Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Isn’t Happening For One Reason
According to TrekMovie.com, Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn’t happening due to the ongoing Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike, that coincided with Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike in a series of broader Hollywood labor disputes. Both strikes have contributed to the biggest interruption in the American film and television industries since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was mere days away from beginning filming on Season 3 when the strikes stopped everything.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was ready to begin production in Toronto before the strikes halted the planned work on the series—in fact, the work on the series stopped on the eve of production.
Strange New Worlds producing director Chris Fisher said that filming on Season 3 was so close to happening, that he was literally “one day away” from arranging flights for the actors to begin filming.
“I was going to direct the premiere episode… I had storyboarded pretty much the entire first episode,” Fisher said. “That’s how close we were to starting shooting. We were one day away from flying the actors in. We were like, ‘Do we fly the actors in?’ That’s when it went above my pay scale.”
So, it all comes down to soft-handed producers to decide whether they need actors to make movies or not—spoiler alert, they still need live actors
While the production and writing of the series can’t continue with actors and writers negotiating fair pay and protection against certain emerging technologies, according to Fisher, he and his colleagues are doing everything in their power to ensure that the production of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 starts as soon as the deal between the union and the studios has been struck.
SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee stated that it remains ready to return to the bargaining table to secure a righteous deal at the moment’s notice. According to the committee, they have been open to negotiations since the beginning of the strike and are ready to resume said negotiations. However, it would seem that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is still unwilling to make the necessary concessions to make a fair deal and end the strike.
“I was going to direct the premiere episode… I had storyboarded pretty much the entire first episode. That’s how close we were to starting shooting. We were one day away from flying the actors in. We were like, ‘Do we fly the actors in?’ That’s when it went above my pay scale.”
-Chris Fisher, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds producing director
To be entirely honest, actors are right to demand certain protections, especially when it comes to emerging AI technologies and streaming. Disney has already scanned several actors and used their likenesses in certain releases, which raises questions about payment—the same questions apply to streaming and television re-runs.
So, it all comes down to soft-handed producers to decide whether they need actors to make movies or not—spoiler alert, they still need live actors. In the meantime, the production of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds remains at a standstill.
The sad truth of many sci-fi series is that their lives get cut short by poor reviews and reception, as well as dwindling viewership, prompting many studios to simply pull the plug on the production of subsequent seasons without offering any closure to the narrative. Hopefully, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds won’t be another beloved sci-fi series cut short, in this case because of the AMPTP’s unwillingness to return to the bargaining table.
