WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2 Finale, "Hegemony."

Summary

  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 finale ends on a cliffhanger as Captain Pike faces a difficult decision and the crew is taken hostage by the Gorn.
  • Due to strikes and production delays, fans may have to wait until 2025 for the release of season 3 to find out the fates of Captain Batel and the captured crew .
  • The cliffhanger in Strange New Worlds is compared to the iconic cliffhanger of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the wait for the resolution will be much longer this time.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 ended on a major cliffhanger, and it could, unfortunately, be a while before fans get to see the conclusion. In Strange New Worlds' season 2 finale, "Hegemony," Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the USS Enterprise respond to a distress call from Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) and the USS Cayuga. The Enterprise arrives to find the wreckage of Cayuga, which was destroyed by the Gorn. Captain Pike leads a landing party to the planet Parnassus Beta to look for survivors, where Batel confesses she has been infected by Gorn eggs.

Captain Pike and the landing party find Captain Batel and the survivors from the Cayuga hiding from the Gorn. On the Enterprise, Ensign Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Commander Pelia (Carl Kane) work to take out the Gorn signal blocker that has been preventing communication and transport. Strange New Worlds' season 2 finale ends on a terrifying cliffhanger, as many of the Enterprise crew and the survivors on Parnassus Beta are taken hostage by the Gorn, Captain Batel's survival hangs in the balance, and Starfleet orders the Enterprise to retreat. Captain Pike never leaves his crew behind if he can help it, but the Gorn ship has them outgunned. The last shot of the finale shows Pike's face as he struggles to make an impossible decision.

How Long Is The Wait For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3?

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Hegemony

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 was originally supposed to begin filming in May 2023. Due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, production has been delayed indefinitely. The original production dates for Strange New Worlds season 3 suggest it likely would have been released in the fall of 2024, but now many of the dates are up in the air. The premiere date for Strange New Worlds season 3 now depends on how long it takes for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes to be suitably resolved.

With all of its special effects and CGI, Strange New Worlds has a lengthy production and post-production schedule even without taking the strikes into consideration. It's also a streaming show, which has different production and release schedules than typical network shows. Even without the strikes, it likely would have been about a year before season 3 premiered. Now, it may be 2025 before fans find out the fates of Captain Marie Batel and the captured crew of the Enterprise.

Why Strange New Worlds’ Cliffhanger Wait Is Worse Than TNG’s Borg Cliffhanger

Star Trek Hegemony Pike Cliffhanger

The ending of Strange New Worlds season 2 feels reminiscent of the iconic cliffhanger at the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1." "Hegemony" ends with a shot of Captain Pike's face just before he gives the order either to defy Starfleet's orders and fight or obey them and retreat. "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" ends with Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), First Officer of the USS Enterprise-D, giving the order to fire on the Borg Cube knowing that Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is on board. Both episodes force the commanding officer of the Enterprise to make an impossible decision that could have tragic consequences either way.

Filmed and broadcast in a world before streaming, Star Trek: The Next Generation had a fairly rigid production schedule. "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" aired on June 18, 1990, and Trek fans only had to wait until September 24 of that year to see how that cliffhanger played out. Unfortunately, the wait for the conclusion of "Hegemony" in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will be significantly longer.

All episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 are streaming now on Paramount+.