The Complete Star Trek Timeline Explained

Star Trek celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2026. Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi creation now spans over a dozen TV series consisting of nearly 1000 episodes, and 14 feature films. Star Trek’s Prime Timeline now encompasses a thousand years of the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet seeking out strange new worlds, and boldly going where no one has gone before in the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 32nd centuries.

Star Trek has rarely told its stories in a straight, chronological line; time travel tropes, alternate realities, and massive jumps into the future are all commonplace. Star Trek is a multiverse of myriad realities, including an alternate Mirror Universe. The Star Trek timeline is a rich tapestry of compelling characters and science fiction parables.

Here is a definitive guide to Star Trek’s timeline, primarily centering on the Prime Universe’s Star Trek TV series and feature films in chronological order, including the alternate Kelvin Timeline of J.J. Abrams’ trilogy of Star Trek movies where noted.

28

Star Trek: Enterprise

(2151-2155)

Star Trek: Enterprise is, chronologically, the first Star Trek series in the timeline (although technically the 6th produced) chronicling the pioneering 22nd-century voyages of Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and the NX-01 Enterprise. Archer’s Enterprise is Starfleet’s first Warp 5-capable starship, which allowed the NX-01 to make pivotal First Contact missions and lay the groundwork for the creation of the United Federation of Planets. Star Trek: Enterprise‘s 4 seasons only depict the first few years of Archer’s 10-year saga that ends with the first Captain of the Enterprise helping to found the Federation in 2161.

27

Star Trek: The Original Series – “The Cage”

(2254)

“The Cage” is the original Star Trek pilot that was rejected by NBC. However, “The Cage” is a canonical story set 2 years before Star Trek: Discovery season 1 and 12 years before Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in 2254, “The Cage” sees Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and the USS Enterprise lured to Talos IV, where Pike is held captive by the planet’s illusion-casting inhabitants. Star Trek: The Original Series turned “The Cage” into a two-part episode titled “The Menagerie”, and “The Cage” also laid the foundation for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

26

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 and 2

(2256-2258)

Star Trek: Discovery begins with a disastrous meeting between Starfleet and the Klingon Empire in 2256, which leads to a long, bloody war that nearly cost the Federation its soul. Centering on Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Discovery deals with the costs of war, as well as the themes of redemption and empathy.

Star Trek: Discovery season 1 depicted the Klingon War, while season 2 brought in USS Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). When faced with a genocidal artificial intelligence called Control, the crew of the USS Discovery realize the only way to save all organic life in the universe would be to jump to the 32nd century, permanently leaving Star Trek: Discovery’s original 23rd century era behind.

25

Star Trek

(Kelvin Timeline 2233/Kelvin Timeline 2258/2387)

Directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Trek is a reboot that spawns the alternate reality known as the Kelvin Timeline. Star Trek‘s main story is set in 2258 of the parallel reality, but the film’s branching timeline is made possible by the supernova of the Romulan sun in 2387 in the Prime Universe, which Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is unable to prevent.

The Romulan villain Nero (Eric Bana) time travels back to 2233, and his attack on the USS Kelvin ignites a new reality that changes the lives of Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and the crew of the USS Enterprise. After Kirk and the Enterprise defeat Nero, they set forth into the great unknown of their universe.

24

Star Trek Into Darkness

(Kelvin Timeline 2259)

Set a year after Star Trek‘s events, Star Trek Into Darkness re-introduces Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose life has also been massively altered in the Kelvin Timeline. Rather than being discovered by the Enterprise in 2267, Khan’s derelict ship was discovered much earlier by Starfleet’s Section 31, led by the corrupt Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller). Marcus attempts to use Khan to militarize Starfleet and wage war with the Klingons, but Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise defeat both Marcus and Khan.

23

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

(2259-2265)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds begins in 2259, months after Star Trek: Discovery season 2, with Captain Christopher Pike leading the Starship Enterprise on all-new missions of exploration. Strange New Worlds sets the stage for what will eventually become Star Trek: The Original Series, with young versions of Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck), Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), Scotty (Martin Quinn), and even Lieutenant James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) serving on the Enterprise.

Although Pike’s tragic future of being horribly disfigured is inevitable, Strange New Worlds fills in the years before Kirk takes over as Captain of the Enterprise with optimism and an anything-goes attitude. Strange New Worlds‘ deftness in adapting to different genres, from comedy, to action, to Star Trek‘s first musical episode, makes the episodic series the purest Star Trek show in years.

22

Star Trek Beyond

(Kelvin Timeline 2263)

3 years into their five-year mission of exploration, the crew of the Starship Enterprise are attacked by the mysterious Krall (Idris Elba). Krall’s mechanized drone army destroys the Enterprise, stranding Captain Kirk and his captured crew on the planet Altamid. Kirk and his friends escape with the help of their new ally, Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), and they defeat Krall before he destroys Starfleet’s USS Yorktown space station. At the end of Star Trek Beyond, Captain Kirk takes command of the new USS Enterprise-A.

21

Star Trek: The Original Series

(2266-2269)

The Star Trek show that started it all, Star Trek: The Original Series chronicles the first three years of Captain James T. Kirk and the USS Enterprise’s historic five-year mission of exploration, starting in 2266. The original Star Trek is an all-time classic, establishing the core tropes of the franchise, from starships, to beaming down to planets, to the unbreakable three-way friendship between Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley). Star Trek: The Original Series would not only be emulated by every other Star Trek that followed, but it would also become an enduring part of pop culture.

20

Star Trek: The Animated Series

(2269-2270)

While Star Trek: The Original Series was unceremoniously canceled after its third season, the show would go on to become a phenomenon in syndication. The first hint that Star Trek would outlive its humble beginnings was Star Trek: The Animated Series, an Emmy-winning cartoon that aimed for a family-friendly vibe without sacrificing what made the live-action original Star Trek work. Star Trek: The Animated Series is essentially the fourth season of Star Trek: The Original Series, and its status as canon has been officially established by numerous references to it in Star Trek on Paramount+’s shows.

19

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

(2270s)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the first feature film that launched Star Trek as a successful movie franchise. Set in the 2270s, years after the USS Enterprise’s five-year mission ended, Admiral James T. Kirk takes command of his starship once more and reunites his crew to intercept a threat to Earth. Star Trek: The Motion Picture reunited the entire cast of Star Trek: The Original Series for a ponderously-paced adventure that had the virtue of dazzling visual effects, and proved that the human adventure was, indeed, just beginning.