star trek movie list

Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

Untangle the different timelines and get the popcorn: Here are the Star Trek movies in order — both chronological and release.

• Chronological order
• Prime Timeline

The Original Series movies

The next generation movies.

• Kelvin Timeline
• Release order

Upcoming Star Trek movies

We've got a guide to watching the Star Trek movies in order, decloaking off our starboard side!

So long as movies stick numbers on the ends of their titles, it’s easy to watch them in order. Once they start branching out, however, things can get a little muddled, especially when reboots come along and start the whole process over from scratch. 

You may have heard that the even-numbered ones are good and the odd-numbered ones are not. That’s spot on for the films starring the cast of The Original Series (aka Kirk and friends) falls apart once you reach the tenth entry in the series. It would probably be worth your while to have this list of the Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best around to steer clear of the clunkers. Look, we’re not going to pretend everything here is worth two hours of your day, we’re just letting you know which came out after which.

Should your Trek appetite remain unsatiated after your movie watchathon, feel free to pull from either our list of the best Star Trek: The Original series episode s or best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes . Either one will set you up for a weekend jam-packed with great Trek moments. Consult our Star Trek streaming guide for all the details on where to watch the movies and shows online 

Star Trek movies: Chronological order

Below is the quick version of our list if you just need to check something to win an argument, but it comes with a lot of in-universe time travel-related caveats that we'll explain below.

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek: Nemesis
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek: Prime Timeline

The first thing you need to know about the Star Trek films is that while they travel back and forth in time, they also diverge into two (for now) different timelines. The films of the original crew (well, the first iteration of them, anyway – more on that later) are all in what is known as the Prime Timeline. 

Within the Prime Timeline, the movies are then split between The Original Series movies and The Next Generation movies.

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

• Release date: December 8, 1979
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

This is the film that brought the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the big screen. An energy cloud is making its way toward Earth, destroying everything in its path. Kirk and crew intercept it and discover an ancient NASA probe at the heart of the cloud. Voyager – known as V’ger now – encountered a planet of living machines, learned all it could, and returned home to report its findings, only to find no one who knew how to answer. It’s a slow-paced film, and the costumes are about as 70s as they come, but there’s classic Star Trek at the heart of this film.

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

• Release date: June 4, 1982
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban

Ask a Star Trek fan what the best Star Trek movie is and more often than not, you’ll get Khan as your answer. A sequel to the events of the “Space Seed” episode of The Original Series, Khan is a retelling of Moby Dick with Khan throwing reason to the wind as he hunts his nemesis, James T. Kirk. Montalban delivers a pitch-perfect performance, giving us a Khan with charisma and obsession in equal parts.

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

• Release date: June 1, 1984

Spock might have died in The Wrath of Khan, but this third entry set up the premise for his return, with the creation of the Genesis planet. Essentially a heist movie in reverse, Search for Spock has the crew defying orders from Starfleet in an attempt to reunite Spock’s consciousness with his newly-rejuvenated body. It’s not a great movie, but it does include two very important events: the rebirth of Spock and the death of Kirk’s son at the hands of the Klingons. That’ll be important a few flicks from now.   

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

• Release date: November 26, 1986
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks

If Star Trek fans don’t say Khan is the best Star Trek movie, odds are very high they say Voyage Home is. It’s a funny film where the mission isn’t destruction, but creation – or more accurately, repairing the devastating effects of humankind’s ecological short-sightedness. 

A probe arrives at Earth, knocking out the power of everything in its path as it looks for someone to respond to its message (yeah, it happens a lot). This time, however, the intended recipient is the long-extinct blue whale. To save Earth, Kirk and co. go back in time to 1980s San Francisco to snag some blue whales. The eco-messaging isn’t exactly subtle, but it doesn’t get in the way of a highly enjoyable movie.

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

• Release date: June 9, 1989

A writers’ strike and Shatner’s directorial skills (or lack thereof) doomed this film before a single scene was shot. The core plot is actually pretty good: Spock’s half-brother hijacks the Enterprise so that he can meet God, which he believes to be… himself. Some Star Trek fans have an odd fondness for this movie, as it showcases the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy when they’re off-duty.

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

• Release date: December 6, 1991
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Plummer

Right, so if that Star Trek fan you’ve been talking to doesn’t choose either Khan or Voyage Home as the best Star Trek movie ever, they almost certainly name Undiscovered Country (and if they don’t, they have highly questionable taste, frankly). The Klingon moon of Praxis explodes, putting the entire Klingon race at risk. The Enterprise hosts a diplomatic entourage of Klingons, much to Kirk’s discomfort. 

Remember how Klingons murdered Kirk’s son? Well, he certainly hasn’t forgotten. Kirk’s lingering rage makes him the perfect patsy for the murder of the Klingon Chancellor, sending him and McCoy to a prison planet and setting the stage for war. Christopher Plummer is perfection as a Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general with no taste for peace.

7. Star Trek: Generations

• Release date: November 18, 1994
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner

And thus the torch is passed from the crew of The Original Series to that of The Next Generation. It’s a bit of a fumble, to be honest, but they all did their best to get Kirk and Picard into the same film and have it make sense. Malcolm McDowell plays Soran, a scientist who will stop at nothing to control the Nexus, a giant space rainbow that exists outside of space-time. 

Soran lost his family when his home world was destroyed and he wants to re-join them (or at least an illusion of them) in the Nexus. He’s not so much a villain as a tragic figure, but the Nexus makes a meeting between Kirk and Picard possible. Not all that sensible, but possible.

8. Star Trek: First Contact

• Release date: November 22, 1996
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Alice Krige

Okay, no, for real, if your Star Trek pal didn’t pick Khan or Voyage Home or… oh, nevermind. Cueing off the iconic two-part episode “Best of Both Worlds,” in which Picard is assimilated by the Borg, First Contact sees the collective traveling back in time in order to disrupt First Contact, the day Earth’s first foray into space attracted the attention of the Vulcans, kicking off the events that would eventually lead to Starfleet’s victory over the Borg. The Borg Queen torments Picard with visions of the past and tempts Data with humanity, going so far as to give him some human skin. 

