How to watch Star Trek in order – both release and chronological orders
From The Original Series to Strange New Worlds, here's how to watch the entire Star Trek canon in order.
After scaling back its universe of streaming shows, Star Trek is roaring back to life this month with the long-awaited release of Section 31, starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh.
The seeds for this latest entry in the franchise were planted during the first three seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, where Yeoh was a recurring presence as Philippa Georgiou and her mirror universe counterpart.
A spin-off for the character has been in the works for years, originally envisioned as a series, but later refined to a one-off film after repeated delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hollywood strikes and Yeoh's busy schedule.
The story takes us to a point in the Star Trek timeline that has commonly been known as The Lost Era, referring to the in-universe period between the events of feature film The Undiscovered Country and beloved TV series The Next Generation.
Section 31 comes after fans had to bid farewell to Star Trek: Discovery, Picard and Lower Decks, which have all come to an end on Paramount Plus, but acclaimed spin-off Strange New Worlds is still carrying the torch, with a third season coming this year.
Suffice to say, if you're looking to get into the franchise for the first time, there's an awful lot of material to get stuck into. If you don't know where to start, read on for our overview of how to watch Star Trek in release and chronological order.
Once you have all the information you need, venture forth into the final frontier.
How to watch Star Trek in release order
Arguably, the most faithful way of watching Star Trek is in the order each series was made, allowing you to follow the franchise from its inception and explore its universe as the original fans did decades ago.
It makes sense to do it this way as while the shows do jump around in terms of time period, they still find ways to build on what came before in order of release.
In that sense, you're likely to get a slightly more complete picture of Star Trek by watching in this order, instead of piecing the shows together in a chronological timeline.
Star Trek release order (films listed in italics)
- Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)
- Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)
- The first six Star Trek films (The Motion Picture up to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)
- Star Trek: Generations
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
- Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)
- Star Trek films 8-10 (First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis)
- Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)
- Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond
- Star Trek: Discovery (DSC)
- Star Trek: Short Treks*
- Star Trek: Picard (PIC)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks (LOW)
- Star Trek: Prodigy (PRO)
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW)
- Star Trek: Section 31
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*Star Trek: Short Treks premiered after Discovery, hence the listing here. However, Short Treks season 2 sets up some plot threads picked up in Discovery season 2 and beyond, so it's best to alternate between them if you can.
Some people who watch in this order choose to skip over the first three steps and begin with Star Trek: The Next Generation. There is a belief among certain Trekkies that TNG has aged better than The Original Series, making it an easier entry point for newcomers to the franchise.
It would be worth watching the first few episodes of TOS to see what you think of it, but if William Shatner's Captain Kirk doesn't quite cut it for you, feel free to move on to the dulcet tones of Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard. The two shows have relatively few connections, so you don't need to worry about feeling lost (although they do eventually cross over in a major way in the Star Trek: Generations movie).
How to watch Star Trek in chronological order
As previously stated, the various shows in the Star Trek universe take place at different points in a sprawling timeline, so an alternative method is to watch in chronological order.
This comes with pros and cons: on the one hand, it allows you to begin with a modern show, which may be preferable to some people. But on the other hand, some of the references contained in more recent episodes may not land with you in the way they were intended.
Star Trek chronological order (films listed in italics)
- Star Trek: Enterprise (Year: 2151-2161)
- Short Trek: The Girl Who Made the Stars (Year: 2230s)
- Short Trek: The Brightest Star (Year: 2239)
- Star Trek: The Cage – The Original Series one-off pilot episode (Year: 2254)
- Short Trek: The Escape Artist (Year: 2250s)
- Short Trek: Q&A (Year: 2253)
- Star Trek: Discovery season 1 (Year: 2256)
- Short Trek: Runaway (Year: 2257)
- Star Trek: Discovery season 2 (Year: 2258)
- Short Trek: The Trouble with Edward (Year: 2250s)
- Short Trek: Ask Not (Year: 2250s)
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Year: 2259)
- Star Trek: The Original Series (Year: 2265-2269)
- Short Trek: Ephraim and Dot (Year: 2267-2285)
- Star Trek: The Animated Series (Year: 2269-2270)
- The first six Star Trek films (Year: 2273-2293)
- Star Trek: Section 31 (Year: 2333)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (Year: 2364-2370)
- Star Trek films 7-10: Generations up to Nemesis (Year: 2293-2379)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Year: 2369-2375)
- Star Trek: Voyager (Year: 2371-2378)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks (2380)
- Star Trek: Prodigy (Year: 2383)
- Short Trek: Children of Mars (Year: 2385)
- Star Trek: Picard seasons 1-3 (Year: 2399-2402)
- Star Trek: Discovery seasons 3-4 (32nd Century)
- Short Trek: Calypso (far future, year unknown)
Note – Star Trek: Short Treks was a two-season anthology series, which visits various periods on the franchise timeline. Anything listed as a Short Trek is a single episode of this show (with a runtime between 8 and 18 minutes).
It's not currently confirmed where precisely Toby Haynes' film will sit in the chronology but we do know it'll be a prequel film, taking place "decades" before Star Trek (2009).
For those wondering, the recent trilogy of Star Trek movies directed by JJ Abrams and Justin Lin – Star Trek, Into Darkness and Beyond – are set in an alternate universe, meaning they do not connect to a chronological order of the series.
They do, however, contain references to The Original Series – most notably the return of Leonard Nimoy as Spock – but can be watched at any point as standalone stories.
Star Trek: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise are available to stream on Netflix.
Star Trek: Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds and Section 31 are available to stream on Paramount Plus. Sign up via Prime Video or Sky.
Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
