Star Trek: New Worlds Premiere Alters Dinosaur Extinction

The crew of the USS Enterprise inadvertently triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs and altered the solar system's history in the season four premiere of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," which debuted on July -23, 2026. The episode, titled "Valles Marineris," sees Captain Christopher Pike and his officers thrown 65 million years into the past by a powerful interstellar storm, where they become entangled in a predestination paradox that rewrites established Star Trek lore.

The episode begins with the Enterprise investigating a stellar phenomenon when it is caught in a warp field and sent hurtling back to the prehistoric Sol system. A landing party consisting of Commander Una Chin-Riley, Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh, and Lieutenant Erica Ortegas beams down to a planet they later realize is Earth during the Cretaceous period, where they encounter dinosaurs. Meanwhile, the damaged starship is seized by an advanced, humanoid civilization from Mars led by Battle Commander Cassell, who are engaged in a genocidal war with an insectoid species known as the Dol-Drm.

The Martians, unfamiliar with the Federation, commandeer an antimatter fuel cell from the Enterprise with the intent of...