The fight with the Borg aboard the Enterprise is thrilling, and the work on the surface to get first contact back on track is fun. Plus, there’s just nothing like Patrick Stewart turning it up to 11 as he lashes out at the enemy that haunts his dreams.

9. Star Trek: Insurrection

• Release date: December 11, 1998
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, F. Murray Abraham

Essentially an episode inflated for the big screen, Insurrection is about the Federation conspiring to displace a planet’s population in order to harvest the planet’s unique resource – super healing metaphasic particles. In addition to the rejuvenating natural resource, the Ba’ku also have access to exceptional technology, which they shun in favor of a more simple lifestyle. 

Data malfunctions, the villains are Federation allies (and former Ba’ku!), Picard gets to knock boots with a local – Insurrection is the very definition of “fine.” Chronologically, Insurrection is relevant for rekindling the romance between Riker and Troi, but not much else.

10. Star Trek: Nemesis

• Release date: December 13, 2002
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Tom Hardy

Before he mumbled his way into our hearts as Bane, Tom Hardy was Shinzon, a clone of Picard the Romulans created in an eventually abandoned attempt to infiltrate Starfleet. Shinzon is dying, and all that will save him is a transfusion of Picard’s blood. Unfortunately, Shinzon also happens to be a megalomaniac who happens to want to destroy all life on Earth and maybe a few other planets, too, if he’s feeling saucy. 

Nemesis is notable mostly for killing Data with a noble sacrifice, only to resurrect him moments later in a duplicate body found earlier by the Enterprise crew.

Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

The last of the Prime Timeline movies failed to impress at the box office, so it was a few years before anyone tried to bring the Enterprise back to the big screen. Rather than lean on any of the TV crews, this new slate of movies would serve as a reboot, welcoming new audiences while honoring long-time fans. Welcome to the Kelvin Timeline. (For all the ins and outs, check out our Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline explained article).

11. Star Trek

• Release date: May 8, 2009
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban

Back to the beginning! Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk, Spock, and “Bones” McCoy as they meet and join the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Though the plot is a relatively straightforward affair of a Romulan named Nero trying to destroy the Earth. His anger borne out of grief, what matters most is how it all came to be. In the future, Spock – the Prime Timeline version – tries to save Romulus from being destroyed by a supernova, but fails. Both his ship and Nero’s are kicked back in time, setting off a chain of events that diverge from the original, “true” timeline. 

The name “Kelvin” refers to the U.S.S. Kelvin, the ship heroically captained by Kirk’s father, which is destroyed in the opening moments of the movie.

12. Star Trek Into Darkness

• Release date: May 16, 2013
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch

The benefit of the Kelvin Timeline is that it not only allows Star Trek to explore canon material – such as Khan (he of the Wrath) – but to do something completely new with it. Khan features heavily in Into Darkness, but he has no beef with Kirk. Instead, a Starfleet Admiral is threatening the lives of Khan’s crew, forcing them to craft weapons of mass destruction. 

Khan inevitably eludes captivity and strikes out against Starfleet, killing Captain Pike (and a bunch of others) in the process. Kirk and company eventually take Khan down, but not before Kirk sacrifices himself to save his crew. Don’t worry, these things don’t last in either Star Trek timeline, as Kirk gets better moments later thanks to *checks notes* Khan's super blood.

13. Star Trek Beyond

• Release date: July 22, 2016
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba

Beyond leans into the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy now that they’ve had some time together, much to the movie’s benefit. The Enterprise is lured to Altamid under false pretenses, leading to much of the crew being marooned on the planet. The architect of the deception was Krall, who wants an opportunity to return to a galaxy where war is the order of the day. 

Beyond is a significant point in the timeline for two reasons. First, it sadly marked the death of Spock Prime due to the passing of Leonard Nimoy. Second, it culminates in the Enterprise embarking on the five-year-mission that started everything back in 1966.

Star Trek movies: Release order

If you can't be bothered remembering two different orders for the Star Trek movies then we've got good news for you — the release order is identical to the chronological order that we've shown above (accounting for the Kelvin timeline as it's own entity anyway).

The full run of Star Trek films currently tops out at 13 entries; the fate of the 14th was hidden within a nebula of conflicting information. “Star Trek 4” was slated for December 22, 2023, but given that filming had yet to begin as of July 2022, it seems inevitable that date will change. Back in February 2022, Paramount that the principal cast would be returning for the fourth installment of the Kelvin timeline, a claim quickly disputed by the agents of those selfsame actors. Awkward.

Soon after, however, Chris Pine eventually signed on the dotted line, and his shipmates reached their own agreements. As of right now, Kirk (Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), McCoy (Karl Urban, assuming he can make it work around filming of The Boys), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Uhura (Zoe Saldaña), and Sulu (John Cho) are all ready to beam up and get filming. Sadly, this will be the first of the Kelvin films to not feature Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Yelchin died in an accident at his home in 2016. It’s currently unclear if Chekov will be recast or if a different character will take his place on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Though the Kelvin timeline is often referred to as “J.J. Abrams Trek,” he won’t be directing Star Trek 4; Matt Shakman will take on that responsibility, leaving Abrams to produce. As for what it will be about, that’s anyone’s guess, but Chris Pine told Deadline he hopes this one tells a smaller story that appeals to the core Trek audience. “Let’s make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek,” he said. “Let’s make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great.” It’s a strategy that makes sense; the disappointment with recent Trek films hasn’t been their content so much as their box office. A Trek film with a smaller scope (and budget) would almost certainly have a very healthy profit margin while also resonating with the fanbase.   

