If you were to ask someone, “What’s the first TV show that pops into your mind when you think about Paramount+?” odds are that the first show people will think of is something that Taylor Sheridan created. The Yellowstone franchise was the start of Sheridan’s TV empire, and was quickly bolstered by other pulpy hits, including Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown. Others would point to the Star Trek franchise, which found a second life on television thanks to the streamer. One show in particular, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, has managed the unlikely feat of appealing to both longtime Trekkies and new fans.

Spinning out of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes place a decade before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, when Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) served as captain. In true Star Trek form, Pike and his crew explore the galaxy while also dealing with multiple personal dynamics. Unlike other Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds is fairly easy to get into, making it the perfect entry point for new Trek fans. It’s also earned plenty of critical praise, as the series currently sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes — making it one of the highest-ranked Star Trek shows of the modern era.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Pushes The Boundaries of Star Trek

The strength of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is that it doesn’t bog itself down with setting the stage for what’s to come in the original Star Trek. While iconic characters like James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) and Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) do play a role in Strange New Worlds, they don’t overshadow Pike or his crew. That crew includes characters who feel just as memorable as the original Enterprise ​​​​​​crew, yet also stand out in their own way. The ship’s doctor, Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), is racing against time to save his daughter from a rare disease. Chief of security La’An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) slowly learns to cope with her trauma after losing her family, and even forms a romance with Kirk. Ironically, she’s a descendant of the man who will one day become his sworn enemy: Khan.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is also famous, or infamous depending on who you ask, for featuring episodes that break out of the mold of standard Trek. Starting with Season 1’s “The Elysian Kingdom”, where a living star system transforms the Enterprise crew into characters from a book that M’Benga read to his daughter, each season of Strange New Worlds would experiment with a different genre for certain episodes. Season 2’s “Subspace Rhapsody” is a full-blown musical, while Season 3’s “A Space Adventure Hour” features a murder mystery set on the holodeck. These episodes help push the Enterprise‘s crew, and, by extension, the audience, out of their comfort zone while also bringing something new to the world of Star Trek.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Will End on a Bittersweet Note

Despite its massive success, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is slated to end with its fifth season in 2027. Not only will this cut the series short — quite literally, as Season 5 has only six episodes — but it also marks the end of an era, as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy iswrapping up. This means that for the first time since 2005, there will be no new Star Trek series on television. Fans of Strange New Worlds will at least get some form of closure, as co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman told Collider’s Steve Weintraub that Season 5 ends right on the edge of Star Trek: The Original Series.

“The original messaging from the studio was that they wanted us to be done after 4. We had made a commitment to the fan base, and to the narrative, that we would get right up against [The Original Series], like we’d abutt it. Because there are a lot of folks from canon who are either different or who seem to have vanished by the time TOS happens, and so we wanted to fill in those gaps. And the studio said, “Oh, yeah, we agree. We were part of that bargain, too.” So, they sort of said, “We can’t do a full season. What do you need to close it out?” We said six, and they said six. So that gets us right up to Kirk’s first day on the job.”

Taylor Sheridan might be the king of Paramount+, but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is still one of its best series. It managed to provide a story that appealed to Trek fans old and new, while also pushing the franchise forward in truly unique ways. While Paramount has plans for a new Star Trek movie, it should definitely draw inspiration from Strange New Worlds.