Star Trek: Strange New Worlds showrunner says season 4 is "the best work we've done" and gets candid on why it'll be better than season 3: "We just had more time"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds showrunner Akiva Goldsman gets candid about the show's upcoming fourth season, and why it's set to be an improvement on season 3.

"We just had more time [for season 4]," Goldsman told TrekMovie. "Just had more time, more continuous time. We didn’t have staffing changes. We didn’t have a strike. The strike caused change. Those things are real. And starting up and shutting down and starting up again is complicated." Goldsman also said the upcoming season was "the best work we've done".

Season 3, which premiered this July and came to an end last week, was the least well-received installment of the show so far and has the lowest audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Star Trek: Discovery spin-off follows Captain Christopher Pike (played by Anson Mount) and the crew of the starship Enterprise prior to the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. The cast also includes Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Number One.

The first season debuted in 2022 with season 2 arriving the following year, but season 3 was delayed due to the WGA writers' strike and SAG-AFTRA actors' strike in 2023.

"We know our cast deeply. We knew a lot of people’s strengths. We were able to lean into their strengths and have them try things that they hadn’t gotten to try, that we could see on screen," added co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers. "The usual thing that we talk about on the show is that when we’re having fun, it’s usually a good sign. And [season 4] was really, really fun."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 arrives sometime in 2026. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best new TV shows still to come this year.