With no new announcements coming from San Diego Comic-Con 2022, it seems that we’ll have to wait for any more insight into the next Star Trek film. Sill, recent comments from Paramount CEO Brian Robbins have us cautiously optimistic: “We’re deep into [Star Trek 4] with J.J. Abrams, and it feels like we’re getting close to the starting line and excited about where we’re going creatively,” he told Variety . 

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Susan Arendt is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant living in Burleson, TX. She's a huge sci-fi TV and movie buff, and will talk your Vulcan ears off about Star Trek. You can find more of her work at Wired, IGN, Polygon, or look for her on Twitter: @SusanArendt. Be prepared to see too many pictures of her dogs.

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Star Trek - Chronological order

1. Star Trek: Enterprise

2. Star Trek: Discovery

3. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

4. Star Trek: Short Treks

5. Star Trek

6. Star Trek: The Animated Series

7. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

8. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

9. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

10. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

11. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

12. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

13. Star Trek: The Next Generation

14. Star Trek: Generations

15. Star Trek: First Contact

16. Star Trek: Insurrection

17. Star Trek: Nemesis

18. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

19. Star Trek: Voyager

20. Star Trek: Lower Decks

21. Star Trek: Prodigy

22. Star Trek: Picard

23. star trek: discovery.

24. Star Trek

25. Star Trek Into Darkness

More to explore, recently viewed.

Star Trek movies in order - chronological, release, and recommendation

With a truly expansive timeline, here's a complete guide on how to watch the Star Trek movies in order chronologically, by release, and our own recommendation.

James Osborne

Published: Aug 31, 2023

Here’s our complete guide on how to watch the Star Trek movies in chronological order, release order, as well as our own bespoke recommendation. Since the ‘70s, cinemagoers across the world have been treated with new Star Trek movies in every single decade. What a blessed world we live in.

The 2020s will continue this trend as Star Trek fans were recently hit with the announcement that a new Star Trek movie  is coming. The  Section 31 release date is scheduled for 2024, and until then, we have 13 previous entries to rewatch including some of the best science fiction movies of all time.

But the Star Trek timeline is a messy one, and figuring out the best way to enjoy the adventures of Star Trek captains Picard and Kirk isn’t straightforward. So, we’ve put together the definitive guide on how to watch all of the  Star Trek movies in order , starting with an explainer on the two timelines, our own recommendation on the best watch order, then chronologically, then by release. Engage, hit it, thataway, etc.

What is the difference between the Kelvin timeline and Prime timeline in Star Trek?

The Star Trek movies take place over two timelines: the Kelvin timeline, and the Prime timeline. Understanding the difference between the two before you embark on a mission to watch the Star Trek movies in order is important.

The Kelvin timeline covers the events seen in the three Star Trek reboot movies starring Chris Pine, and everything else (from all the Star Trek series on TV, to the TOS and TNG movies) is the Prime timeline.

Aside from it being a launching point for a new era of Star Trek, the Kelvin timeline actually has an in-universe explanation. In the year 2387, in the Prime timeline, Spock unintentionally sends himself back in time along with a Romulan named Nero.

Having been sent to the past (specifically 2233), Nero interferes with the natural passage of events and destroys the USS Kelvin, killing George Kirk (James T. Kirk’s father) in the process. Doing so splinters the flow of time, creating a divergence point that leads to two parallel but alternate timelines: the Kelvin timeline (which includes the events of Star Trek 2009, Into Darkness, and Beyond), and the Prime timeline.

The best way to watch the Star Trek movies in order

The best way to watch the Star Trek movies in order is to start with the three Kelvin timeline movies (which star Chris Pine as Kirk) before moving on to the classic TOS-era adventures and then the TNG-era movies. 

If you want to be really rogue, you can even add Star Trek Picard season 3 onto the end, as it is effectively a ten-hour long TNG movie, which ends the adventures of Picard and his crew on a much, much better note than Nemesis. Just don’t watch the two awful seasons which preceded it.

This is unorthodox but means you can watch the timelines progress in a mostly linear fashion. We get into much more detail on our reasons for this below, but this is how we watch the Star Trek movies, and it’s how we think you should too.

How to watch the Star Trek movies in order:

Star Trek 2009

Star trek into darkness, star trek beyond, star trek the motion picture, star trek ii the wrath of khan, star trek iii the search for spock, star trek iv the voyage home, star trek v the final frontier, star trek vi the undiscovered country, star trek generations, star trek first contact, star trek insurrection, star trek nemesis, star trek picard season 3.

Where to watch: Paramount Plus

Placing Chris Pine’s movie in this position is relatively controversial, but stick with us. Though it begins with the Prime Spock years after Nemesis, 99% of what we see in the three Kelvin timeline movies effectively serves as a prequel.

Set in an alternate timeline created by Leonard Nimoy ’s Spock, Star Trek 2009 follows a young James T. Kirk as he first takes command of the USS Enterprise, starts his journey as a captain, and meets his crew. Therefore, though set in an alternate timeline, the Pine movies act as prequels to the events seen in TOS, and the best way to watch the Star Trek movies in order is to start here. This is by no means the consensus, but we think it offers the most coherent and satisfying viewing experience.

Where to watch:   Amazon Prime Video (VOD)

The second installment in Pine’s trilogy brings in Khan as the antagonist, playing with the order of events as seen in Shatner’s adventures. Let’s put a pin in that, for now.

Khan causes havoc, corruption is rife within the Federation, and there’s an inversion of major plot points seen in The Wrath of Khan. The movie proved to be divisive upon its release, and does lose sight of the thematic thoughtfulness which makes Star Trek so distinct.

Still, it continues to deepen the connection shared by the main cast and characters, and if you’re going to commit to watching the Star Trek movies in order, it’s an important and necessary piece of the puzzle.

