The season was produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, H M R X Productions, and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serving as showrunners.

Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn respectively star as Pike, Spock, and Number One, along with Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, and Bruce Horak.

Development on a spin-off series from Star Trek: Discovery began by January 2020, with Mount, Romijn, and Peck reprising their roles, and it was officially ordered in May.

[18] Co-creators Goldsman, Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet had written the first episode by the time of the series' official announcement that May,[4] and a writers room for the first season was underway by July.

[19] Other writers for the season include Sarah Tarkoff, Akela Cooper, Bill Wolkoff, Davy Perez, Beau DeMayo, Robin Wasserman, and Onitra Johnson.

[7] One of Goldsman's first ideas was to feature the Gorn, a lizard-like alien species introduced in the Original Series episode "Arena", as a recurring adversary for the season.

Kurtzman was excited to use modern visual effects and puppetry to make the species feel "vivid and scary" compared to the "guy in a rubber suit" from "Arena".

Perez said Alien was an especial influence on the episode because it was "hard not to draw the comparison when writing a 'horror story in space'", and this is primarily seen in the way that baby Gorn grow inside host bodies and burst out of them like the Xenomorphs from that franchise.

Pike is forced to consider how children also suffer in the United Federation of Planets, which is a controversial idea due to the Star Trek franchise's usual depiction as a utopia.

[30] In addition to the comedy hijinks of "Spock Amok" and the horror of "All Those Who Wander", other genres explored in the season include storybook escapism in "The Elysium Kingdom" and the pirate-themed "The Serene Squall".

Myers explained that one of their main goals was to remind audiences that this period of the franchise's timeline is "the age of exploration" compared to later-set series such as The Next Generation in which communications with Starfleet are often instantaneous.

[31] "Children of the Comet" introduces a tragic backstory for cadet Nyota Uhura,[32] who the writers felt had not been explored much despite the character's important role throughout the Star Trek franchise.

[5] In "The Elysian Kingdom", the main cast portray characters from a fantasy book: Olusanmokun is King Ridley, Mount is the sniveling chamberlain Sir Amand Rauth, Horak is Caster the Wizard, Chong is the dramatic Princess Thalia, Gooding is the villainous Queen Neve, Bush is Lady Audrey, Peck is Pollux the Wizard, Navia is Sir Adya, and Romijn is Z'ymira the Huntress.

[13] Transgender actress Jesse James Keitel was revealed in early June to have been cast as the nonbinary character Dr. Aspen, a Starfleet counselor who develops a connection with Spock, for the seventh episode.

[12] Myers said Angel was created to be a recurring villain and was always intended to be connected to Spock by their relationship with Sybok,[31] who briefly appears in the episode portrayed by an unknown actor.

[43] Rong Fu portrays operations officer Jenna Mitchell,[44] André Dae Kim replaces The Original Series actor John Winston as transporter chief Kyle,[44][45] Jennifer Hui plays ensign Christina,[46] and Alex Kapp provides the voice of the Enterprise's computer (taking over from Majel Barrett).

[47] Sage Arrindell portrays M'Benga's daughter Rukiya, who is played as an adult by Makambe Simamba,[48] while Ava Cheung and Cameron Roberts appear as young La'an and her brother Manu in flashbacks to their time as captives of the Gorn.

[65] The uniforms retained the primary colors from The Original Series (gold for command, blue for science, and red for operations)[66] and have the insignia for each division as a pattern on the shoulders and sleeves.

Croft's team also created a version of the ring that T'Pring wears in "Amok Time", while hairstylist Yasmine Crosdale gave Sandhu a similar "updo" look to what Martel had for that episode.

[69] For the planet Majalis in "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach", Croft wanted to reflect the utopia-like society by dressing the characters in jewel tones with long, flowing fabric and lots of gold and jewelry.

[78] For the Gorn's role in "Memento Mori", only their ships are seen and Myers wanted them to look unlike any other starships in Star Trek, with alien shapes and movements that he hoped would make them scarier to the audience.

[93] Producing director Chris Fisher said the episode had the most complex virtual set of the season for the inside of the M'hanit comet, for which Pixomondo had to animate changing lights and colors into the digital background.

[95] Leslie Hope, who guest starred as Kira Meru in Deep Space Nine, directed the third episode,[96] filming the Illyrian colony scenes at the former theme park Ontario Place.

[120] A soundtrack album featuring selections from Melumad's score as well as Russo's main theme and end credits track was released digitally by Lakeshore Records on April 28, 2023.

All music by Nami Melumad except where noted:[124] Kurtzman promoted the series during a virtual "Star Trek Universe" panel for the Comic-Con@Home convention in July 2020,[19] where Mount, Romijn, and Peck participated in a table read of Discovery's second-season finale and teased details about Strange New Worlds.

These included the first official Strange New Worlds panel, with Mount, Romijn, Peck, Goldsman, Myers, Cooper, and Perez discussing the new series and their approach to developing it.

[136] Ryan Parker of The Hollywood Reporter said the trailer had "eye-popping sci-fi action and dashes of nostalgia",[137] while Maggie Lovitt of Collider said it had "the best of both worlds, combining beloved characters from The Original Series with the awe-inspiring and engaging stories that has made Star Trek: Discovery a fan favorite".

"[139] Later in April, a panel for the series was held at the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention where the cast and crew discussed the first season and revealed a full clip from the first episode that had been seen in part during the character promos.

[151] According to Whip Media, who track viewership data for the 19 million worldwide users of their TV Time app, Strange New Worlds was the second-most anticipated new series of May 2022 behind Disney+'s Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Strange New Worlds treks across familiar territory to refreshing effect, its episodic structure and soulful cast recapturing the sense of boundless discovery that defined the franchise's roots.