I’ve loved science fiction for almost as long as I can remember. Today, I often tell people I read, watch, and write science fiction almost exclusively. Looking back, my love for sci-fi started with Star Trek.

Perhaps it’s because, unlike Star Wars, it offers a future that’s both hopeful and believable. Unlike the growing mountain of dystopian sci-fi, Star Trek gives us something not to avoid but to aspire to. Since the original series in the 1960s, Gene Roddenberry’s iconic franchise has shown us the future we all desperately want to believe in. And since its premiere, Strange New Worlds has continued to deliver on that promise, and then some.

To say I’d been eagerly awaiting the new season is to indulge in understatement. I spent plenty of time since the season two finale anxiously searching for an official release date. Once I finally had one, I was literally counting down the days. I stayed up until 3 AM the Thursday before last just to watch the first two episodes. And honestly, after everything the series has done so far, the biggest surprise of season three thus far was that it was well worth the wait.

With episode three of ten scheduled episodes having dropped last night, I thought I’d take a moment to offer my initial thoughts: what I like so far, where I expect the season to go from here, and what this season means for the future of the series and beyond.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

The third season of Strange New Worlds begins exactly where everyone knew it would: paying off the cliffhanger ending of the previous season. The season premiere, “Hegemony, Pt. 2” is an action-packed thrill ride. And while the action was excellent, it manages to organically flesh out the revised lore of the Gorn, while also providing a firm canon explanation for why the Gorn don’t factor prominently into the original series, despite Strange New Worlds establishing them as an existential threat to the Federation.

Episode two, however, serves as another of Star Trek‘s more lighthearted episodes, headlined by some unexpected and wild returns of Trek‘s most infamous villains. Despite the fears of some of the more ardent Trekkies out there, writers managed to carefully weave their way around existing canon to bring Trelane into the story. And they really stuck the landing, avoiding any retcons of existing canon while giving a delightfully cheeky nod and wink to longtime fans: finally establishing the long-running fan theory that Trelane is, in fact, a member of the Q Continuum (thanks to a brief voice cameo by the incomparable John De Lancie, which made me audibly gasp).

So far, through three episodes the season has stayed true to the biggest promise of the show’s writers: continuing to “genre hop”, as they put it. While the first episode was the kind of high-stakes thrill ride fans have come to expect from blockbuster Trek episodes, the second was almost a Star Trek rom-com. And the third episode begins with tragic romance before spiraling into a Romero movie.

For me, the most impressive aspect of the season so far has been just how flawlessly the writers manage to weave tons of plot into the space allotted. I believe one of the biggest problems with many modern sci-fi franchises (looking at you, Rise of Skywalker) has been writers trying to shoehorn too much drama and action into every scene. But, by god, Strange New Worlds has made it work. The first episode is incredibly fast-paced, but still manages to seamlessly blend in vital character development: the resolution (sort of) of the abortive relationship between Spock and Nurse Chapel, La’an overcoming her PTSD to save her crewmates from the Gorn, Pike’s struggle between the needs of his command and his concern for Patel, and Scotty’s fish-out-of-water response to being thrust into action with Pelia: his former Academy instructor.

Even the most recent episode was able to balance Pike’s desperate efforts to save Patel with Ortegas’s changing attitude after her ordeal aboard the Gorn ship. And they somehow managed to make hordes of zombies secondary to a fearsome knife-fight between Doctor M’Benga and a Klingon who wishes to kill him to restore her honor. This series is the polar opposite of The Acolyte: it’s a master class in sci-fi screenwriting.

That said, the first three episodes left me with three lingering thoughts:

Strange New Worlds continues to stick to canon…just enough

As I mentioned in my recent review of the series so far, I’ve long believed that Star Trek is in dire need of an update, even a full reboot. I also mentioned I’m well aware that my feelings are not shared by many die-hard Trekkies. But I’ll be damned if Strange New Worlds isn’t finding a way to do it without getting everyone up in arms. While the early seasons of Discovery often felt like a blunt-force reboot of the franchise, dragging Trek kicking and screaming into 21st century storytelling and aesthetics, Strange New Worlds continues to serve as a quiet, soft reboot.

By dropping little tidbits in here and there (Trelane was disguised so no TOS characters would recognize him, Q was never actually seen, Kirk mentions his girlfriend Carol Marcus, etc.), they’ve been able to keep longtime fans from grumbling about all the smaller alterations. Even the update to the Klingons is stealthy: it took me a while to realize that the uniforms used by Klingon soldiers are clearly a more embellished, more Klingon take on the original series costumes. That said, in keeping with established canon, I feel we’re in for some major changes before the end of this season…

At least a few characters are probably doomed

…doomed to leave the series one way or another, anyway. And I’m not just talking about Captain Pike.

For veteran Trekkies, watching Strange New Worlds is a curious experience, because we all know where this will end: Kirk in command of the Enterprise, with the entire original series crew firmly in place. Spock and Uhura are already aboard the ship. Kirk has made frequent appearances, and is known to be a recurring character in this season as well. And Scotty is now a series regular (played delightfully by Martin Quinn: a real Scottish actor at last).

It’s long been theorized (though never explicitly stated on screen) that Kirk served as Pike’s first officer prior to assuming command of the Enterprise. And at least two characters are likely to appear sooner or later: helmsman Hikaru Sulu and Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy. After watching the first three episodes, I fear time is running out for several of the series’s current main characters.

Already, the season’s character drama has revolved around issues with Doctor M’Benga and Lieutenant Ortegas: the ship’s doctor and helm officer, respectively. Two characters who Trekkies know are destined to be replaced. That may open the door for McCoy and Sulu, though there’s no official word on their arrival yet. So far, nothing has been said about casting for the characters; all guest stars for this season are publicly accounted for, and I doubt even Star Trek‘s production staff could keep something like that under wraps this long. But with M’Benga still skirting ethical lines and Ortegas now temporarily grounded, I’m wondering if both characters are headed for a tearful departure prior to the end of the season.

Perhaps the most obvious candidate for a farewell is Pelia. That would be disappointing; I love Scotty, and Quinn really owns the part, but Carol Kane has really stolen the show at times. Still, like I said, Trekkies know where all of this is heading.

Strange New Worlds looks to be on a collision course with TOS

Based on all this, and knowing the series is set to end after its fifth season, I’m more convinced than ever that Strange New Worlds is set to leave off right around where the original series began.

Exactly how they get there, though, is anyone’s guess. Already the series jumped ahead several months between the first and second episodes of this season. I’m now wondering if there could be an even longer time jump at some point in the future. The series’s writers have long said their ideal scenario would be to just move right into the original series era. Paul Wesley has repeatedly expressed his interest in playing Kirk in a sequel series.

My hope is that the writers will keep going, and launch a new series that will actually (at least partly) reboot the original. As it stands, there’s been talk of a (possibly limited) spinoff series that would cover the final two years of the Enterprise‘s five-year mission under Kirk (that is, the two years that never made it to screen after the series was cancelled).

Either way, suffice to say I’m loving this season so far, and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead, both this season and beyond. – MK

New episodes of season three of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiere each Thursday on Paramount+. All episodes of seasons one and two are currently available.