Set three years into the Enterprise’s five-year mission, Star Trek Beyond is the last film in the Kelvin timeline and somehow the first to really show the crew actually doing its job. Unsurprisingly then, it’s the best movie of the three, and it achieves a good balance of adventure and introspection by toning things down and lowering the stakes.

Amid all the fast action and fun, Beyond focuses on Kirk’s loneliness and his search for meaning in the vastness of space. It’s something new, and Star Trek thrives on new.

Since 2016, fans have been waiting patiently for the Star Trek 4 release date . But, with behind-the-scenes issues, it seems like that’s now dead in the water.

Where to watch:   Paramount Plus

Now we get to the Star Trek movies with William Shatner and co. as the crew of the USS Enterprise.

We recommend watching The Motion Picture after Beyond, because the Kelvin timeline Star Trek movies take place during Kirk’s five-year mission, and The Motion Picture is set after these adventures when Kirk has been made an Admiral. So, despite being set in alternate timelines, this is just how it makes sense to us, rather than skipping backward and forwards across timelines.

In The Motion Picture, Kirk re-assumes command of the USS Enterprise to deal with the threat posed by the mysterious V’Ger. His old crew join together once again in a frosty reunion but regain their connections as the adventure unfolds, building to a triumphant ending. It’s this growth across the movie, and the depth of its themes, which means that we love The Motion Picture despite its status as an awkward start to the cinematic side of the franchise.

One of the best movies ever made, The Wrath of Khan is set over a decade after The Motion Picture with Spock now the captain of the Enterprise. How times change.

The movie is remarkably straightforward. Kirk is tricked into coming face to face with his old enemy Khan Noonien-Singh, before the USS Enterprise and USS Reliant engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Thrilling, clever, and deeply moving, The Wrath of Khan ends with the death of Spock, who sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise and his friend Jim Kirk. We’re not crying, you are.

Directed by Leonard Nimoy who, in his infinite wisdom, wanted to add a sense of TOS-style fun back into proceedings, The Search for Spock is Star Trek at its most adventurous. Kirk steals the still-damaged Enterprise to embark on a mission to resurrect Spock, with his loyal crew in tow. Captain Picard could never.

Set directly in the aftermath of The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock is the make-shift middle installment in one of the best trilogies ever made. The Klingon Kruge is a fearsome foe (though he can’t hold a candle to Khan) who pushes Kirk to his very limits, and it sets the stage perfectly for the brilliant movie that follows it.

The Voyage Home is the one with the whales, and the nuclear wessels, and it’s an amazing achievement once again helmed by Nimoy. As Kirk prepares to return to Earth on the HMS Bounty to atone for his sins (disobeying Starfleet orders), the crew is instead roped into a time travel romp with a single goal: take whales from the past and bring them into the present (2286).

There’s very little jeopardy here: no Khan, no Kruge, just a heartfelt adventure to save Earth from its past misdeeds. It’s packed with laughs and fun, with perfect fish-out-of-water humor found in Kirk and his colleagues traversing ‘80s San Francisco. In the end, after the day has been thoroughly saved, Kirk is demoted back to the rank of captain which is really what he’d always wanted.

It ends a cohesive trilogy of Star Trek movies, following the death of Spock, his rebirth, and his return to adventure alongside Jim Kirk. If you’re looking for the best science fiction movies ever made you don’t have to look any further than these three.

Exit Nimoy, enter Shatner. As well as sitting in the captain’s chair, Shatner was swapped into the director’s chair for The Final Frontier too. And, honestly, the movie is a pure reflection of the man himself.

Concerned with grand philosophical ideas, notions of ego, and the quest for knowledge, The Final Frontier follows the first voyage of the USS Enterprise-A on the search for God. It marks the introduction of Spock’s half brother Sybok (a brilliant Star Trek villain), and is notorious for its iffy visual effects and puzzling tone.

It’s not all bad, though, and there are some gloriously camp sequences between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy on their camping trip. The humor doesn’t always land here, but its heart’s in the right place and I enjoy watching Kirk climb a rock (and adore his ‘Go climb a rock’ shirt). But, The Final Frontier was bad enough that it almost prematurely ended the franchise, and prevented Shatner from exerting his creative influence over the next movie.

The final adventure of the whole TOS-era crew, The Undiscovered Country is a grand, emotional send-off for the first Star Trek cast and a group of beloved characters.

As the Klingon moon Praxis explodes due to unsafe mining conditions, Kirk is sent on one last mission: to negotiate peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire after years of tension and war. It’s a direct parallel to the Chernobyl disaster, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War.

Unsurprisingly then, The Undiscovered Country is the most political Star Trek movie, concerning itself with deep-rooted prejudice and how personal conflicts can be barriers to social progress and peace. Kirk learns to overcome his hatred for the Klingons and see the bigger picture, but not before the Enterprise crew uncovers a traitor in its midst who is attempting to sabotage the peace process.

“Second star to the right, and straight on ‘til morning,” is the perfect end to it all. At least, it could have been.

After the smash success of Star Trek The Next Generation (the finale was seen on broadcast by an astonishing 30 million viewers), it was the TNG cast ’s turn to have a go at making movies too. What better way to start a new era than by looking back to an old one?

Set in the immediate aftermath of TNG season 7, Captain Kirk joins forces with Captain Picard thanks to a convenient time travel plot device. Together, they defeat the villainous Soran, a man obsessed with finding a fantastical extra-dimensional realm called the ‘Nexus’. The Enterprise-D is destroyed, and to make things even worse, Kirk dies along the way too. He’s buried under a pile of rocks by Picard, which isn’t exactly a hero’s send-off, but here we are.

Like some joyless inverse of The Voyage Home, First Contact sees a former first officer (Jonathan Frakes’ Riker) step into the director’s chair to create an adventure that catapults the crew of the USS Enterprise back in time to Earth. This time though, there’s the threat of the Borg: it’s a lot darker than a mission to save some whales.

