Jonathan Frakes Says Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Is “Best Episode Of TV” He’s Ever Directed

Jonathan Frakes is directing an episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 that he calls the best hour of television he has ever directed. Frakes, arguably Star Trek’s most beloved and prolific director, helmed the popular Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 7 “Those Old Scientists”, the series’ crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks featuring live-action versions of the usually animated Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid). All together, Frakes has directed 28 episodes of Star Trek and 2 feature films.

In a new Variety cover story about the Star Trek franchise, Jonathan Frakes talks about directing his episode in season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and he has high praise for his hour, which is a “Hollywood murder mystery.” Read his quote below:

For Season 3, debuting in 2025, Frakes directed an episode framed as a Hollywood murder mystery that he calls “the best episode of television I’ve ever done.”

Strange New Worlds Season 3 Continues to Explore Genre

Frakes’ “Hollywood murder mystery” is highly anticipated.

Teasing a “Hollywood murder mystery” on a Star Trek show may have raised a few eyebrows in the past, but after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds changed genre so successfully within its sci-fi framework, it’s an exciting premise. Unlike the new crop of Star Trek shows that rely on heavy serialization, like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, Strange New Worlds embraces the episodic format to highlight the potential of Star Trek storytelling from just about every angle imaginable, from creature-feature horror films to the hijinks of romantic comedies, and even the modern musical.

With a bevy of Star Trek directorial credits under his belt, Jonathan Frakes is a noted expert at making Star Trek feel familiar, even when the franchise experiments with risks instead of sticking to a tried-and-true formula. Frakes has demonstrated that he understands the beating heart of Star Trek is in its characters, whether in their relationships to one another or the moral dilemmas that reveal who characters are. Frakes’ earlier SNW outing is a fan-favorite already, so it’s almost assured that Frakes‘ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 murder mystery will repeat that success, especially if Frakes himself notes it’s a career highlight.