Star Trek is still living long and prospering, almost 60 years after the series first aired.
The beloved sci-fi characters first hit the screen in 1966 for three seasons of the original show. Centering on the crew of the USS Enterprise as they embarked on various humanitarian and rescue missions throughout the universe, the ship was controlled by Captain James Kirk (William Shatner), science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), medical officer Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelly), communications officer Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei).
The show gained such a huge following that it was later continued with an animated sequel series that ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974. Much of the original cast reprised their roles in the animated series, and in 1979 they gathered together once again — this time for a big-budget, live-action Hollywood movie.
Since then, 14 more Star Trek films have premiered, including Paramount+’s Jan. 24 release of Star Trek: Section 31, in which Michelle Yeoh reprises her role as Philippa Georgiou.
The complicated Star Trek universe and its dual timelines — called “Prime” and “Kelvin” — make it difficult to know how to watch the movies in storyline order. Here’s a complete guide on how to catch up on the Star Trek film franchise in chronological and release order.
Star Trek Movies in Release Date Order
Original “Prime” Timeline
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: Section 31 (2025)
Alternate “Kelvin” Timeline
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Star Trek 4 (TBA)
Star Trek Movies in Chronological Order
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Ten years after the original series ended, the Enterprise crew returned, this time on the big screen. The film gathered together the original cast including Shatner, Nimoy, Nichols and Takei, and was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Robert Wise.
In the movie, the crew must identify a mysterious energy cloud that’s heading towards Earth. What they discover is that it’s actually an ancient NASA satellite that gained sentience after encountering an alien race.
Watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture on Paramount+
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
The second Star Trek film gave the world the iconic “Khaaaaan!” scream and is often ranked as a fan favorite.
The Wrath of Khan is a sequel to the Star Trek season 1 episode “Space Seed” — but viewers can still understand the movie without seeing the episode. In the film, the genetically engineered villain Khan seeks revenge against Kirk for being exiled to a remote inhospitable world 15 years prior. The Wrath of Khan also served as Kirstie Alley’s first major role.
Watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Paramount+
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
After Spock has to sacrifice himself in The Wrath of Khan to save the crew amid the explosion of the Genesis Device, a planet was created to help reanimate him.
But the Klingons believe the Genesis Device could also be used as a powerful weapon, so the Enterprise crew must save their friend and fight off a Klingon army at the same time. Nimoy not only reprised his role as Spock in the film, but he also directed it. Plus, Christopher Lloyd joined the cast as the film’s villain.
Watch Star Trek III: The Search for Spock on Paramount+
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
In the fourth Star Trek film, a giant cylinder-shaped space object lingers over Earth’s orbit, emitting sounds of extinct humpback whales. The probe causes massive disasters on Earth, so the Enterprise crew must travel back in time to the ’80s to find whales and bring them to the future.
Despite its wild premise, seeing the Star Trek crew in 20th-century San Francisco was a fresh take for fans. It also served as Nimoy’s second time directing a Star Trek film, and he helped write the script.
Watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home on Paramount+
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
For The Final Frontier, Shatner took over directing duties and helped write the story. In the film, the Enterprise crew answers a distress call from a rogue Vulcan named Sybok (spoiler alert: he’s Spock’s half-brother) who is on a quest to discover God.
Sybok believes God is hiding behind an energy barrier in the middle of the universe. Unfortunately, what they uncover isn’t God, but actually an evil being and that energy barrier was designed as a prison. Even worse, the Klingons have been secretly following them, hoping to finally kill Kirk.
Watch Star Trek V: The Final Frontier on Paramount+
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
In The Undiscovered Country, a series of disasters have forced the Klingons to suspend their war against the Federation and take part in peace talks. But unknown members of the Federation unexpectedly attack the Klingons, causing them to believe they’ve been betrayed.
As always, it’s up to the Enterprise crew to find out who the imposters are and stop a full-scale war from breaking out. The Undiscovered Country also serves as the final film for the original, or “Prime,” timeline before the franchise introduced the cast of The Next Generation into the film series.
Watch Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country on Paramount+
Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)
Section 31 takes place during Earth year 2333, putting it in between The Undiscovered Country (in 2293) and Generations (in 2371).