As the Borg attempts to prevent Earth from making first contact with the Vulcans, the TNG crew split up to combat the Borg in space with the shiny new Enterprise-E and ensure that things go as they should down on Earth’s surface. With some of the best action Star Trek has to offer, this is widely seen as the greatest TNG movie, even if its attempts to turn Picard into a Rambo-style action hero are misguided.

Often likened to a TNG episode, Insurrection lowers the stakes and opts for a more personal story instead. Mostly set on the planet of Ba’ku, Insurrection sees Picard ditch Starfleet’s orders in favor of doing the right thing.

The planet has restorative effects thanks to its metaphasic particles, which the Federation’s allies the Son’a want to harness for their own personal aims. That would mean shunting Ba’Ku’s inhabitants off to another world, though, and Picard refuses to cooperate. Instead, he helps the Ba’Ku mount a resistance, which brings him close to death.

While the TOS cast got six movies, the TNG cast could only manage four. Nemesis was their fourth and final adventure (until their reunion in Picard season 3) and it brought Picard into conflict with an evil clone… of himself, played by a bald Tom Hardy.

This clone is Shinzon, who leads the Remans (slaves to the Romulans) aboard his ship the Scimitar. The Scimitar is equipped with an extraordinarily powerful Thalaron weapon that has the power to destroy all before it, including Earth. In the battle to defeat Shinzon, Data sacrifices himself in an act similar to Spock’s sacrifice in The Wrath of Khan. Riker leaves to take command of the USS Titan , and the Romulan commander Donatra suggests peace could be on the horizon (something that never happens).

It’s a downer ending which, after the perfection of All Good Things… which concluded their time on TV, retroactively made all four TNG movies seem somewhat of a misfire.

No one wants to finish their Star Trek movie marathon with Nemesis, for God’s sake. Instead, end on a high with Star Trek Picard season 3.

Some critics, and plenty of audience members, called it one of the best seasons of Star Trek ever. Let’s make this abundantly clear: it’s not . The plot is packed full of contrivances, the attempt to force in nostalgia is cynical, it’s got too many subplots, the return of the Borg is predictable, and unlike 99% of TNG (which is so wants to remind you of) it ends with a giant mindless battle.

And yet, it at least gives the beloved Star Trek The Next Generation cast a happy ending. It also, to be fair, has some great moments, ideas, and episodes, with the like of No Win Scenario, and Dominion. It can be thrilling, and exciting, and it has a genuinely brilliant movie-like score.

In fact, it really wants to be a TOS-style Star Trek movie. And, perhaps it should have been. Cutting down the length would have solved a lot of problems and bloat. Still: to finish things off with some Star Trek VI-style optimism, you can end your re-watch with Picard season 3. For better and worse.

How to watch the Star Trek movies in chronological order

As the Kelvin timeline is created in the Prime timeline in the year 2387, the formal way to watch the Star Trek movies in chronological order is with Chris Pine’s Star Trek trilogy at the end.

Star Trek 2009 starts with Prime Spock post-Nemesis, so the movies are technically (if not spiritually) sequels. This isn’t the ideal order in which to watch the movies, because it’s jarring to skip back and forth.

But if you’re a stickler for rules, this is how you’ll want to do it. You’ve been warned, though. It gets messy, and pretty confusing.

How to watch the Star Trek movies in chronological order:

• Star Trek The Motion Picture (2270s)
• Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan (2285)
• Star Trek III The Search for Spock (2285)
• Star Trek IV The Voyage Home (2286)
• Star Trek V The Final Frontier (2287)
• Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country (2293)
• Star Trek Generations (2371)
• Star Trek First Contact (2373)
• Star Trek Insurrection (2375)
• Star Trek Nemesis (2379)
• Star Trek 2009 (Prime timeline 2387; Kelvin timeline 2255)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (Kelvin timeline 2259)
• Star Trek Beyond (Kelvin timeline 2263)

How to watch the Star Trek movies in release order

Beginning over a decade after the end of the first Star Trek series, the Star Trek movies began in 1979. Since then, new movies have been making their way into cinemas in neat intervals up until 2016, with the release of the most recent Star Trek Beyond.

Thankfully, watching the Star Trek movies in release order isn’t complicated at all.

Star Trek movies in release order:

• Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979)
• Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan (1982)
• Star Trek III The Search for Spock (1984)
• Star Trek IV The Voyage Home (1986)
• Star Trek V The Final Frontier (1989)
• Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• Star Trek Generations (1994)
• Star Trek First Contact (1996)
• Star Trek Insurrection (1998)
• Star Trek Nemesis (2002)
• Star Trek 2009 (2009)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Star Trek Beyond (2016)

All upcoming Star Trek movies

As it enters a new golden era with its TV series, the Star Trek franchise has plenty of life left in it, and there are two potential Star Trek movies which could be arriving in the next few years.

First, we have the one which is officially in development: Star Trek Section 31. A spin-off of Star Trek Discovery centering on Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou, the new movie is set to shine a light on the secretive operations of the infamous Section 31. This is a clandestine organization which forms part of Starfleet Intelligence and serves to protect the security of the Federation by any means necessary.

The Star Trek Section 31 release date looks like it will arrive at some point in 2025, and it’s set to air exclusively on Paramount Plus .

Then, we have the apparently-cursed Star Trek 4. A sequel to Star Trek Beyond with the Kelvin timeline cast has been in the works for close to a decade now, and still we have nothing concrete confirmed about the film.

Contractual negotiations and scheduling, as well as lots of shifting creative directions behind the scenes, have prevented the movie from ever getting further than a script. And even that, reportedly, is now scrapped. As each month passes by, the likelihood of Star Trek 4 ever being made lessens. The movie hasn’t been officially canceled yet, just indefinitely delayed, so we’ve still got a shred of hope. For now.

