The Ending Of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Explained

Contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 2, Episode 10, "Hegemony"

A return to episodic adventures in outer space, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has been dazzling audiences and impressing critics since its 2022 debut. Its second season picked up right where the first left off and continued the story of Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise. Alongside returning fan favorites like Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck), and Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Pike's mission in Season 2 has seen him at odds with Klingons, the Kalar of Rigel VII, and even Starfleet itself.

Over the course of the second season, the crew of the Enterprise has gone back in time, gotten visitors from the future, and encountered a dangerous entity from another realm. But the stakes are bigger than ever in the Season 2 finale, "Hegemony," as the Enterprise must face off with one of the galaxy's most terrifying alien threats: the Gorn. A mysterious race of lizardlike monsters, the Gorn are more than a match for Pike and the crew of the Enterprise, and it takes everything they've got to get out alive. If your head is still spinning from the season's jaw-dropping final moments, you can relax, because we're here to explain the ending of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 2.

Early in Season 2 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" the series wrapped up most of the unanswered questions from Season 1, including the departure of Security Chief La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and the trial of Number One. As an episodic, procedural sci-fi series with a new story each week, there hasn't been as much room for ongoing stories, but Season 2 has managed to find some time to set up a few recurring plot threads. The final scenes of the season premiere even teased a coming war with the Gorn, who'd shown themselves to be a dire threat in Season 1 episodes "Memento Mori" and "All Those Who Wander."

"Those Old Scientists," meanwhile, made waves for its genre-breaking crossover with the comedic animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks," and featured voice actors Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome reprising their animated characters Ensign Boimler and Ensign Mariner in live-action. But the episode also saw troubling new developments in the budding relationship between Mr. Spock and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), which began after T'Pring (Gia Sandhu) broke off their impending marriage at the end of "Charades."

The season also saw James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) become a recurring regular, setting up his eventual promotion to captain of the Enterprise, though the first time we'd see him this season would be in an alternate timeline. Following a musical episode, "Subspace Rhapsody," Pike seems more at peace, but it doesn't last long.

As the season finale "Hegemony" begins, we find Christine Chapel alongside Capt. Batel (Melanie Scrofano, of "Wynona Earp") and the crew of the USS Cayuga, who are visiting a Federation colony on Parnassus Beta, just outside Federation space. It quickly comes under attack by the Gorn, and we soon learn that the alien race has claimed this sector of space. Answering Batel's distress call, the Enterprise races in only to find the Cayuga destroyed in orbit and survivors in hiding on the planet's surface.

Evading detection, Pike and a small landing party make it to the colony, where they are under constant threat by the Gorn. Aboard the Enterprise, though, communications are dead, and Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Pelia (Carol Kane) realize the Gorn are using a planet-based device to jam their sensors and comms. Now, it's up to Spock to turn the burned-out hull of the Cayuga into a missile that will strike the Gorn's device on the surface, restoring communications so they can beam the survivors home. 

Aboard the remnants of the Cayuga, meanwhile, is Nurse Chapel, who has managed to survive and must get off the ship before Spock sends it hurtling to the planet below. Standing in their way is a deadly Gorn, who wants nothing less than to turn them into its next meal. Down on the planet, a young and resourceful Starfleet engineer and fellow survivor believes he has the key to stopping the Gorn.

The Season 2 finale of "Strange New Worlds" is the climactic installment titled "Hegemony." More than just a capper to the season, the episode is also a sequel to a story from Season 1 that re-introduced the Gorn, a race of lizard-like aliens first seen in the original "Star Trek" series episode "Arena." No longer a stiff stuntman in a rubber costume, the Gorn in "Strange New Worlds" are a frightening, violent, conquest-driven alien race who are akin to monsters. They have a bloodlust and killer instinct like animals and are ruthlessly territorial. In Season 1, the Enterprise crew faced them down twice, and while they lived to tell the tale, they were not exactly on the winning end.

"Hegemony," though, gives the crew a measure of redemption and a second chance to show they have what it takes against the Gorn. This is especially meaningful for Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte), the ship's resident xeno-anthropologist, who wasn't exactly at his best in "All Those Who Wander" and is eager to prove himself.

Similarly, "Hegemony" completes a season-long story for Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) as well. In the finale, she's assigned to pilot a shuttle in a risky maneuver to get Pike and a small assault team to the surface of a planet where survivors of a Gorn attack may be hiding. After being rejected from a landing party earlier this season, Ortega finally gets a chance to shine away from the ship.

