Star Trek: Lower Decks (season 3)
The third season of the American animated television series "" follows the various missions and adventures of the "lower deckers" (low-ranking officers with menial jobs) on the USS "Cerritos", one of Starfleet's least important starships. The season is produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions in association with Secret Hideout, Important Science, Roddenberry Entertainment, and animation studio Titmouse, with Mike McMahan serving as showrunner and Barry J. Kelly as supervising director. Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero voice the lower decks crew members of the "Cerritos", with Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell , Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman providing voices for the ship's senior officers. A third season of "Lower Decks" was ordered in April 2021, and voice recording began by June. Writing for the season was completed that September, and picked up from the cliffhanger ending of the . Voice recording was finished by March 2022. The season features many connections and references to past "Star Trek" series such as "", including several actors returning as guest stars. The season is scheduled to premiere on the streaming service Paramount+ in the third quarter of 2022, and run for 10 episodes. A fourth season  was ordered in January 2022. Production. Development. When announcing the premiere date for the of "" in April 2021, Paramount+ also officially ordered a 10-episode third season of the series. Writing. Writing for the season began by May 2021, with showrunner Mike McMahan knowing the direction for half of the season's episodes at that point. All of the scripts were completed in mid-September. McMahan said the season would take the first steps towards moving the "lower decks" characters up in rank, with each taking a different path to become the people that he planned for them to be  at the end of the series. Following the cliffhanger ending of the second season, McMahan said the third would follow Captain Freeman's trial for apparently destroying the Pakled homeworld. Other elements from the end of the second season that the third explores include the relationship between Beckett Mariner and Jennifer Sh'reyan and the secrets behind Sam Rutherford's cyborg implant, though McMahan said Mariner's romantic relationship would not become the focus of the series as her character arc was still based on her friendships and relationship with her mother, Captain Freeman. He noted that Mariner and Freeman had  grown closer before the latter's arrest at the end of the second season. Casting and voice recording. The series stars a group of ensigns serving in the "lower decks" of the USS "Cerritos", including Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner, Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler, Noël Wells as D'Vana Tendi, and Eugene Cordero as Sam Rutherford. Also starring are the bridge crew of the ship that believe "the show is about them, but it's not", including Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman, Jerry O'Connell as Commander Jack Ransom, and Gillian Vigman as Dr. T'Ana. Newsome began recording voice overs  for the season in early June. She was able to do this in a recording studio, which was not possible in the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she was still unable to record with Quaid as she did on the due to his commitments filming the series "The Boys". Newsome had completed recording her lines for the season by March 2022. McMahan stated in May 2021 that there would be "legacy guest roles" in the season, but they would be "people you're not going to expect when you get them" which he felt was more surprising  and satisfying for fans. That December, Jonathan Frakes revealed that he would be returning as his "" character William Riker after doing the same in the previous "Lower Decks" seasons. In April 2022, J.G. Hertzler was revealed to be reprising his role as Klingon Chancellor Martok from "", though this is a virtual version of the character that is part of a Klingon version of the tabletop game "Dungeons & Dragons" called "Bat'leths & BIHnuchs". Second-season guest star Gabrielle Ruiz returns as T'Lyn for the third season, but only for a small role because the third season was written before McMahan saw the  positive fan reaction to T'Lyn's second-season appearance. He hoped to explore the character further in future seasons. Lauren Lapkus also returns from the earlier seasons as Jennifer Sh'reyan. Animation. Independent animation studio Titmouse provides the animation for the series, with Barry J. Kelly serving as supervising director for the season. Several animatics for episodes had been produced by mid-October 2021. Marketing. A teaser and first key art for the season were released during a panel for the series at the "Star Trek: Mission Chicago" convention in April 2022, part of a week of celebrations for "First Contact  Day", marking the fictional holiday of April 5 when first contact between humans and aliens was made in the "Star Trek" universe. The panel included Newsome, Quaid, Wells, and O'Connell all in cosplay as their characters, as well as McMahan, and the cold open and first scene of a season three episode was also shown to the audience. Discussing the teaser that was released at the panel, Arezou Amin of "Collider" said it was vague but promised "more of the comedy the show has become known for" along with increased stakes from the previous seasons. Dylan Kelly at "Yahoo!" said  it "offers a myriad of new challenges" for the main characters, including a "chaotic USS "Cerritos" hijacking". Release. The season will premiere on Paramount+ in the United States in the third-quarter of 2022, and run for 10 episodes. Each episode will be broadcast in Canada on the same day as the U.S. release by Bell Media on specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) before streaming on Crave. Prime Video has the streaming rights for several territories, including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and India.