Upcoming Star Trek movies:

• Star Trek Section 31
• Star Trek 4

And, that’s it on how to watch the Star Trek movies in order. If you got to the end, well done: you’ve watched 13 movies across two parallel timelines. That’s no mean feat.

If, like us, you still can’t get enough of the Enterprise in all its forms, you can check out some of our other Star Trek articles, including our interview with Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn about Strange New Worlds as well as our guides to the Strange New Worlds season 3 release date,  Lower Decks season 4 release date and a potential Star Trek Legacy release date .

You can also see our picks for the best Star Trek starships , as well as our explainers on the USS Intrepid , USS Farragut , and USS Kelcie Mae . Or, see our picks for the best Star Trek characters of all time, and our thoughts on which Star Trek captain would win in a zombie apocalypse . You can also check out what’s new on Paramount Plus this month, as well as our choices for the best TV series of all time.

James Osborne After graduating from the University of York with a degree in archaeology (inspired by Captain Picard), James worked with the news team at Screen Rant while contributing features to Vulture, The AV Club, Digital Spy, FANDOM, and the official Star Trek website. Now, he writes about all things sci-fi and fantasy at The Digital Fix with an 'Enterprise-D ambiance' playlist on loop. He's a seasoned expert on all things Star Trek , Lord of the Rings , Star Wars , and Yellowstone , and is more than willing to share his hot takes on TNG which he believes is the greatest series ever made.

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Every star trek movie in chronological order.

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Star Trek 2009 Cast & Character Guide

Star trek reveals origin of a vital federation first contact device, when is the next star trek movie coming out.

• Learn how to watch all 13 Star Trek movies in chronological order by following their theatrical release timeline.
• Dive deeper into the Star Trek universe by watching the films in their in-universe timeline order instead.
• Keep an eye out for new Star Trek movies - one on Paramount+ focusing on Section 31 and potential future theatrical releases.

Here's how to watch the 13 Star Trek movies in chronological order in a couple of ways. Starring William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series ' 3 seasons aired on NBC from 1966-1969, but the show exploded in popularity in syndication. After the blockbuster success of Star Wars in 1977, Paramount refashioned a planned TV series revival titled Star Trek: Phase II into a feature film: 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Star Trek officially became a movie franchise.

Since the 1970s, every decade up to the 2020s thus far has seen a Star Trek movie produced. Star Trek: The Original Series ' cast starred in 6 films from 1979-1991. The torch was then passed to the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation , who starred in 4 films from 1994-2002. Producer and director J.J. Abrams then rebooted Star Trek: The Original Series , casting stars such as Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban to play younger, alternate reality versions of Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in a trilogy of Star Trek movies from 2009-2016. Whether you want to watch them in order of theatrical release or in order of when the films stand in the Star Trek timeline , here's how to watch the 13 Star Trek movies.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek relaunched the movie franchise and reintroduced audiences to Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise.

How To Watch The Star Trek Movies Chronologically In Theatrical Release Order

The first 6 star trek movies are helpfully numbered.

Watching the Star Trek movies in their theatrical release order is the simplest way to go . The 13 films are broken up into easy-to-digest blocks: the 6 Star Trek: The Original Series films, the 4 Star Trek: The Next Generation films, and the three Star Trek movies produced by J.J. Abrams that are set in the alternate Kelvin timeline. Here are the 13 Star Trek movies in theatrical release order:

How To Watch The Star Trek Movies By In-Universe Timeline Order

From 1986 to 2379 in two different star trek timelines.

A more interesting, and challenging, way to watch the Star Trek movies is by in-universe timeline order. Although the 'present day' of the Star Trek movies is either The Original Series ' 23rd century or The Next Generation 's 24th century, some of the Star Trek movies involve time travel and flashbacks, while the J.J. Abrams films are actually before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series.

In J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009 , the destruction of the USS Kelvin in 2033 by time-traveling Romulans, which led to the death of James T. Kirk's father, Lt. George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), spawned an alternate reality where numerous major events happened in an accelerated pace. Factoring in time travel and alternate universes, here's how to watch the Star Trek movies by in-universe timeline order.

What Is The Next Star Trek Movie?

The next star trek movie won't be released in theaters.

The next Star Trek movie won't be a theatrical release, but it will be a made-for-streaming film on Paramount+. Star Trek: Section 31 starring Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh is the first Star Trek movie made for Paramount+ . Section 31 is written by Craig Sweeney and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. A spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery , Section 31 will detail what happened to Yeoh's popular anti-heroine, Emperor Phillippa Georgiou after she left Discovery in season 3, and the film will purportedly explore Georgiou's ties to and the history of Section 31, Starfleet's infamous black ops organization.

Star Trek: Section 31 introduces a new cast of characters joining Michelle Yeoh's Emperor Georgiou. Section 31 began filming in January 2024 in Toronto and is expected to wrap in March. Although no release date has been announced yet, Star Trek: Section 31 could be released on the streamer in late 2024 if not in 2025.

Depending on Star Trek: Section 31 's success, a new Star Trek movie could be released on Paramount+ every 2 years.

Will There Be A Star Trek 4 From J.J. Abrams?

Two star trek theatrical movies are reportedly in development.

8 years after Star Trek Beyond hit movie theaters, there is still no Star Trek 4 produced by J.J. Abrams . Star Trek 4 (AKA Star Trek 14 ) was scheduled for a December 2023 release date after audience polling by Paramount Pictures determined there was audience interest in seeing another Star Trek movie starring Chris Pine and the cast Abrams assembled. However, high-profile filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Noah Hawley, S.J. Clarkson, and Matt Shakman were unable to overcome the "creative differences" to get Star Trek 4 in front of cameras.

Star Trek 4 is said to be the "final chapter" of the voyages of the USS Enterprise commanded by Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk and his crew.

