still 16 hours of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to come after season 3 wraps. It's also possible and hoped-for that episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 could be longer than an hour.