Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Duo Talks Soap Opera-Themed Adventure

Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, strange new worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Duo Talks Soap Opera-Themed Adventure

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds director Anna Dokoza and writer Bill Wolkoff break down the soap-opera-themed episode and its impact on Pike.

Published Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:37:10 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds turns soap opera in “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass,” with Pike trapped in Trelane’s chaos.
• Anna Dokoza and Bill Wolkoff explain how the Strange New Worlds episode blends Star Trek drama with classic soap twists.
• The duo discuss soap opera culture, arguing the genre still thrives globally even as its place in American TV keeps shifting.
• Anson Mount’s vulnerable Pike and Deidre Hall’s guest role bring emotional weight as Strange New Worlds digs into grief.

If there's one thing Strange New Worlds has been boldly going into these days, it's the genre space of comedy, horror, musicals, stoner comedy, survival, and now, a soap opera? Devised by the Q known as Trelane (Rhys Darby) from his control room, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is the only one aware that he's the unwitting subject of a soap opera in the episode "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass," having to cope with Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) insisting that she's his long-lost daughter with the implanted memory that they would bond over his cooking. The other major wacky scenario is that Spock (Ethan Peck) is in dire need of a transplant, but the only one who can help is his evil twin brother with longer hair, Sybok (Peck), and that doesn't even get into the soap-style opening we got as a post-credits scene. Director Anna Dokoza and writer Bill Wolkoff (who co-wrote the episode with Dana Horgan) spoke with TrekMovie.com to break down how the episode came about and the evolution of soap culture.

Strange New Worlds Creatives on Their Soap-Inspired Episode

When it came to initial concerns about how a soap opera would fit into Star Trek, given their struggle currently at cultural relevance, "One of our writers said exactly [that] when we brought this [in]. But … this is very specific to how audiences have a relationship with soap operas, as I have learned… If a soap opera is off the air for a week or two weeks, they will rebel, and as they look at it as a betrayal," Wolkoff told TM. "And I think that, and just the changing nature of our business right now has more to do with why audiences are becoming more disconnected from their daily soap operas, and part of it is because of the expectation that is set up that it comes every day, almost like almost every day of the year without interruption. That reality is changing right now… our business is changing. A lot of old soap operas are off the air now, or, you know, are changing, finding new places. I know there's a new soap opera called 'Beyond the Gates' that I believe is doing quite well. I'm not smart enough to know and predict whether or not they're going to go away or if they're going to find a new life. What I do know is they are a part of our culture for decades."

Dokoza noted how soaps are resilient since they're thriving in other places outside the United States. "It might be dying and shifting in the American landscape, but culturally, the soap opera is well alive in, you know, the Latin market and in the Asian markets; they're just different. Telenovela is huge, but yeah, you know, that's what that is. So I think generationally and culturally, it's still very much alive."

As part of the hook to build credibility for the soap episode, the creatives brought in Diedre Hall from Days of Our Lives to play the ship's counselor, Dr. Eleanor Chivers, which is rather a straight role for the actress who gets to examine Pike during his struggles, including diving into his real past, losing Batel (Melanie Scrofano) and daughter, Juliet (Anna Mirodin). The latter, he's reunited with as a moment of closure.

"It was just like it was like diving off a cliff immediately," Dokoza said. "But you know he's such a pro, and he's so intimately aware of this arc and this vulnerability that I don't think that changed for him in terms of having to do it early because he had talked through the arc and has like a strong understanding of that." Wolkoff added, "It's so beautiful how Anson, this paragon of masculinity, let himself be more vulnerable than we've ever seen him on our show in front of Deidre in a way that indicates that he spends all of his time being a father figure to the members of his ship, and he is neglecting the things that he needs to really, you know, process and go through. And I think it's just powerful for men to see somebody like that cry."

For more, including Horgan previewing what's to come in the remaining season 4 episodes and a tease into season 5, you can check out the entire interview. Strange New Worlds, which also stars Rebecca Romijn, Jess Bush, Melissa Navia, Martin Quin, Christina Chong, Babs Olusanmokun, and Paul Wesley, streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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