Following the resolution of the WGA writers' strike, a new report indicated two Star Trek movies are in development at Paramount. Star Trek 4 is said to be the "final chapter" of the voyages of the USS Enterprise commanded by Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk and his crew. Meanwhile, a Star Trek origin film set "decades before" Star Trek (2009) is being developed by director Toby Haynes ( Star Wars: Andor ) and writer Seth Grahame-Smith ( Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunte r). While it seems inevitable that a new Star Trek movie will return to the big screen one day, it looks like the long wait will continue into the foreseeable future.

Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation movies are available to stream on Max.

Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness , and Star Trek Generations are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek Movies in Order: How to Watch Chronologically and by Release Date

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Star Trek is back in a big way. The franchise is going strong on Paramount+ through new original TV shows , with the recent Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiering to positive reviews while Star Trek: Picard finished season two. Paramount also announced the long-awaited fourth Star Trek film in the recent series, which will see Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldaña, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Karl Urban return to the franchise following a seven-year hiatus from Star Trek Beyond . The franchise is now arguably the most popular and readily available that it's been in its entire history, gaining new fans every day.

The Star Trek film series currently includes 13 films and spans multiple generations of different crews that weave in and out of the different series. They form one giant massive timeline that builds off one another to show humanity's future among the stars and the constantly changing relationship between various alien species. If the 13 films seem daunting, and you're not sure how everything relates, take a look at this list that details the Star Trek film series in chronological and release order.

Update November 23, 2023: This article has been updated with where each entry in the Star Trek film is currently streaming and more details on each film in the franchise.

Star Trek Movies In Chronological Order

Star trek: the motion picture.

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star trek iv: the voyage home, star trek v: the final frontier, star trek vi: the undiscovered country, star trek: generations, star trek: first contact, star trek: insurrection, star trek: nemesis, star trek into darkness, star trek beyond, star trek: the motion picture (1979).

Star Trek: The Motion Picture takes place in 2273, five years after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, and finds Kirk and his crew retaking control of the renovated Enterprise to investigate a mysterious cloud of energy that has destroyed Federation and Klingon ships. The movie was a massive hit, yet the critical reaction was more on the mixed side than Paramount expected. Even with how much money the studio put into it, bringing in Academy Award-winner Robert Wise to direct, the film was seen as a disappointment, yet has found a cult status and recently got the director's cut released in 4K .

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is available for streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star trek 2: the wrath of khan.

A massive time jump, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan takes place in 2285, 13 years after the events of the previous film and 18 years since the original series ended. This film is less a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and more to season one, episode 22, or 'Space Seed,' from the original series, which now finds that episode's villain, Khan, seeking revenge on Kirk for marooning him on Ceti Alpha V. The movie sees an older Kirk wrestling with his age, and in the ultimate sign of time moving forward, Kirk loses his old friend Spock when the Vulcan-human hybrid sacrifices his life to save the crew of the Enterprise.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan also serves as the first part in a three-movie story arc, often referred to by fans as The Genesis Trilogy (named after the Genesis device which becomes a key factor in the life/death cycle the three films explore), one that continues in the following two sequels. While not making as much money as the previous film, Wrath of Khan had a smaller budget, so the profits of the film were greater and the film helped relaunch the popularity of the franchise. It still remains arguably the most acclaimed film of the franchise.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Picking up shortly after the previous film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock takes place in 2285 and focuses on Kirk and the Enterprise Crew's attempt to resurrect Spock when they find out his spirit has been left inside Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, which involves stealing the Enterprise from the Federation. Meanwhile, the crew must contend with a Klingon crew led by Kurge (Christopher Lloyd) who seeks to steal information on the genesis device.

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The movie resurrects Spock but also sees another beloved member of the crew perish: this time in the form of the Enterprise. While the ship will be rebuilt, this marks the final appearance of the ship that Kirk and his crew piloted since the original series. Another major plot point is the death of Kirk's son (who was established in the previous film), killed at the hands of Klingons, which will go on to inform Kirk's bias a few films later.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home picks up shortly after the previous film, with the Enterprise crew returning to Earth to face trial for stealing the Enterprise to resurrect Spock; however, they find the planet is in grave danger when a mysterious alien probe cannot communicate with any humpback whales. To save the Earth, the crew travels back in time to 1986 (the release date of the film) to try to find a group of whales to bring back to the future. The movie concludes the Genesis Trilogy, and due to its fish out of water aspect was a massive success even outside the Star Trek fanbase, grossing more than both previous entries.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Set in 2287, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier focuses on the exploits of the Enterprise-A (the new ship that replaces the destroyed Enterprise) as they confront a renegade Vulcan who is attempting to search for God at the center of the universe. While opening big, the film had massive drop-offs in the following weeks due to poor word of mouth and competition from other summer movies like Ghostbusters II and Batman. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier almost killed the franchise for many, but the studio wanted to give the classic crew of the original series one final and proper goodbye.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Released in 1991, 35 years after the premiere of Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was to give the original cast their proper goodbyes. The movie is set in 2293, which makes it 24 years after the events of the original series. The Undiscovered Country acts as the end of the Cold War, but in space, the destruction of the Klingon moon, Praxis, leads the Klingon Empire to pursue peace with their longtime adversary, the Federation. However, a military conspiracy threatens to destroy the potential peace as Kirk is framed for a crime based on his prejudice towards Klingons for killing his son in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

Every Star Trek TV Series, Ranked

Ahead of the release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, take a look at how all the series in the franchise rank against one another.

The movie ends as a proper conclusion to the original Star Trek series, as the two iconic foes of the Klingons and Federation have now found peace. With the Enterprise set to be decommissioned, Kirk and his crew take one final trip on the ship with the final mission log so that new crews, new ships and more will carry on their legacy, commenting on the future laid out in Star Trek series like The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager .

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

A passing of the torch film between the crew of the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Generations is the iconic meeting between the two captains, Kirk and Picard . The movie's prologue is set in 2293, shortly after the events of Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home, while the main action of the film is 2371, 78 years later and one year after Star Trek: The Next Generation .

