‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Boss Teases ‘Strange New Worlds’ Crossover, Season 3

Today, Star Trek: Lower Decks is finally back on Paramount+, with an episode that asks: what if there was a theme park based around Star Trek: First Contact? Or at least, set in Bozeman, Montana, the site of the first successful warp flight in the movie First Contact. The animated crew of the USS Cerritos visits the park in a crazed effort to get their ship back, and clear Mariner’s (Tawny Newsome) mother of some trumped up charges against her, picking up from the Season 2 cliffhanger.

And while we may not get to visit a real Bozeman theme park any time soon, Lower Decks is about to take the viewers on a wild ride over Season 3 of the series, one that will tie together in surprising ways.

“It’s important to me that Lower Decks is surprising,” showrunner Mike McMahan told Decider. “And I think that when we resolve something quickly, like the Captain Freeman stuff, it’s got to be because we’re earning more time with our Lower Deckers.”

In fact, viewers will be spending a lot more time with the Lower Deck crew, as it was previously announced that Jack Quaid (who plays Boimler on the show) and Tawny Newsome will be appearing live action on fellow Paramount+ series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. To find out more about that, as well as what to expect in Season 3, read on.

Decider: I wanted to ask about the Strange New Worlds crossover: how involved in that are you?

Mike McMahan: I was heavily involved. I mean, Akiva [Goldsman] and Henry [Alonso Myers] are huge fans of Lower Decks and have been since they were writing their first season of Strange New Worlds. In fact, Henry wears all the Lower Decks shirts in the writers room of Strange New Worlds.

So originally, when they came to me and they said that they wanted Jack [Quaid] and Tawny [Newsome] in the show, was I into it, we brainstormed the best way to do it, and what would be fun. And then after they wrote the script… They were really respectful about the characters and what I thought was the best use of them, and what would be the most fun use of them. I got to do a bunch of passes on the script, just giving them jokes, offers, and updating the dialogue.

It really feels like a merger of Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds. I’ve been sitting in editing with Henry. Oh God, I wanted to go to set so bad, but it was when one of the COVID spikes happened. And I have two kids, but Tawny and Jack were sending me photos from set in costume, hanging out with Jonathan Frakes, making fun of me that I couldn’t be there.

It was so funny and awesome. The tone of it is just best friends hanging out. I think I told somebody it was like a charm offensive. Watching that episode, it doesn’t feel like a gritty high stakes thing. It just feels like god, I wish I lived on the Enterprise for this moment. You know what I mean?

And are they going to return the favor? Are we going to get these Strange New Worlds folks popping up on Lower Decks at some point?

Well, that would be a little tougher. When you see that episode, you’re going to see how they bring these two eras together because clearly they’re such different eras. The feeling to me is a little like “Trials and Tribble-ations”, a special kind of surprise episode in a way. And I think that if I can ever get one of them on Lower Decks, I would absolutely do it. I love their cast so much. I especially love how much Ethan [Peck] and Jack love each other. Whenever we hang out, they’re hopping around being like… They became such pals. It’s so cute.

Getting into Season 3, you wrap up the Pakled arc in the premiere, and the season seems to be a little less on overarching plot for the season, more about the characters and done-in-one adventures while pushing the emotional arcs. Why go in this direction?

Well, you haven’t seen the final two episodes.

True.

So I would be cautious of saying that there’s definitely not a season long arc. Because in nine, a thing gets revealed that ties a bunch of stuff that didn’t seem connected together and then 10 resolves it. Pakleds were resolved, but they’re also still out there. You know what I mean? It’s kind of like how Klingons never got quote unquote resolved, even after Undiscovered Country. The Pakleds are still on the table. I felt like I’d done so much that I wanted to do with the Pakleds that I was like, “Fuck, how many more episodes of this show am I going to get to do?” I got to keep doing everything I want to do. I don’t want to just keep playing the hits for me.

So you’ll see in the final couple episodes, there’s a mix of legacy baddies, but also something that connects a lot of the stuff together, some of the Rutherford stuff, some of the Captain Freeman stuff in a way that hopefully people don’t see coming. But at the same time, it’s important to me that Lower Decks is surprising. And I think that when we resolve something quickly, like the Captain Freeman stuff, it’s got to be because we’re earning more time with our Lower Deckers. And that we’re going to be using that and not squandering it, and liking what we’re seeing and what we’re learning about them, and seeing what they’re learning about themselves as they’re going.

Like I’ve said before, Lower Decks is like a … It’s not the Star Trek show where they discover strange new worlds. It’s more about self-discovery from people that aren’t where they’re supposed to be yet, and don’t know who they are 100% yet. So that’s more than rescuing captains and stealing star ships. That’s what the show is about.

So, the last two seasons, I’ve asked you, when are we going to get a live-action Star Trek: Lower Decks? Since I can’t ask that anymore, when are we going to get a real life First Contact-land?

Oh, you mean in real life, you want to want a Bozeman in real life? Listen, I’m down.

Alright! Let’s do it.

I mean, I’m still mourning losing the Vegas experience. I would live at that place. Let’s get more. Come on, listen, Paramount Plus. We all want a Star Trek bar that’s permanent with a restaurant, and perhaps a Borg experience. Listen, we all love Comic-Con, we all love the Star Trek conventions, but isn’t it time to have a permanent location again? I’m ready for it. A little Star Trek museum, maybe some triangle-shaped cheeseburgers, classic Star Trek Vegas kind of stuff.

I’ll start exploring locations and we’ll make it happen, Mike.

All right, I’m on it. I’ll start writing up the menu.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.