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The longer a franchise goes, its output often becomes less original, as studios tend to play it safe and stick to the formula that initially worked out for them. This is notable in many major mainstream Hollywood franchises, includingTerminator,Fast & Furious, and now even the MCU, whose direction is finally set to change after several struggling outings.
However,Star Trekbroke this trend withStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, the recent installment to the decades-long IP, which took some bold genre-swings, especially in season 2.
The Musical Element inStar Trek: Strange New WorldsWas Exciting for Everyone
As the name suggests, the series sees the main cast exploring different worlds around the galaxy. Following the concept of the show, accompanied by its episodic format, this allowed showrunners to take huge leaps in genres and tones with each episode. Fortunately, this gamble proved to be a success, and as a resultParamount+ once again put their faith in showrunnerAkiva Goldsman for season 2, which took a larger leap genre-wise.
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Before its release,X-MenstarRebecca Romijnteased the huge genre shift, especially with the ninth episode of the season, which was the first of its kind in theStar Trekfranchise. The episode sees the crew of the USSEnterprise interact with anaturally occurring fold in subspace, leading them to express their feelings through singing. Even though the episode required them to work even on weekends, theMarvel starstressed that everyone was excited, stressing“It was like this extra wind behind our sails”.
Rebecca Romijn in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds [Credit: Paramount Network]She toldScreen Rant:
We’ve taken some very big swings genre-wise in season 2. And I know some of you have seen the first 6 episodes. We have a few episodes coming up after that are really out there. So we’re very proud of them. We’re very excited. Anson mentioned earlier that sometimes when you get to episode 9, which is almost at the end of the season, everyone’s kind of tired. Everyone’s sort of almost ready to go home. They brought us this episode that was so out there. And it required us to work on weekends. And we were also excited about it, it was like this extra wind behind our sails that we needed at that point in the season. So we’re really excited to share all of these different genres we worked in.
While on paper, making an entireStar Trekepisode a musical might appear crazy to some, considering what the writers achieved with the first season, the execs at the studio gave them the thumbs-up. And it paid off greatly, asSubspace Rhapsodystands at a perfect 100% at theTomatometer, and the series itself is currently sitting at 98%.
![Star Trek: Strange New Worlds [Credit: Paramount Network]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/07145946/stangenewworlds_30_unaenviro_jd_3318_v2_fnl_f.jpg)
Season 3 Will Even Take a Bigger Swing per Anson Mount
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds [Credit: Paramount Network]With the second season, the cast and crew were adamant about making it better than the first, and the trend seems to continue with the third one. Captain Christopher Pike actorAnson Mountrevealed that the upcoming season is“going to be our best season so far”, stressing that it even takes bigger swings than its predecessor.
Anson Mount | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds [Credit: Paramount Network]He toldGold Derby:
![A still from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds [Credit: Paramount Network]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20112845/Star-Trek-Strange-New-Worlds-Credit-Paramount-Network-1024x683.jpg)
I think it’s not just an exciting season, I think storytelling wise, development-wise, technically; it’s going to be our best season so far and a lot of that has to do with even bigger swings being taken. The musical episode will not be the craziest thing that we did or we have done by the end of this. We’re feeling more ownership over what it is that we’re doing and realizing that it continues to resonate.
With the showrunners proving that they aren’t shy to push the boundaries and delve into new and exciting territories, it’s reasonable to be optimistic about the next chapter in the series.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worldsis available to stream on Paramount Plus.
Santanu Roy
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2539
Santanu Roy is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 2,000 articles under his belt. He has been pursuing a degree in Animation and possesses a deep love for the medium of animation. Having spent the better part of the last two years pumping out articles for FW, Santanu excels at covering movie analysis and news surrounding Pixar, DCU, DreamWorks, and Batman’s cinematic legacy.With psychological thrillers and intimate slice-of-life dramas ranking among his favorite genres, Santanu is a big admirer of Luca Guadagnino, Shane Black, Park Chan-wook, and Brad Bird.
