The Big Picture

  • The Season 4 premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks sees the main characters promoted to Lieutenants Junior Grade, showcasing their growth and progress.
  • While some characters, like Boimler and Tendi, are proud of their promotions and aspire to be captains in the future, Mariner has previously lost this rank due to her rule-bending behavior.
  • New episodes of Lower Decks Season 4 are available to stream every Thursday. Keep scrolling to see an exclusive behind-the-scenes video featuring the show's all-star cast.

Editors Note: The interviews used in this video were conducted prior to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

Our favorite lower deckers have returned for Season 4 and, for the first time, they’re moving up the ranks of the USS Cerritos. In the Season 4 premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks, ensigns Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), and Tendi (Noël Wells), along with provisional ensign T’lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), are given a fresh pip for their collars and promoted to Lieutenants Junior Grade. And don’t worry about Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), while he isn’t promoted in the same ceremony as his friends he still gets his pip after revealing that he’s turned down promotions several times already, only wanting to move up with the rest of his crew.

Collider is delighted to exclusively debut a new behind-the-scenes video, featuring interviews with the Lower Decks cast discussing their new promotions. Obviously, the premise of the series relies on these characters remaining lower deckers, however, they can’t stay ensigns forever. Each character feels a little differently about their promotions — as Boimler and Tendi, both have their sights set on one day being a captain, they’re naturally very proud to have finally earned a promotion for all of their hard work. Meanwhile, Mariner has earned this exact pip many times in her career, but her attitude and her penchant for bending the rules have always gotten her bumped back to the starting point. For the first time, Mariner is actually surrounded by enough people who genuinely care about her that there’s no chance they’re letting her lose this rank. Meanwhile, Rutherford knows that what he’s found with his fellow lower deckers is a rare level of friendship that he values way more than his promotion, deciding only to move up when they all can.

As Jerry O’Connell, who voices Commander Jack Ransom, says in the new featurette, these crew members are his babies, and he wants them all to succeed. And despite the headaches they cause her, Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) can’t help but root for her crew as she aims to empower them in each of their Starfleet careers. After four hilarious seasons, it’s gratifying to see this chaotic little group start to climb the ranks. As many wacky adventures as the lowest-ranking officers of the Cerritos get into, their commitment to helping people and truly exemplifying the ideals of Starfleet shines through making their new promotions feel so earned.

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Image via Paramount+

Will There Be More ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’?

Thankfully, this is not the end of our journey with this crew. Ahead of Season 4, Paramount already greenlit a fifth season of Lower Decks, along with a third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. While things are currently on hold as writers and actors strike for fair wages and workplace protections, Star Trek fans have a lot to look forward to. Once the WGA and SAG-AFTRA land a deal that meets the needs of the hardworking entertainment labor force, we’ll be boldly going into new seasons and new spin-offs. Earlier this year, a Starfleet Academy series — for which Newsome will serve as a writer — was announced alongside a Section 31 movie starring Oscar Winner Michelle Yeoh. The final season of Star Trek: Discovery is also set to take us on one last emotional ride when Season 5 premieres in early 2024.

New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks are available to stream every Thursday. Check out our review of Season 4 for a taste of what’s to come in these fantastic episodes, and while you wait for more, check out the new exclusive promotions featurette below.