Warning! The following contains spoilers from the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Tomorrow's Enterprise." Stream the episode with a Paramount+ subscription and read at your own risk!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gave its fans a lot to chew on ahead of the final season, after a temporal distortion gave Nyota Uhura a look into her future. It soft-launched some big changes that are on the way as the series closes out, and I just learned a major fact about the episode. Apparently, it was initially written to be the last episode of the show.
I was so hung up on the hint that La'an might die that I tuned out everything else. Fortunately, I can always revisit the episode on Paramount+, and based on Akiva Goldsman confirming to TVLine that the Season 4 finale was written as a potential series finale, I think I need to go back and look for all these last-minute changes that took effect once they realized they'd get more episodes. Goldsman said:
You know, this series has always been a promissory note to fans. The series has always promised that we would we come right up to the edge of ‘TOS’ [the original "Star Trek" series], and we really got to, which is something that I know Henry and I are tremendously proud of. But that was about to be it. So we were going to get there the best way we knew how. If you look closely at the episode, I shall not disclose, but there were some quick substitutions, switches, changes in order for it not to actually entirely open up ‘TOS’ before it was time.
The changes likely ensured the Season 4 finale did not prematurely reveal a look at the original TOS crew in Strange New Worlds, which the co-creators have long said was their plan for how the series ends. I'd love to go back and watch with that in mind, and see if maybe those changes are easier to spot now.
I'm now wondering if the actors who were cast as Sulu and Bones for the final season were originally in this episode and then written out for a reveal in the final season. The crew would only be short one Pavel Chekov of having the entire crew from the original series. Of course, given the age gap, Chekov would be too young to be on the Enterprise at this point.
Ultimately, I'm glad Strange New Worlds didn't have to end with its Season 4 finale, as that would've been a huge compromise compared to what was promised. Sure, it would've been better than Enterprise's infamous finale, but it still would've been a poor way to end what has been the franchise's best show of the modern era.
Fans are still waiting on details on when the final season of Strange New Worlds will air, but we do know it'll be an abbreviated six-episode season. The cast wrapped on filming late last year, so I think it's possible the final season will arrive in 2027, assuming there weren't any major hang-ups with post-production.
Here's hoping that extra time was enough to create a proper finale, and one that fans can continue to enjoy for years to come on streaming. In the meantime, revisit Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+, and continue to wonder alongside other fans why it seems unlikely it's going to get a spinoff.
