How Star Trek: Lower Decks Will Pick Up From That Big Cliffhanger [Comic-Con]

The animated Paramount+ hit "Star Trek: Lower Decks" closed out its sophomore season last year with a cliffhanger: after the crew members of the USS Cerritos complete a successful mission to assist a fellow Starfleet ship, Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) suddenly got arrested. She was accused of detonating a Veruvian bomb on Pakled Planet, and the season ends with her separated from the rest of the "Lower Decks" crew.

The cast and crew of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" gathered at San Diego Comic Con today to share updates about the show's third season, and it sounds like getting Freeman back will be on the top of the USS Cerritos team's to-do list when the show returns. "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!" Brad Boimler actor Jack Quaid recapped to the crowd before costar Tawny Newsome explained what viewers will have to look forward to in the new episodes.

"It's rough, but we start season three full tilt looking for her," Newsome says. "Trying to fix it, trying to set it right." In the world of "Star Trek," the undervalued support crew members don't always get to be the heroes, but it sounds like this time, they just might. Newsome, who plays rebellious crew member Beckett Mariner in the show, says that the upcoming season premiere is an especially cinematic outing for the series. "I love the scrappiness, she told the room at Comic-Con. "I love episode one of season three because our Lower Deckers are just like, 'We gotta save the captain!' This feels like an epic adventure. It feels like a movie!"

The crew may have a single-minded focus, but the cast members themselves are just as excited by their characters' season three outfits, which they'll wear on their quest for Captain Freeman, as they are by the mission itself. According to Newsome, Beckett gets to don a leather jacket that looks like Captain Picard's in "Star Trek: Insurrection," while Brad gets to try on what she calls a "real Cisco-lookin' vest."

Plenty of other "Star Trek: Lower Decks" news came out of Comic Con today as well, from the delightful announcement of a "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" crossover episode featuring Quaid and Newsome, to an apparent return of some "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" characters. You can also check out the trailer for the new season, which premieres on Paramount+ on August 25, 2022, here.