Everything We Know About Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Finale – « The Stars At Night »After wrapping up another hilariously successful season, here’s everything we know about Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. Executive producer and creator Mike McMahan’s animated comedy has proven itself as the most purely fun and unpredictable Star Trek series on Paramount+. After 3 seasons, Lower Decks is now cemented as genuine Star Trek and the series continues to homage and spoof every corner of the Star Trek universe, including an acclaimed crossover with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 turned out to be the series’ most intricately-plotted season. After resolving the Lower Decks season 2 cliffhanger in the season 3 premiere, multiple storylines converged and were resolved in Lower Decks season 3. Episode 5, « Reflections, » answered some mysteries about Ensign Samanthan Rutherford’s (Eugene Cordero) implant that paid off in the Lower Decks season 3 finale. Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) met an ex-Starfleet Officer-turned-archaeologist in « Reflections » who took her in when she was booted off the USS Cerritos. Meanwhile, the California-class fleet was nearly rendered obsolete by the A.I.-driven Texas-class starships, but the Cerritos managed to defeat the new robot Starfleet ships after they went rogue, reaffirming the importance of Lower Decks’ California-class. And many seeds were planted for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4.
Paramount+ gave Star Trek: Lower Decks an early season 4 renewal in January 2022, a full 8 months before season 3 premiered on the streaming service. With season 4 assured, writing on the next Lower Decks season commenced immediately. By the end of summer 2022, the scripts for Lower Decks season 4 were completed so that production for the next season was underway. Star Trek: Lower Decks traditionally premieres in August or late summer every year, so it’s safe to expect Lower Decks season 4 to drop on Paramount+ in late summer 2023.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 has a lot of threads that season 3 left behind. Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) believes his identical transporter clone, William Boimler, died, and he has no idea his doppelganger joined Section 31. Plus the evil A.I.s Peanut Hamper (Kether Donohue) and AGIMUS (Jeffrey Combs) have teamed up, and this could factor into the Lower Decks season 3 finale’s end-credits scene revealing that Badgey (Jack McBrayer) is alive. A new Lower Decker, the Vulcan named T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), has joined the USS Cerritos as a Science Officer trainee alongside Ensign D’Vana Tendi (Noel Wells). And Mariner is back in Starfleet’s good graces as the protege of Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell). Lower Decks season 4 should also have more Star Trek legacy guest voices like James Cromwell’s Zephram Cochrane and George Takei’s Captan Sulu in season 3.
Another huge event in 2023 is Star Trek: Lower Decks’ upcoming crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In a much-anticipated upcoming Strange New Worlds season 2 episode, Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome will come aboard the USS Enterprise and play Boimler and Mariner in live-action. There is also rumored to be an animated component so that Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew could appear as their cartoon selves. Strange New Worlds season 2 will premiere before Lower Decks season 4, so it’s safe to expect some fallout and mentions of Mariner and Boimler meeting Pike, Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Seasons 1-3 are streaming on Paramount+.
