Everything Revealed About Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 So Far

The third season of Star Trek: Lower Decks premieres later this week on Thursday, August 25.

Created by Emmy Award winner Mike McMahan, Season 3 of the hit animated series will challenge the U.S.S. Cerritos ensigns (Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford) in (hilarious) ways they could never image, starting with a shocking resolution for Season 2's epic cliffhanger finale.

To get you ready for the premiere of Season 3, here's everything the cast and creator have revealed about the upcoming season so far!

During an episode of The Ready Room this summer, host Wil Wheaton shared an exclusive sneak peek of Star Trek: Lower Decks. With the U.S.S. Cerritos grounded as Captain Freeman awaits her trial following the events of the Season 2 finale, Ensign Mariner drops in on Ensign Boimler at his family's raisin farm.

Speaking on Boimler's raisin vineyard, Jack Quaid, who voices Bradward Boimler, shared his enthusiasm at the Star Trek universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, "I just love that clip so much. I love that when we see Earth, we're used to seeing Chateau Picard wine vineyards. I love that Boimler works on a raisin vineyard. It's my favorite thing in the world."

"There was a thing...you see like a silhouette of someone. You're like, 'Oh, is it Picard?' And then it's Boimler," continued Quaid. "In the script, there was a scene where the camera would pan over the vineyard. And then there was a sign that said Boimler Valley Raisins. It was my favorite thing I've ever seen in my life. And now I demand that Star Trek needs to make a Boimler Valley Raisins in the style of like Sun Maid. I need that to happen with Boimler in that exact pose. I need it."

Another highlight of the upcoming season? According to the cast, it's their Earth outfits!

"I love all their Earth outfits so much," raved Quaid at the SDCC panel, specifically noting, "I got a vest, y'all!"

As for Mariner, Tawny Newsome, who voices the character, exclaimed, "Earth outfits are banging, y'all. I got a cropped Wilson's leather jacket like Picard in Insurrection." Newsome commented that Boimler's vest was a "real Jake Sisko-looking vest," and Ensign Tendi's Earth outfit was very much a "sensible Linda Hamilton in T2-type tucked-in t-shirt situation."

At the Star Trek SDCC panel, creator and showrunner Mike McMahan teased, "Oh, we circle Deep Space 9. We check out the pylons and then we go into Deep Space 9."

Speaking to EW this week, Quaid revealed, "We actually get to see the station, we get to walk the promenade, and you get to see some familiar faces."

"I'm just so excited that fans get to see that," continued Quaid, "'cause we started the tease in one of the early seasons where a ship was docked at Deep Space 9. It was in a flashback and fans freaked out about that, but I think it's gonna make a lot of Deep Space Nine fans very, very happy."

"We had a classic Trek cliffhanger at the end of last season," remarked Quaid on the Trek tradition during the SDCC panel. "We had a really great moment with all of us being a family; we did this amazing thing. And then Captain Carol Freeman gets hauled away in handcuffs. It's awful." Dawnn Lewis, who voices Captain Freeman, interjected with a "Clink, clink, po-po got me."

"It's rough," added Newsome. "We start Season 3 full tilt trying to fix it, trying to set it right. I love the scrappiness. I love Episode One of Season 3 because our Lower Deckers are just, 'We gotta save the captain!' It just feels like this epic adventure. It feels like a movie."

This upcoming season introduces a brand-new alien species — the Kromsapiod! Speaking to EW, McMahan revealed he was largely inspired by Tosk from Deep Space Nine.

"The Lower Decks artists who designed K'ranch wanted to make a cool, badass-looking alien that also fits into the funny look of Lower Decks, that also kind of looks like it fits into Star Trek, but is also using animation," McMahan told EW. "I love that we can have Romulans and we can have Andorians, but then we can also have these Kromsapiods that are all inhabiting the same galaxy."

"Captain Freeman is always so high strung," joked Lewis at SDCC. "I need to be calm. We wanna see Captain Freeman after a massage. My character needs to walk around in shades for an episode. It's Cool Captain Carol."

As for Noël Wells, who voices Ensign Tendi, reflected on her character, "I put a lot of me in her and the heart. And then actually getting to watch the animation. Not only is it being brought to life and you see it as the character, which she's completely herself, but then there are all these other layers to what Mike and the animators do that weren't in the script that I had no idea would ever be included in the animation. And so it's like doing it all over again or watching it for the first time, literally watching it for the first time, but getting this whole other experience. And so it's just, it's really fun to be a part of something that has so much artistry. Like I'm just a voice on a level. And then to get to see what gets created around it. It's just an honor."

Whereas Quaid cannot praise his character enough; on what's to come this season, he shared, "I love playing Boimler so much. He's truly one of my favorite characters I've ever gotten to inhabit in any way. I love how confident that he's gotten. It's been so cool. I love that he started out very by the book, very rules focused. And slowly but surely he's still the same old Boimler, but he's getting more and more confident, and he's getting bolder. And dare I say, proud of him. I'm very proud of Boimler. He's got a vest."

"There's so much stuff," explained McMahan during the SDCC Hall H panel. "I can't wait for you guys to see. There's epic episodes. There's heartfelt episodes. The Deep Space Nine episode is out of control. We've got the nefarious Exocomp, Peanut Hamper, returning. It's just so much fun."

"I've said this a million times; there was a little while where we didn't have any Star Trek," stated McMahan. "That was a very bad time. And now we have lots and lots of Star Trek all the time. And on August 25th, when Lower Decks returns, you're gonna have 10 new times to be in that world again, to be in the Alpha Quadrant with Starfleet officers. It's just such a joy to share with you guys."

Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams exclusively in the United States and Latin America on Paramount+, on Amazon Prime Video in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Japan, India and more, and in Canada on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

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