The movie marks the final adventure for William Shatner's incarnation of James Kirk, and while it will not be the last time the character appears thanks to the reboot, it serves as a true end for the original series and full acknowledgment of Star Trek: The Next Generation being the face of the franchise for the 1990s.

Star Trek: Generations is available for streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Set two years after the previous film in 2273, Star Trek: First Contact sees The Borg as the film's primary villain and follows the crew of the Enterprise-D as they pursue the villainous species back in time, with the Borg's primary objective to take over in the past. The film borrows the time travel element of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and primarily is set on April 4, 2023, which is the day before Earth makes contact with alien life and begins the steps for the Federation of Planets to form, thanks to the work of Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), whose first successful warp drive creation draws the attention of the Vulcans.

Thanks to a heavy marketing push, Star Trek: First Contact was a major box office hit and also received positive reviews from critics, and until the release of 2009's Star Trek, was the best-performing film of the franchise internationally. Fans all over the world now celebrate April 5th as First Contact Day .

Star Trek: First Contact is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

In 2375, Star Trek: Insurrection sees the crew of the Enterprise-D rebel against Starfleet when they discover a conspiracy involving two alien species. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many claiming it lacked the scope of a movie and felt more like an extended episode of television.

The events of Star Trek: Insurrection are taking place around the time of both Star Trek: Voyager and at the end of the story for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and while there are no major references to the events of the series or vice versa, it does show how big the franchise was at this point in time but also how the overexposure and years of continuity were starting to hamper it.

Star Trek: Insurrection is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek: Nemesis takes place in 2379, meaning it is nine years after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation and 110 years since the end of the original series. Star Trek: Nemesis sees a clone of Picard (Tom Hardy, in his first movie), created by Romulans, take control of the Romulan Empire and seek war with the Federation.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Characters, Ranked in Order of Awesomeness

Engage! Star Trek: The Next Generation has long been arguably the favorite series for Trekkies, and these are the TV show's best characters.

The film received poor reviews from critics and was a box office bomb , becoming the lowest-grossing Star Trek film ever and was beaten out in its opening weekend box office by Maid in Manhattan . Combine that with competition from huge movies like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Die Another Day, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers during the holiday season, and Star Trek: Nemesis was dead on arrival, marking the final adventure for the crew of The Next Generation until the release of Star Trek: Picard . The film's box office disappointment, combined with the cancelation of Star Trek: Enterprise three years, later marked a quiet point in the franchise , where it would take a big swing to bring the series back.

Star Trek: Nemesis is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek (2009)

Marketed as a prequel, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek is much more. It does show the origins of the original series cast but does so by taking place in an alternate reality that is kicked into motion by Spock from the original series traveling through a wormhole from 2387 (ten years after Star Trek: Nemesis ) that causes the timeline to split. So Star Trek is both a reboot, a prequel, and a sequel, as the events in Star Trek: The Original Series and all the following films need to happen to get Spock into a place to go back and time and create a new timeline, which will be called the Kelvin Timeline after the USS Kelvin, which is the ship at the center of the timeline divergence in 2233.

The great J.J. Abrams movie tells the story of how the crew of the Enterprise comes together, primarily taking place from 2258 to 2259, meaning that by the end of the film, when Kirk takes control of the Enterprise, it is earlier than the original timeline. The film was a surprisingly big success, grossing $386 million and becoming the highest-scoring Star Trek film on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition to the polished production and great effects, the excellent work of the cast was largely responsible for this; as Ty Burr writes in The Boston Globe :

What lifts the Abrams film into the ether is the rightness of its casting and playing, from Saldana's Uhura, finally a major character after all these years, to Urban's loyal, dyspeptic McCoy, to Simon Pegg's grandly comic Scotty, the movie's most radical reimagining of a Star Trek regular.

Star Trek is available for streaming on Hulu and Paramount+.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

With a new timeline in place, Star Trek Into Darkness sees the crew of the Enterprise encounter Khan years earlier, as the destruction of Vulcan causes the Federation to explore space and find Khan and his crew about eight years earlier than the original timeline. Star Trek Into Darkness takes place one year after the 2009 Star Trek , meaning it is 2259. With Khan awakened earlier, and the butterfly effect nature of the timeline is rewritten, Kirk meets Carol Marcus (the mother of his child in the original timeline) earlier, and instead of Spock dying, it is Kirk. Yet Kirk is able to be resurrected much quicker than Spock.

The film ends with Kirk, Spock, and the crew on a rebuilt Enterprise ready to begin their five-year mission, and it is revealed they were waiting a year, meaning, that the five-year mission begins in 2260, six years before the original series. The modern-day cast of these Star Trek movies continues to excel, and the inclusion of a great Benedict Cumberbatch performance as Khan is a highlight.

Star Trek Into Darkness is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The final film released so far in the Star Trek film series, Star Trek Beyond, is set three years into the Enterprise's five-year mission (a meta-joke about how the original series lasted three seasons). The movie finds Kirk and his Enterprise crew on an unexplored planet, encountering a hostile alien who has ties to the Federation.

Released to tie in with the 50th anniversary of the franchise, Star Trek Beyond serves as the perfect conclusion to the film series so far. When the Spock from the original timeline dies, he leaves the current Spock some of his belongings, which includes a photo of the crew from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Seeing the life his alternate timeline version had, inspires this version to stay with his crew on a rebuilt Enterprise (this universe's version of Enterprise-A) to continue the adventure in a recently announced fourth film , whose production seems to be encountering several setbacks .

Star Trek Beyond is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek Films In Release Order

Unlike Star Wars , The MCU, or the X-Men movie series , the release order of Star Trek is the same as the chronological viewing order, making it a straightforward viewing experience. Historically, Star Trek has been a winter franchise, finding great success during the holiday weekends around Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, in recent years, all three Kelvin timeline films were summer releases.

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