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Published Sep 11, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds fans got a soapy interlude last week when “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” premiered on Paramount+. The episode took the series in a distinctly Days of Our Lives-themed direction (complete with a guest appearance from soap legend Deidre Hall). Behind the scenes, it was no small feat to give the sci-fi series a daytime TV makeover, as was discussed by stars Christina Chong and Ethan Peck during a panel at last weekend’s Tampa Bay Comic Con moderated by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt.
The episode saw the god-like entity Trelane (Rhys Darby) manipulate the crew into reaching emotional catharsis by putting them into a real-life soap opera, complete with florid acting, gauzy lighting, and evil twins (in this case, Spock’s half-brother Sybok, who was also played in the episode by Peck). Complicating matters was Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his apparent immunity to Trelane’s machinations, leading him — and only him — to realize the absurdity of what was going on around him. However, that didn’t stop him from processing his own very real traumas from the imagined decades of life he experienced in last season’s finale as a parting gift from his lover Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano).
For Chong, the greatest challenge was adjusting her performance to mimic the acting style common in soap operas: emotional, expressive, and maybe not the most refined. “That was interesting for me because of, you know, trying to nail down…trying to be a bad actor while still being kind of a good actor,” said Chong. “Where’s the line? Learning to do all those, staring off into the distance, what am I looking at?” Peck, meanwhile, discussed the technical challenges the episode posed, the multiple cameras that were used, and the director of photography who was brought in to perfectly capture that soap opera look:
“Also, the way they set up the cameras was entirely different from how they’d do, you know, a dramatic episode of a television series, you know, in the classic sense of the term…they brought in a special DP that specializes in soap opera television production, so they set them up far away, and they slowly marched them in as you’re filming the episode. And it was just totally foreign to us. At most during one take, two cameras at the most are used, maybe three. And I think we used four, and maybe six, for that.”
Despite the disruption to their usual routine, both actors enjoyed the change of pace. Chong notes that it was “almost like theater, in a way.” It was a little hard to maintain their composure, however, as Peck notes of one of his more intense scenes with Chong: “There was one take where I was trying to be like smoky and smoldery, and she was just laughing hysterically.”
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
There are two episodes left to go in Season 4 of Strange New Worlds, which will conclude with its season finale on September 24 with “Tomorrow’s Enterprise.” Next, the show’s five-year mission enters its final phase in its fifth and final season, which is slated to premiere next year; this truncated season will add Star Trek stalwarts Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Thomas Jane) and Hikaru Sulu (Kai Murakami) to the cast. A sequel series, which would center around the further adventures of the *Enterprise *under the command of James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley), has been pitched, but has yet to get the green light from Paramount.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is now streaming on Paramount+. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
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2022 - 2027-00-00
Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman
Captain Christopher Pike