Thematically, Season 2 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" could be described in some ways as the season of broken romances. In addition to the awkward love triangle that has played out between Mr. Spock, his betrothed T'Pring, and Nurse Chapel, Pike has struggled to maintain his long-distance relationship with fellow starship commander Batel. That relationship goes all the way back to the series premiere but has faced continued challenges, with a near-breakup in the previous episode, "Subspace Rhapsody."

But that's not all, because multiple episodes this season focused on the cross-dimensional romance between La'an Noonien-Singh and James T. Kirk, which also came to a head in "Subspace Rhapsody" when she's forced to come clean about her feelings. In "Hegemony," however, the story focuses on the latter two romantic pairings, with Nurse Chapel having left the Enterprise when the episode begins to start her fellowship with Dr. Roger Korby. But when the Gorn attack, she's seemingly killed aboard the USS Cayuga, leaving Spock distraught. A mission to rig the Cayuga debris with retro-rockets in a plan to destroy a Gorn device leads to the discovery that Chapel is still alive, and she and Spock reunite after teaming up to kill a Gorn.

Meanwhile, Pike risks everything, going against orders on a rogue mission to find Batel on the planet's surface. But it's later discovered that she has been implanted with Gorn eggs — something that no humanoid has been able to survive.

The debut season of "Strange New Worlds" ended on a somber note, with the finale "A Quality of Mercy" forcing Pike to see that he couldn't avert his tragic fate. But the season closed out with little question as to the lives of Pike and his crew. By contrast, "Hegemony" leaves us with a number of lives hanging in the balance at the close of the episode, which ends on a truly shocking cliffhanger — the kind of cliffhanger the franchise arguably hasn't seen in live-action since the "Star Trek: Enterprise" Season 1 finale episode "Shockwave" in 2002.

During the rescue of the Cayuga crew and the colonists who weren't killed in the Gorn attack, only the initial landing party — along with Batel — are able to beam back to the Enterprise. The remaining survivors, though, were never successfully retrieved, with the episode ending with the shocking realization that they've been beamed up to a Gorn ship. Worse still, Pike is ordered by Adm. April (Adrian Holmes) to flee the site of the Gorn attack and retreat to Federation space, and while "to be continued" flashes on the screen before we find out exactly what he does, it's suggested he's forced to leave them behind.

The colonists aren't the only ones in danger, though, because even Batel's life remains in question. Full of Gorn eggs, she instructs Nurse Chapel to "take her out" if the Gorn hatchlings begin to take hold.

Though the crew of the Enterprise wasn't made aware, Starfleet has apparently been making preparations for a war with the Gorn for quite some time. It's likely they began plans behind the scenes following the attacks by the Gorn seen in Season 1, because by the Season 2 premiere "The Broken Circle," Starfleet brass had taken notice of recent Gorn aggression near their space. They'd spotted a Gorn ship near the Galdonterre system and were increasingly concerned that a war might be inevitable, something they aren't exactly eager for so soon after the end of their long and bloody conflict with the Klingons.

By "Hegemony," we learn that those fears were well-founded. But from what we see in the Season 2 finale, it's clear that the Federation may have underestimated the Gorn. They may not even be ready enough for a war, because when the Gorn attacks a Federation colony, and even destroys the USS Cayuga along with many of its crew, they're not prepared to retaliate, and Starfleet orders Pike and the Enterprise away from Gorn space. The Gorn have marked their territory, and it would seem that Starfleet would rather respect the lines on a map than look for justice for the death of its people.

April, however, could have a bigger plan up his sleeve, and the Enterprise's retreat could just be one part of a wider strategy to counter the Gorn. But we'll have to wait until Season 3 to find out what that is.

Season 2 of "Strange New Worlds" saw a little turnover in the cast, with additions to its regular and recurring ensembles. With Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak) sacrificing his life to save the crew in "All Those Who Wander," in came Pelia to man the Enterprise's engine room. A long-lived Lanthanite, Pelia also appeared living on Earth in the early 21st century in the time travel episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," where she helped La'an and Kirk battle a dangerous time-traveling Romulan. We also got the aforementioned Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk, but "Hegemony" added one more future legend to the ensemble: Lt. Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn).

Better known to most as just "Scotty," the young Starfleet engineer was serving on the USS Stardiver when they were attacked by the Gorn. Thanks to a jury-rigged device of his own design, Scott was able to elude his pursuers in a shuttle, crashlanding on Parnassus Beta, where he inadvertently lures Pike and his away team into a trap meant for the Gorn. With his help, though, they manage to escape the planet, and we later learn that he was one of Pelia's brightest students at Starfleet Academy — even if he always did get the worst grades.

Played by newcomer Quinn, Scott returns with the crew to the Enterprise. With his help, including his design for a Gorn tracking device, Pike hopes to turn the tables on their enemy.

