Star Trek Day was September 8th, but September 24 marks the end of an era for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on the same date that a new era began nearly a decade ago, thanks to Star Trek: Discovery. Paramount+’s Star Trek franchise under executive producer Alex Kurtzman is winding down. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds are the last two Kurtzman-era shows on the streamer, and the final seasons for both will premiere in 2027.

For fans anxious about the future of Star Trek, September 8th was a bust, with no news of what’s happening after 2027. Instead, Paramount took the occasion of Star Trek‘s 60th anniversary to celebrate the history of the franchise. Public screenings of the first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series that aired on NBC in 1966, paired with the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, were part of a series of global fan events. Star Trek was looking back, with due pride, on the previous six decades of the final frontier.

However, Trekkers are all-too-aware that there is no new Star Trek in production for the first time in 2017. Paramount Skydance plans to let Star Trek go dark for an unspecified amount of time until a new direction is found for the franchise. One sign of what’s next for Star Trek is the new movie being developed by filmmakers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, which will not connect to prior Star Trek TV shows or movies. The next era of Star Trek looks to be very different from the Kurtzman era nearing its end.

Star Trek: Discovery Started A New Era When It Debuted On September 24, 2017

September 24, 2017, was the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, which kicked off the current era of Star Trek on streaming. Discovery‘s first episode, “The Vulcan Hello,” simultaneously premiered on CBS, as an invitation for fans to find the second episode, “Battle at the Binary Stars,” and the rest of the first new Star Trek series in 12 years on the new streaming service, CBS All-Access (now Paramount+).

Star Trek: Discovery was instantly controversial. Visually and tonally inspired by J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies instead of the way Star Trek was presented for 18 years under executive producer Rick Berman, Discovery was designed to compete with the top Peak TV series of the era like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. The serialized Star Trek: Discovery was grim and violent, while season 1’s mid-23rd century setting and reimagining of the Klingons ignited ire from Trekkers (and still does long after the series ended).

As the first new Star Trek TV series since Star Trek: Enterprise ended in 2005, Discovery carried a universe of expectations on its shoulders, and didn’t always meet them. Yet Star Trek: Discovery was a success thanks to the extraordinary performances of its cast, led by Sonequa Martin-Green, which included Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and casting coups Jason Isaacs and future Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh, who would later headline Star Trek’s first and only streaming movie, Star Trek: Section 31.

Star Trek: Discovery became the flagship of a new era, as Alex Kurtzman led an unprecedented expansion of Star Trek on Paramount+. Patrick Stewart and, eventually, the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, plus Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, returned in Star Trek: Picard. Star Trek: Lower Decks was the first animated comedy, and Star Trek: Prodigy was thrilling for all ages. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds restored the optimism and bold risk-taking of 1960s Star Trek, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy ushered in the latest generation of Starfleet heroes.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4’s September 24, 2026 Finale Is The End Of An Era

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 ends when its finale, “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” premieres on Paramount+ on Thursday, September 24, 2026. Although there is still one more season to come, season 4’s finale marks the end of an era for Strange New Worlds: season 4 is the last season to consist of 10 episodes, which has been the episode count for most of Star Trek on Paramount+’s series.

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will only be 6 episodes. This is due to Skydance Media buying Paramount Global, which led to Paramount+ canceling all of its Star Trek streaming shows. Strange New Worlds executive producer and co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman confirmed that Paramount+ wanted to cancel Strange New Worlds after season 4, but agreed to a 6-episode final season to wrap up the hit prequel.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 will be more “serious,” leaving the last two seasons’ genre-hopping behind to tell a complete story, according to Goldsman and Paul Wesley, who plays the future Captain James T. Kirk. Strange New Worlds‘ fifth and final season will complete its ‘five-year mission’ to lead into the start of Star Trek: The Original Series, with Kirk as Captain of the USS Enterprise.

Strange New Worlds began as a direct sequel to Star Trek: Discovery, and inherited the mantle of flagship of Star Trek on Paramount+ when Discovery ended after five seasons in 2024. Whether the date of September 24 was planned or is a cosmic coincidence, it’s fitting that Discovery launched a new era of Star Trek on that date nine years ago while Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ends an era of its own in 2026.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Discovery are streaming on Paramount+