Saddle up, Trekkies. Season 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set to premiere this week, and ahead of Thursday's return, the official Star Trek accounts have been flooding social media with hype videos and promo clips.
We already know one of the Season 4 episodes will send the crew of the Enterprise on some kind of western-style adventure. It seems to be a nod to Gene Roddenberry's original pitch for Star Trek as a space western, essentially swapping the Wild West for the final frontier. The new episode finds Captain Pike and the crew on horseback, exploring some futuristic desert planet.
The promo clips and images are leaning hard into that aesthetic, and it's honestly giving off serious Yellowstone vibes, another popular western-themed series on Paramount+.
In the first teaser trailer for Strange New Wrolds Season 4, we see Captain Pike, Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), and Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) donning full cowboy regalia. It's now been confirmed that this episode, titled "Valles Marineris" will be the premiere of Season 4.
The name itself is a nod to the setting. Valles Marineris is the largest canyon system in the solar system, and it happens to be located on Mars, which tracks with the dusty, desert-like alien world shown in the trailers and promo photos of Pike, La'an and M'Benga riding on horseback. While specific plot details for the episode are still largely being kept under wraps, it does seem this episode will be a full-on Western homage, continuing the series' signature genre experimentation.
It also seems to function as a callback to Pike's first appearance in the original pilot for Star Trek. Titled "The Cage," the original pilot episode established that Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) grew up an equestrian in Mojave, California.
While this original pilot was ultimately rejected by NBC in 1965 — resulting in a second pilot being made starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk instead — Pike's cowboy roots have been a core aspect of the character in Strange New Worlds. Before taking command of the USS Enterprise again, we saw Pike living in Bear Creek, Montana, riding a horse through the snow.
The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, led by Captain Christopher Pike, embarks on a series of thrilling and emotional adventures across the stars. On their journey, they will battle inner demons and external threats, encounter colorful new characters, reunite with familiar faces and confront terrifying aliens. Through it all, they strive to embrace a bright, hopeful future.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 will premiere on July 23 only on Paramount+. The 10-episode season will run through September 24, with episodes releasing weekly.