One of the most highly anticipated Star Trek episodes of the year is the upcoming Strange New Worlds crossover with the franchise’s hit animated series Lower Decks. Last year at San Diego Comic-Con, Lower Decks stars Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid joined Anson Mount and the ensemble cast of Strange New Worlds on stage to announce that Season 2 of the prequel series would feature a crossover with the beloved animated show, featuring live-action versions of Mariner (Newsome) and Boimler (Quaid).
Now, just weeks ahead of the Season 2 premiere of Strange New Worlds, we’ve finally gotten our first look at these lower deckers beaming into live-action. The teaser comes from Canadian streamer Crave, and though it’s brief, it’s enough to get fans even more excited for the upcoming episode. In the five-second teaser, we see ensigns Mariner and Boimler standing on the transporter pad behind Mount’s Captain Pike, and Chief Security Officer La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). Boimler appears to be his usual nervous self, fidgeting slightly as Mariner stands at attention. They’re both still in the Lower Decks era uniforms too. Given that these shows are set hundreds of years apart it’s anyone’s guess how these two end up on the Enterprise.
There’s a lot more to look forward to with this episode as well. At SDCC, Mount, Newsome, and Quaid teased that not only would we be seeing Mariner and Boimler in live action, but we would also be seeing animated versions of the Strange New Worlds crew. Not only that, but this epic crossover episode will also be directed by none other than Star Trek legend, Jonathan Frakes. Frakes played Will Riker on The Next Generation and Picard and has had a turn behind the camera on just about every Star Trek series to grace our screens since the 1990s.
The Star Trek Franchise Continues to Boldly Grow
The upcoming seasons of Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks aren’t the only things that Star Trek fans have to look forward to on the horizon. Ahead of the second and fourth seasons of each show respectively, Paramount renewed both series for a third and fifth season as well. The animated children’s series Prodigy is set to return this fall, with the final season of Star Trek: Discovery set to begin airing sometime early in 2024. It was also recently announced that we would be getting the long-rumored Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, which will likely be set in the Discovery era and feature some familiar faces, though little has been revealed about the series so far. Michelle Yeoh will also return to the Star Trek universe for a Section 31 movie that is set to begin production later this year.
Strange New Worlds is set to premiere on Paramount+ and Crave on June 15, with Lower Decks set to return later this summer. You can watch the new teaser down below.
