Summary

Season four of Star Trek: Lower Decks promises to be action-packed, fun, and unforgettable, with surprises in store for both Trekkies and general audiences. The first episode of the season features the U.S.S. Voyager, and there will be more focus on “lower deck” characters this season. The season will include a mysterious unknown force destroying starships and threatening galactic peace, as well as Easter eggs and guest stars from different ships and races. Episode six will feature beloved characters from 20 years ago.

Brace yourself. Animator and director Barry Kelly says it’s going to be an action-packed, fun, and unforgettable new season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Season four of the hit animated Star Trek series begins streaming on Paramount+ Sept. 7. Trekkies and general audiences will likely be surprised to see that the U.S.S. Voyager plays an integral part in episode one, but Kelly teases other big surprises ahead, especially in the season’s final few episodes.

In an exclusive MovieWeb interview, Kelly immediately admitted he was thrilled to include the Voyager in the first episode, dubbed Twovix, which he animated and directed. He went on to reference the Lower Decks season two episode dubbed “wej Duj,” which was a hit with fans in that included the show’s U.S.S. Cerritos, a Klingon Bird of Prey, and the Sh’Vah, an ominous Vulcan cruiser, in one episode. The outing stood out because audiences had the opportunity to see “lower deck” characters on three different vessels.

“It showed that you could do a downstairs version of any ship on any TV show,” he added. “What’s really fun is we’re going to get a little bit more of those lower decks than other ships this season.” Kelly discusses more about that and other surprises in the season ahead in the interview below.

Overcoming Season Four Obstacles
Paramount+

Barry Kelly is a fanboy through and through. He’s been with Lower Decks since the show debuted several years ago. Season four gave him an opportunity to create a specific Voyager-based episode that finds the beloved ship once led by Capt. Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) being spruced up before becoming a museum piece back at Starfleet headquarters on Earth.

Some mayhem ensues inside the Voyager, of course. Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) wonders about a potential promotion and Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawney Newsome) and Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) add more pressure into what’s already occurring on board Voyager—there’s some leftover “baggage.” (More on that later.)

“There were some challenges in that episode,” Kelly admitted. “In Star Trek: Voyager, there was an episode where Tom Paris and Capt. Janeway hyper evolve into lizards, and it’s just such a weird concept. And we couldn’t have a Voyager episode without it. So, we wanted to make something like a museum exhibit that has these lizards as animatronics on display. But we wanted it to look like a specific animatronic you see at Disney or something.” He elaborated:

We had to give it joints and make it kind of walk dumb. We tried to make it like a dumb robot, and then it gets hacked. So, we have this threat and these holograms that are classic, and then Voyager episode characters come in.

He went on to say that he and the creative team made sure the characters felt realistic and that the holograms featured had their own look and appeal. “For us, it’s always about nailing those weird concepts and making sure that when the audience is watching it, they understand what they’re looking at. That was one of the challenges, but it was a fun one. I can’t always say, like, I need to make an evil robot lizard in every TV show I work on.”

Related: Star Trek Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks Crossover Review: High Concept Brilliance

Big Surprises Ahead
Paramount+

Beyond that, Kelly noted that the new season features a mysterious unknown force destroying starships and threatening galactic peace. It’s all part of how creator Mike McMahan (Solar Opposites) keeps this adult animated comedy fresh and also plant Easter eggs throughout the season, something which was never really done before to this degree.

“There’s definitely an ongoing mystery this season,” Kelly said. “There’s a ship that’s showing up and destroying other ships from different races, and we don’t know what’s going on. It’s going to be hinted at. It’s the first time we’re doing it in the show.” He continued:

“We’ve been pretty episodic, but this season, we’re putting these little tags here and there. There are also some new guest stars, and throughout the season, you can get a glimpse of what lower decks life is like on a Romulan ship or a Klingon ship. It doesn’t matter which ship you go to, there’s fun characters that can be found in every ship. Those Easter eggs are going to be really fun.”

He remained tight-lipped on what fans might be most surprised about in season four, but pointed out episode six specifically, noting that it includes “some people that are close to my heart and I think people will be thrilled to see where they’ve gone because it’s been 20 years since we’ve seen them. It’s great to see where they’re at.”

His Love of Star Trek
Paramount

Barry Kelly got hooked on Star Trek early on, noting that it was challenging for him to choose any other ‘favorite’ Trek other than Star Trek: The Next Generation because, “I love Patrick Stewart [as Picard] so much and Geordi [Levar Burton].” He’d seen the live-action TOS films but praises those 1990s Star Trek series with a divisive opinion.

Those shows are such a peak era for Star Trek—TNG, DS9, Voyager. So, I love this episode of Voyager we did, but it’s a tough race for me between TNG and DS9. And I love the crew of TNG, so they’ll always be that soft spot in my heart for them.

“I was hoping our episode would show our love for Voyager,” he went on to say of the episode he directed. “I was hoping we could show the reverence we have for that classic Star Trek show, wanting to hint that if you love Voyager, we love it too, and Voyager is like the guest star of this episode.”

Related: Star Trek: The Coolest Ships in the Franchise, Ranked

Lower Decks is keen on paying homage to past Trek, having featured a bevy of legacy guest stars like The Next Generation’s Capt. Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Deep Space Nine’s Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and even the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), and Q (John de Lancie). But Kelly pointed out a seemingly obvious fact that may often go overlooked: all Star Trek starships are characters themselves.

“The starship is like your hero establishing shot of the show, and it needs to be in satisfying shape, so getting to put Voyager in our show was a dream,” Kelly shared. He added:

“We received some of the assets from the Star Trek archives and got to do our translated version of it — an illustrative take on it to make it feel like it’s our show — but it doesn’t portray the live-action one at all. We wanted to show people that we love Voyager. We wanted to put as much love for Voyager and all the weirdness of Voyager that’s in there. I mean, Voyager goes into like weird horror territory sometimes, and we wanted to try to get that all in the show. I think we succeeded.”

Season four of Star Trek: Lower Decks premieres on Paramount+ Sept. 7.