Star Trek’s Series In Order: 2 Ways To Watch Them
There are two ways to watch Star Trek's many series: in the order they were originally released or in a chronological order based on Star Trek's in-canon timeline.
There are two ways to watch Star Trek’s series in the order: by which was released first or based on where each series fits in the franchise’s canonical timeline.
Most Star Trek fans would agree that watching Star Trek’s series in order by release date is the ideal viewing experience. To help you do that, we’ve given you a full list of each Star Trek show, ordered by release date, below.
However, should you choose to attempt a chronological viewing of Star Trek’s various series, here’s how you do it…
Star Trek Series In Order By Timeline
To watch Star Trek’s shows in chronological order, you’ll have to start with Star Trek: Enterprise. Enterprise tells the story of Starfleet‘s first real attempts at exploration and takes place before anything else.
Next, you’ll have to watch Star Trek: Discovery season one and season two. Those two seasons of the show occur between the era of Star Trek: Enterprise and the original series. Stop after Discovery season 2, because at the end of season 2 the entire show time travels to an era in a far-off future.
So at this point, if you’re watching chronologically, you’d have watched…
To keep watching every Star Trek series in order based on the timeline, you’ll need to follow Discovery season 2 with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In order, Strange New Worlds picks up right where Discovery left off and follows Captain Pike in his stint about the Enterprise.
Once you’re done with Strange New Worlds, you’re ready to dive into the original 1966 Star Trek series (sometimes called Star Trek: TOS). Watch all three seasons.
Follow up those three seasons with every episode of Star Trek: The Animated series. It continues the adventures of the original series crew and it’s next in your timeline locked viewing of Star Trek series in order.
When TOS and its animated spinoff are complete, you can start Star Trek: The Next Generation, but you must stop at season 6. Between season 6 and season 7 of Next Gen, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine launches. Captain Picard even shows up in that new series’ first episode.
So at this point, you’ll have watched…
- 4. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
- 5. Star Trek: The Original Series
- 6. Star Trek: The Animated Series
- 7. Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 1 – 6
- 8. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1
Stop watching Deep Space Nine after season 1 and go back to The Next Generation so you can finish out that final season. You’ll then be free to resume your Deep Space Nine journey with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2.
After DS9 season 2 it gets tricky to maintain viewing each Star Trek series in order by timeline, as Star Trek: Voyager began airing in parallel with Deep Space Nine. Voyager actually occurs, chronologically speaking, smack dab in the middle of DS9 season 3. Your best approach is to alternate Voyager and Deep Space Nine seasons until both shows are totally done.
That means your next group of Star Trek shows would be ordered this way…
- 9. Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7
- 10. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2
- 11. Star Trek: Voyager season 1
- 12. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3
- 13. Star Trek: Voyager season 2
- 14. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4
- 15. Star Trek: Voyager season 3
- 16. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5
- 17. Star Trek: Voyager season 4
- 18. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6
- 19. Star Trek: Voyager season 5
- 20. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7
- 21. Star Trek: Voyager season 6
- 22. Star Trek: Voyager season 7
You’ve watched a lot of Star Trek, but the march of time continues. Next up, in Star Trek series chronological order, is Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy. Star Trek: Prodigy takes place between seasons 1 and 2 of Lower Decks, so your best bet is to take these Star Trek shows on in this order…
You’re almost done. Your next chronological Star Trek series in order viewing assignment is Star Trek: Picard. Watch all of it. The series takes place many years after the end of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
And then, in the end, you’ll finish ordering your timeline-guided Star Trek series viewing experiment with a show you already started but probably totally forgotten the time since, Star Trek: Discovery.
Remember when the Star Trek: Discovery crew jumped into the future? Well, they jumped WAY into the future. Into a future hundreds of years past the end of Star Trek: Picard,
That means you’ll finish your chronological Star Trek series viewing this way…
Congratulations, you’ve just watched every episode of every Star Trek series in chronological, in-canon order. You understand the timeline intimately and are ready to win any relevant Star Trek series in order trivia challenge.