Season-ending cliffhangers were once a staple of "Star Trek," and they make a big comeback with "Hegemony," which leaves audiences left to wonder how Pike will save the colonists and Cayuga crew after April orders him back to Federation space. But even as it stands, the episode has major ramifications for the series as it moves into its third season in 2024. The biggest ramification, of course, might be the presence of engineer Montgomery Scott.

Heading into Season 3, it's possible that Scotty will become a part of the regular cast. Actor Matt Quinn would be a fine replacement for a departing Jess Bush, assuming she leaves the series with Nurse Chapel leaving the ship to take part in a fellowship at the Vulcan Science Academy. In fact, Scotty could even become the ship's new chief engineer, should actress Carol Kane decide not to return as Pelia for another year on the series. 

Of course, the episode's most dramatic development is the inevitability of a war with the Gorn. Whether the crew's current conflict with the Gorn dominates the entirety of the next season or is simply resolved within the premiere episode remains to be seen. Still, the episode's cliffhanger ending feels reminiscent of the "TNG" two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds," which saw Picard face down the Borg. Similarly, an all-out battle with the Gorn could see serious consequences, including the possible death of Capt. Batel, and scars that would leave a lasting impact on the series.

Fans of "Star Trek" can be as discerning as any fandom there is, and many have taken issue with "Strange New Worlds" for messing with canon and retconning one too many elements. Some aren't happy that the Enterprise has been redesigned, others are unwilling to even accept that the show even takes place in the same continuity as the original "Star Trek" series due to a number of plot holes it's created. For their part, producers have long said that the series is going to bend canon when needed to tell a good story.

"[W]e will body-check canon when we need to, and we have," producer Akiva Goldsman told SFX Magazine (per Slashfilm). "But trying to stay within canon is an awfully fun exercise, and leads to solutions that you might not come up with if you didn't have those boundaries." With that in mind, "Hegemony" won't make any fans of those looking for strict consistency with the original Gorn debut episode, "Arena."

In "Hegemony," not only does the crew of the Enterprise once again fight with the Gorn — seemingly contradicting the long-held belief that "Arena" was their first encounter — the Federation itself is on the brink of war with the vicious alien race. If they do wind up in open conflict, it would change everything we know about the Federation's knowledge of the Gorn and completely alter how we see their first on-screen appearance in that 1967 episode.

From producers to actors, it's clear that the cast and crew of "Strange New Worlds" wanted "Hegemony" to be a real showstopper. "The finale is a very dark, very driving action-oriented episode," said showrunner Henry Alonso Myers, who relished the chance to bring back a number of iconic "Trek" elements. From the season-ending cliffhanger to the return of Scotty, it's part of the show's mission statement, after all. "What we traffic in on this show is modernizing the classic ideas that came out of those original 'Trek' shows," he said.

With all of these new, updated elements, "Hegemony" brings the crew of the Enterprise back to face the Gorn. "Pike's initial approach to the Gorn is to assume that there is an intrinsic set of ethics to any given sentient life form," said actor Anson Mount. But the Gorn don't seem to stick to this philosophy or to have any moral code at all, making them a perfect threat to the do-gooding crew of the Enterprise.

"La'an is very composed this time around," said actress Christina Chong, whose character, La'an, has a traumatic personal history with the alien race. "And when she does go on to the planet and she kills the first Gorn youngling, she gains power over the Gorn." But Chong wasn't the only one who relished her character's opportunity for redemption, because Melissa Navia, who plays Lt. Ortegas, was thrilled to finally get her away mission. "I've been asking for this as Ortegas as Melissa," she said.

Months before the second season of "Strange New Worlds" began airing, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a third. Considering production had already wrapped on Season 2, which ends on a cliffhanger, it isn't a surprise in hindsight. Yet as of the airing of "Hegemony," there is no start date currently scheduled for production of its continuation. Initially, filming had been set to commence in May — just prior to the release of the second season premiere — but mere weeks after the renewal was announced, production was delayed indefinitely.

Filming on Season 3 was pulled from Paramount's schedule on April 17th, and it's certainly no coincidence that it was removed on the same day that the Writer's Guild of America voted unanimously to strike. The labor stoppage, which sent shockwaves through the industry, forced "Strange New Worlds" into shutdown, where it remains as of press time. That wasn't all, though, because just weeks later, the Screen Actor's Guild joined the WGA, as both unions seek to negotiate better terms on a variety of key issues, and the studios haven't budged.

Of course, "Strange New Worlds" is just one of many projects that have halted production due to the strike. Nevertheless, hungry fans who are eagerly anticipating the conclusion to the Season 2 cliffhanger may have a long wait, as filming on Season 3 is now three months behind schedule and counting.