For the film, which premiered on Jan. 24, 2025, Yeoh reprises her role as Emperor Georgiou from the series Star Trek: Discovery and joins “a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and face the sins of her past,” per an official synopsis of the movie.
Watch Star Trek: Section 31 on Paramount+
Star Trek Generations (1994)
While the film series was still focusing on the original Star Trek cast, on television, Star Trek: The Next Generation had been airing since 1987 and was a huge hit. Star Trek Generations premiered in November 1994, a few months following The Next Generation‘s series finale after airing for seven seasons.
The film bridged the gap between the original series and The Next Generation, showing that Kirk has been trapped in an otherworldly realm known as the Nexus, allowing him to live beyond his years.
Eventually, he encounters the crew of the Enterprise-D (the TNG crew) and must help them defeat the evil Soran (Malcolm McDowell). During the final battle, Kirk is fatally injured and dies at the end of the movie, officially passing on the franchise’s torch to the TNG crew.
Watch Star Trek Generations on Paramount+
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
In First Contact, the crew of the Enterprise time travel so they can prevent the Borg from taking over earth.
The cybernetic organisms had gone back in time to prevent the moment humans made first contact with alien life so they could instead colonize the planet. First Contact was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who also starred as Commander Riker in the movie and the TNG series.
Watch Star Trek: First Contact on Paramount+
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
In Insurrection, the Enterprise crew finds themselves in a battle between two races. In the film, the crew encounters the Ba’ku people who, despite knowing about advanced technologies, have completely rejected them for unknown reasons.
It turns out that their planet has special properties that make them virtually immortal, leading them to flaunt modern technologies. However, a banished tribe of Ba’ku who did embrace technology called the Son’a have destroyed their physical bodies in their quest for immortality. Filled with resentment and rage, the Son’a now want revenge.
Watch Star Trek: Insurrection on Paramount+
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Released in 2002, Star Trek: Nemesis is the final film in the original Star Trek timeline.
In the movie, the Romulans are overtaken by a Reman slave named Shinzon (Tom Hardy) who also happens to be a Captain Picard clone. Initially, Shinzon tells the Federation that with his newfound power he wants to achieve peace but the Enterprise crew soon learns that’s a lie.
Watch Star Trek: Nemesis on Paramount+
Star Trek Alternate “Kelvin” Timeline
Star Trek (2009)
In 2009, J.J. Abrams rebooted the Star Trek franchise, but instead of having a clean-cut addition, the new film series is actually set in an alternate timeline — hence how the original Spock (or Prime Spock) is able to star in the film alongside his new counterpart, played by Zachary Quinto.
The new cast also included Chris Pine, who played Kirk, Zoe Saldaña, who played Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Anton Yelchin as Chekov and John Cho as Sulu. In the film, the Enterprise crew must fight off the vengeful Romulan Captain Nero (Eric Bana) to keep the Federation safe.
Watch Star Trek on Paramount+
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
In the 2013 sequel, the Federation believes that the Klingons have attacked a Section 31 outpost on Earth, which could ignite a full-blown war. But as Kirk and the Enterprise crew dig deeper, they discover a secret conspiracy and at the center of it is the infamous Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Netting over $467 million at the box office, Into Darkness is currently the highest-grossing Star Trek movie of all time.
Watch Star Trek Into Darkness on Paramount+
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
In Star Trek Beyond, the Enterprise crew is ambushed by a villain named Krall (Idris Elba) and his allies who want the Abronath — a mysterious artifact the crew had discovered earlier.
With it, Krall can build a massive weapon he hopes to use against the Federation. Star Trek Beyond marks the first film without Prime Spock as Nimoy died in 2015, a year before the film premiered.
Watch Star Trek Beyond on Paramount+
Star Trek 4
In 2022, Paramount announced that it had greenlit a fourth Star Trek film in the Kelvin timeline and expected the original cast to reprise their roles. However, as of January 2025, the movie is in the very early stages of development with the script still being written.
In December 2024, Saldaña gave an update during a Deadline interview, saying, “I wish we were able to do it sooner rather than later. I feel like a lot of us have a full head of gray hair, so we need to do this quickly, if this is the same cast that’s going to reprise it again.”
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