‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Teaser: Finally, Normal-Looking Klingons!

Turns out sometimes the true undiscovered country is a revolving door.

At least it is to Capt. Kirk (Paul Wesley), who has some difficulty with one in a funny moment in the “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 2 teaser, which also features normal Klingons!

Yes, the monstrous Klingons of “Star Trek: Discovery,” redesigned via additional, far more extravagant prostheses to create a truly terrifying effect, unlike anything we had seen of the warrior alien race on 50 years of previous “Trek,” seem to have been abandoned, if this Season 2 teaser is to be taken at face value. Perhaps the reappearance of Michael Dorn’s Worf on “Star Trek: Picard,” looking as he always did, other than white hair to make him look even cooler, inspired a return to the classic design.

In fact, the Season 2 teaser of “Strange New Worlds” is overflowing with moments to make fans smile, including Spock (Ethan Peck), while in the captain’s chair, trying to come up with his own catchphrase, in the manner of Picard’s “Engage” or “Make It So.” And the footage looks amazing — Season 1 was the lushest of any of the new “Trek” series to feast one’s eyes upon, and Season 2 shows that the VFX budget isn’t being reduced at all. The use of a virtual production wall on “Strange New Worlds” and on “Discovery,” as “The Mandalorian” first pioneered, has shaken up the look of these shows tremendously. How can you have a show called “Strange New Worlds” if there aren’t some strange, otherworldly visuals to behold? So far, this show hasn’t skimped in that way at all.

And maybe that’s why more and more indie film vets are coming aboard “Trek” these days. After Amanda Plummer on “Picard,” here’s Carol Kane, legend of such ’70s New Hollywood classics as “Carnal Knowledge,” “The Last Detail,” “Hester Street,” and “Dog Day Afternoon.” She’s there wearing comms officer red, so it’ll be interesting to see if she is in fact going to work with Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) or will serve some other role onboard the USS Enterprise.

Watch the teaser below.

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season2 premieres on Paramount+ June 15.