The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast might not have been able to say much about Season 2 at 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, but it’s a safe bet that it’s going to be a fun ride — and not just because of the crossover with Lower Decks!

Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Ethan Peck (Science Officer Spock), Paul Wesley (Lieutenant James T. Kirk), Celia Rose Gooding (Nyota Uhura), and Christina Chong (La’an Noonien-Singh) sat down with Andrea Towers in the TV Insider and TV Guide Magazine studio, sponsored by Hollywood unBranded, to tease the upcoming second season, including that aforementioned crossover.

Lower Decks‘ Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid will be playing live-action versions of their characters, Ensign Beckett Mariner and Ensign Brad Boimler. “Being a part of that episode was like watching stand-up comedy for free every day,” Chong said, also noting that while they were filming, the cast saw a tweet from someone about wanting to see a crossover between the two shows.

As for what we can expect from the Enterprise crew in Season 2, for Spock, it’ll be more of him exploring his human side as well as the beginnings of the very well-known friendship between him and Kirk. Wesley did appear in the Season 1 finale, albeit as a Kirk in a timeline that now no longer exists. So in Season 2, “we get to see the real Kirk,” Wesley teased. “He’s much younger. He’s a little bit lighter. It’s like Kirk pre-Kirk. … He’s going to show up in unexpected places at unexpected times.”

While the cast couldn’t talk much about what’s to come, Chong and Gooding did address their characters’ emotional journeys. “La’an continues to grow emotionally in ways that perhaps we don’t expect,” Chong previewed, while according to Gooding, Uhura is still dealing with losing loved ones and “deciding whether she’s going to let [people] in and see her at her most vulnerable state.”

Watch the video above for more from the cast, including on Season 2, their reactions to someone dressed as a certain terrifying clown outside the window, and their determination to not reveal any spoilers (lest they lose a finger!). Plus, see everyone turn to their captain himself to address stepping into iconic shoes.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 2, TBA, Paramount+