Rebecca Romijn Loves Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Gimmicks, Stands Behind “Every Single” Big Swing

Published Sep 16, 2026, 8:45 PM EDT

John Orquiola is a New & Classic TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.

Rebecca Romijn is proud of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' gimmick episodes, even as segments of the fanbase complain about too many genre-hopping 'big swings' in season 4.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is heading into its finale, and there are still more 'big swings' to come. Strange New Worlds' penultimate hour, "Once La'an a Time," returns to the fairy tale "Elysian Kingdom" from season 1. Strange New Worlds season 4's finale, "Tomorrow's Enterprise," will bring in the future Lieutenant Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) from Captain James T. Kirk's (Paul Wesley) USS Enterprise.

Image credit: Paramount+

At a Star Trek Day event in Los Angeles for the franchise's 60th anniversary, Rebecca Romijn spoke to TrekMovie about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's plethora of gimmick episodes. Romijn defends Strange New Worlds' 'big swings' because they are "so much fun" for the cast and "exactly what we intended to do" with the show. Rebecca also believes that if you "take away every gimmick... it's still a Star Trek episode." Read Romijn's quote below:

Rebecca Romijn: “I’ve seen a lot of commentary about our show becoming too gimmicky. I think that if you remove the gimmick, the mission is always still there. Remove the gimmick — I am sorry, I’m sorry if people hated the gimmicks. We apologize for the gimmicks…”

TrekMovie: Do you really though?

Rebecca Romijn: “No! This is so much fun for us, and it’s exactly what we intended to do with our show. Take away every gimmick, and it’s still a Star Trek episode. Every single last one. We stand behind every single swing that we took. A lot of people loved it. A lot of people hated it. A lot of people come back around on second and third viewings. It’s been a mixed bag. But I think that when it’s all said and done, and when the entire series has wrapped, we’ll be able to look back on a very well-rounded series that was very intentional on our part, and hope that people can find the love in it that we put into it ourselves.”

TrekMovie: What was the hardest gimmick?

Rebecca Romijn: “None of them were hard. They were all challenging, and we loved them all.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 will be defined by its gimmicks, from The Hangover-inspired slapstick comedy "Human Best Friend," to the USS Enterprise crew trapped in a soap opera in "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass," and, especially, the Starfleet heroes being turned into puppets in "Level-Five Transporter Accident."

Each member of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' multi-talented cast rose to the occasion in every gimmick episode, and they clearly had a ball filming them, despite the challenges Romijn noted. Rebecca's Commander Una Chin-Riley particularly shined, from singing in "Human Best Friend," to the madcap chaos of being a puppet, and being spotlighted in the black-and-white film noir, "A Case of Chiaroscuro."

To be fair, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 excelled when presenting episodes that were more 'traditional Star Trek.' The starship-centered action in "Valles Marineris," "Off-Hour," and "Orders of Magnitude" are arguably the best episodes of the season for balancing action, drama, and sci-fi, instead of breaking Star Trek's mold. These episodes, however, are outnumbered by the obvious gimmick episodes.

Image credit: Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' cast and producers see and hear the response to season 4, good and bad. Regarding more 'big swings' in Strange New Worlds' fifth and final season, Romijn has "good news" for "gimmick haters," telling TrekMovie with a laugh that "You won’t see so many gimmicks in season 5."

Paul Wesley teased that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 is "very serious." Rebecca adds, "[Season] 5 has a different nature, yes. We were given enough notice to really wrap up people’s storylines, to really give every character its due justice." The canonical fate of Una Chin-Riley is one of the many questions Strange New Worlds season 5 will answer.

Next up for Rebecca Romijn is her long-awaited return as Mystique in Avengers: Doomsday, which carries a multiverse of anticipation and expectations from another rapid and very critical fanbase: Marvel fans. Romijn then says goodbye to Una Chin-Riley in 2027 when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' 6-episode fifth and final season premieres on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is streaming on Paramount+

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