A Guide to the Star Trek Films: Order, Crews and Connections

Star Trek started on television, but it has spent plenty of time on the big screen too. There are 13 theatrical Star Trek films, released between 1979 and 2016, plus a 2025 movie made for streaming. They follow three different crews, and the connections between them are part of the fun.

Here's every film in release order, who's in the captain's chair, and how they link to each other and to the TV shows.

A spoiler note: several of these films build on each other, and a few of those links are major spoilers. We describe each film by its premise and flag the connections without giving away the twists.

The original crew films (1979–1991)

The first six films star the cast of the original 1960s series, led by William Shatner as Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock.

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). When a mysterious entity threatens Earth, Kirk and his crew are called back into action aboard a newly refit U.S.S. Enterprise.
2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Khan, a genetically enhanced "super man" from Kirk's past, comes back for revenge on the now-Admiral Kirk, who had banished Khan and his followers to a dying planet 15 years earlier. The film was inspired by the original series episode "Space Seed," which first aired on Feb. 16, 1967. It's well worth watching that episode first.
3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Directed by Leonard Nimoy, it opened in theaters on June 1, 1984. Even its premise spoils the ending of The Wrath of Khan, so if you're new, watch the second film before you read anything about this one.
4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Using a Klingon ship, the crew travels back to 1980s Earth to retrieve two whales that may save the planet in their own era.
5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). Spock's half-brother, Sybok, hijacks the Enterprise to cross the Great Barrier at the center of the galaxy in search of an entity he believes may be God.
6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). After an accident destroys the Klingon moon Praxis, the weakened Klingon Empire is suddenly open to peace, and Kirk's crew must escort the Klingon chancellor to talks while conspirators on both sides work against them. Nicholas Meyer, who directed The Wrath of Khan, returned to direct, and the story echoes the Cold War and its thaw. It opened on Dec. 6, 1991, and closed out the original crew's run of films.

How they connect: The second, third and fourth films form one continuous story, which a Titan Magazines anniversary book, promoted on StarTrek.com, celebrates as the Genesis Trilogy. Watch them in order and back to back if you can. The fifth and sixth films stand more on their own, though the sixth works best if you know the crew's long history with the Klingons.

The Next Generation films (1994–2002)

The next four films star the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, led by Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard.

1. Star Trek Generations (1994). Captains Kirk and Picard meet in a strange "Nexus" that defies time and join forces to save a planet from destruction. It's the first big-screen adventure for The Next Generation cast.
2. Star Trek: First Contact (1996). Picard orders the Enterprise to follow the Borg back in time to stop them from destroying the Phoenix, Earth's first warp-speed ship.
3. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). Picard takes on a Starfleet admiral who is complicit in relocating an Indigenous people so their planet's natural properties can be exploited.
4. Star Trek Nemesis (2002). Picard faces a Romulan-made clone of himself who threatens the Federation with a powerful weapon.

How they connect: Generations is the hand-off between the two crews, so it helps to know both. First Contact builds on The Next Generation's Borg two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds," which StarTrek.com says goes a long way toward explaining why Picard is so unnerved to face the Borg again. And if you finish Nemesis wanting more, Star Trek: Picard picks up his story about 20 years after we last saw him command the Enterprise.

The Kelvin Timeline films (2009–2016)

The last three theatrical films recast the original crew, with Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock and Zoe Saldaña as Uhura.

1. Star Trek (2009). James T. Kirk tries to live up to his potential and his father's legacy, while a vengeful Romulan from the future sets out to destroy the Federation he blames for the loss of his family and homeworld.
2. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). After a terrorist attack at the heart of the Federation, Kirk and his crew head into enemy territory on a manhunt for a familiar foe with superhuman abilities. We'll let you discover who that foe is.
3. Star Trek Beyond (2016). Years into their five-year mission, the crew is deep in uncharted space when a new enemy challenges everything the Federation stands for.

How they connect: StarTrek.com files these three films under the Kelvin Timeline, a separate branch of Star Trek history that our timeline guide explains in more detail. The three films run in order as their own series, which makes them a reasonable starting point even if you haven't seen the older shows. Longtime fans will spot plenty of familiar characters taking different paths.

Beyond the big screen: Section 31 (2025)

Star Trek: Section 31 is a Paramount+ original movie that premiered on Jan. 24, 2025. Michelle Yeoh reprises her role as Philippa Georgiou, a character from Star Trek: Discovery's first season, who joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the Federation. StarTrek.com calls it Discovery's companion film. It isn't one of the 13 theatrical films, but if you've watched Discovery, it's the natural next stop.

Three ways to watch

Imagine three different movie nights:

• The straight shot. Watch all 13 theatrical films in release order. You'll see the original crew's full arc, the hand-off in Generations and the Kelvin Timeline's fresh start.
• The TV-connected marathon. Watch "Space Seed" before The Wrath of Khan, "The Best of Both Worlds" before First Contact, and Star Trek: Picard after Nemesis.
• The quick start. Begin with Star Trek (2009) and its two sequels. They form a self-contained trilogy, and they're a friendly door into the rest.

Whichever route you pick, keep the second, third and fourth films together, since they tell one connected story.