What order to watch Star Trek
Star Trek is a television franchise with fourteen films attached, not a film franchise with spin-off shows — the films only make sense as a supplement to roughly 900 hours of TV. So the order question is really two questions: which series you start with, and where the single line stops being single.
If you are watching it for the first time
This path assumes you have watched nothing and want to know within a few hours whether Star Trek is for you. It starts in 2022, not 1966, treats the series as the main text and the films as samples, and skips the two weakest openings in the franchise. It leaves out Voyager, Enterprise, Picard, Prodigy and most of the film run — all easier to judge once you know which era you like.
Start here — not at the beginning
- Strange New Worlds (2022) — The only entry that assumes nothing: self-contained hours that reset at the end, shot recently enough to look like a current show. [Prime Timeline]
- The Next Generation (1987) — Start at season 3 — the first two seasons are where most people quit, and almost nothing in them is referenced later. [Prime Timeline]
How much of the 1960s you actually need
- The Original Series (1966) — You do not need all 79 episodes — six carry the weight: Balance of Terror, Space Seed, The Doomsday Machine, Amok Time, The Trouble with Tribbles, The City on the Edge of Forever. [Prime Timeline]
- II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) — Watchable cold, but it is the one film built on a single old TV episode, so Space Seed first changes what it is. [Prime Timeline]
The films worth your time
- IV: The Voyage Home (1986) — Runs on comedy and 1986 San Francisco rather than continuity, so its middle-film baggage barely registers. [Prime Timeline]
- VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) — Closes the original cast's run and sets the political shape every 24th-century show inherits. [Prime Timeline]
- First Contact (1996) — The one TNG film that works standalone — no series homework beyond knowing who Picard is. [Prime Timeline]
The long game
- Deep Space Nine (1993) — The best sustained run here: it serializes, consequences stick, and it argues with the rest of Star Trek on purpose — give it to the end of season 2. [Prime Timeline]
- Lower Decks (2020) — Half-hour animation that only pays off once TNG and DS9 are in your head, so watch it late. [Prime Timeline]
Where the timeline splits
- Star Trek (2009) — Destroys a ship in 2233 and splits the timeline at that point, so nothing in the trilogy constrains the Prime shows. [Kelvin Timeline]
- Discovery (2017) — Starts nine years before TOS, then jumps 930 years forward in season 3 and never returns. [The Moved Timeline (Discovery era)]
Release order
The order the audience got them in, and the order each entry was written to be seen in. Every series after 1987 assumes you have already seen the ones before it.
- The Original Series (1966) — Everything else in the franchise is a reaction to these three seasons. [Prime Timeline]
- The Animated Series (1973) [Prime Timeline]
- The Motion Picture (1979) — Arrives ten years after cancellation and sets the pattern of films chasing a TV audience, never the reverse. [Prime Timeline]
- II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) — Built directly on a TOS episode, which is why the film line never really stood alone. [Prime Timeline]
- III: The Search for Spock (1984) [Prime Timeline]
- IV: The Voyage Home (1986) [Prime Timeline]
- The Next Generation (1987) — Moves the franchise back to television and makes the 24th century the default setting for the next fifteen years. [Prime Timeline]
- V: The Final Frontier (1989) [Prime Timeline]
- VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) [Prime Timeline]
- Deep Space Nine (1993) — Runs alongside the TNG films and breaks the format — one station, one long story. [Prime Timeline]
- Generations (1994) — The handoff: the only place the two casts share a frame. [Prime Timeline]
- Voyager (1995) [Prime Timeline]
- First Contact (1996) [Prime Timeline]
- Insurrection (1998) [Prime Timeline]
- Enterprise (2001) — A prequel that ended the first continuous TV run; Star Trek was off television for twelve years afterwards. [Prime Timeline]
- Nemesis (2002) [Prime Timeline]
- Star Trek (2009) — Restarts the film line in a separate branch specifically so the Prime shows stay untouched. [Kelvin Timeline]
- Into Darkness (2013) [Kelvin Timeline]
- Beyond (2016) [Kelvin Timeline]
- Discovery (2017) — Brings the franchise back to TV, and every series since has been built off its production line. [The Moved Timeline (Discovery era)]
- Picard (2020) [Prime Timeline]
- Lower Decks (2020) [Prime Timeline]
- Prodigy (2021) [Prime Timeline]
- Strange New Worlds (2022) — A Discovery spin-off that runs back toward TOS and returns the franchise to episodes. [Prime Timeline]
- Section 31 (2025) — A streaming one-off rather than a theatrical release, which is where the film line now sits. [Mirror Universe]
Chronological order
In-universe order, from the first warp-five ship to the 32nd century. Four entries straddle two eras — they sit at their primary setting and are flagged there.
- Enterprise (2001) — Set 2151-2161 — The earliest point on the line: no Federation yet, and warp five is experimental. [Prime Timeline]
- Star Trek (2009) — Set 2233 and 2258 — The break happens on screen in 2233, so these three films run parallel to everything that follows rather than inside it. [Kelvin Timeline]
- Into Darkness (2013) — Set 2259-2260 [Kelvin Timeline]
- Beyond (2016) — Set 2263 [Kelvin Timeline]
- Discovery (2017) — Set 2256-2258, then 3188-3191 — Occupies both ends of the chronology at once — nine years before TOS, then 900 years past everything else. [The Moved Timeline (Discovery era)]
- Strange New Worlds (2022) — Set 2259-2260s — Slots between Discovery's 23rd-century seasons and TOS, on the same ship with the earlier captain. [Prime Timeline]
- The Original Series (1966) — Set 2266-2269 — The five-year mission that every earlier entry on this list is a prequel to. [Prime Timeline]
- The Animated Series (1973) — Set 2269-2270 [Prime Timeline]
- The Motion Picture (1979) — Set 2273 [Prime Timeline]
- II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) — Set 2285 [Prime Timeline]
- III: The Search for Spock (1984) — Set 2285 [Prime Timeline]
- IV: The Voyage Home (1986) — Set 2286 [Prime Timeline]
- V: The Final Frontier (1989) — Set 2287 [Prime Timeline]
- VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) — Set 2293 [Prime Timeline]
- Section 31 (2025) — Set in the early 24th century — Drops into the empty stretch between the two casts, and is the only entry driven by the Mirror Universe rather than visiting it. [Mirror Universe]
- The Next Generation (1987) — Set 2364-2370 [Prime Timeline]
- Deep Space Nine (1993) — Set 2369-2375 — Overlaps TNG's last two seasons and all four TNG films, so strict chronology interleaves rather than queues them. [Prime Timeline]
- Generations (1994) — Set 2293 and 2371 — Opens in 2293 and lands in 2371, which is literally how the timeline crosses from one crew to the next. [Prime Timeline]
- Voyager (1995) — Set 2371-2378 [Prime Timeline]
- First Contact (1996) — Set 2063 and 2373 — Half of it happens in 2063, the first warp flight that Enterprise spends four seasons following on from. [Prime Timeline]
- Insurrection (1998) — Set 2375 [Prime Timeline]
- Nemesis (2002) — Set 2379 [Prime Timeline]
- Lower Decks (2020) — Set 2380-2381 [Prime Timeline]
- Prodigy (2021) — Set 2383-2384 [Prime Timeline]
- Picard (2020) — Set 2399-2402 — The far end of the Prime line, twenty-three years after Nemesis and the last word on that crew. [Prime Timeline]
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