By far, the most anticipated event in Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the crossover (unaired as of this writing) between it and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Ensigns Mariner and Boimler look to beam in from the Federation's future to give the crew of the Enterprise a hand, delivering live-action incarnations of their formerly animated selves. The leap to live action isn't as big as it seems: like the earlier Star Trek: The Animated Series, Lower Decks characters don't live in an animated universe; their adventures are merely rendered in animated form.
That said, it still says a great deal about Strange New Worlds that it gets to host this particular crossover. Animated or not, Lower Decks is openly satirical most of the time. A show that formally brings its characters over needs to be both lightweight to match the animated series' tone and serious enough to let Mariner and Boimler bounce off of it a bit. It wouldn't be possible without the current bumper crop of Star Trek shows, and even then, it takes the right partner series if it's going to work.
Strange New Worlds Is Light But Never Trivial
The Star Trek renaissance began in 2017 with Star Trek: Discovery, which is notable in part for being a darker and grittier show than previous series in the franchise. The first seasons of Star Trek: Picard similarly explored the moral gray areas of a galaxy in the midst of colossal change. Their success led to three more series being green-lit, with more on the way.
In the process, the larger number of series necessitated an increased diversity in theme and tone. They couldn't all come with Discovery's darkness, nor could they just emulate the basic model set by the likes of The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. So they branched out, with Star Trek: Prodigy re-imagining the franchise as a young adult adventure, and Lower Decks as a very adult send up of the whole thing.
Strange New Worlds occupies a middle ground between all of them, reminiscent of The Original Series' mixture of gravitas and fun. Several members of the crew first appeared as guest stars on Discovery during the very dark Control arc in Season 2 that saw Mr. Spock come back from the brink of madness. Those beginnings allowed Strange New Worlds to formally differentiate itself. Its stories were breezy and often whimsical, such as Season 1, Episode 5, "Spock Amok," which finds the Vulcan and his fiancée T'Pring swapping bodies. The trick -- which the characters' appearance on Discovery helped established -- is taking the characters and their emotions seriously while still enjoying its more humorous tone.
Lower Decks Makes the Perfect Match for Strange New Worlds
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Lower Decks uses a variation of the same formula. The animation allows for more extreme satire and indulgence in corners of Star Trek that should never see live-action incarnation (such as the infamous Mr. Spock toy helmet). And yet -- like Strange New Worlds -- it takes the character and their connections seriously. They become real people instead of just riffs on other Star Trek shows, and as zany as their adventures get, it's all still canon.
Strange New Worlds is the only Star Trek show that can meet it halfway. It's dramatic enough to let the Lower Decks crew properly shake things up yet sufficiently self-effacing for figures like Boimler and Mariner to feel right at home. It certainly wouldn't have been possible before now, simply because previous Trek series would be too serious to take such a development in stride. But the stratification of the franchise means numerous shows, each occupying a different lane. Strange New Worlds is just close enough to Lower Decks to bring its wacky animated brethren over for a visit.
New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stream every Thursday on Paramount+.