Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 ending explained – What happened to Marie Batel?

As the latest season of the Star Trek spin-off comes to a dramatic end, we've finally discovered the fate of Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) and what's next for the crew as more strange new worlds await them.

Thankfully, we have two more seasons ahead of us, with season 4 having already completed filming. But, as the show bows out for now, here's everything you need to know about how Strange New Worlds season 3 ended.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 ending explained - What happened to Marie Batel?

Marie Batel, who earlier this season was treated with groundbreaking medicine after being infected with Gorn eggs, transformed into the Beholder statue on Vadia IX in the finale episode. It's a slightly puzzling turn of events, even for Strange New Worlds, so let's break down how we got here.

In episode 5, the crew first encountered the Beholder statue on Vadia IX at an ancient site which turned out to be a temporally shifted prison for the Vezda.

An inscription read: "Here stands the Beholder, sentry of eternal bridges," while L'an (Christina Chong) noticed a life sign emanating from it. Meanwhile, it was established that, on a quantum level, the Beholder's particles were in constant flux - both there and not there.

In the same episode, Ensign Dana Gamble (Chris Myers) was killed by the Vezda, who then inhabited his body on board the Enterprise. While Scotty (Martin Quinn) contained the Vezda in an orb, we were warned that, had it escaped, it could have freed all of the Vezda who had been incarcerated.

Cut to episode 10, when Batel is preparing to leave the Enterprise for a new job at the General's Office, and the crew attend a party for her thrown by Captain Pike. The gang's all there, except for Roger Korby (Cillian O'Sullivan) who is on a mission on Skygowan, integrating himself into a community who worship the Vezda.

But things quickly get worrying when Scotty discovers that Dana Gamble's (Chris Myers) DNA pattern was rebuilt from emergency backups, and left the ship without anyone knowing. As for where Gamble could be now? Skygowan, of course.

Pike sends down a landing party to Skygowan to meet Korby, with Nurse Chapel noting the similarities to Vadia IX. Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) notices that Korby's communicator went offline right at a gateway that looks exactly like the one on Vadia IX, with Chapel deducing that it must act as a transporter.

Back on the Enterprise, Spock (Ethan Peck), Pelia (Carol Kane), and Scotty notice an inter-dimensional "lane line" connecting Vadia IX to Skygowan, suggesting that's how the entity inhabiting Gamble's body reached the Vezda prison – and ultimately meaning it could potentially unleash all the incarcerated Vezda on Skygowan.

Korby suggests there will be more containment orbs through the gateway, but something else grabs M'Benga's (Babs Olusanmokun) attention: he reveals his life story is written in Swahili on the gate. He suggests it's down to destiny – that he has to stop the Vezda due to his personal bond with Gamble.

But what M'Benga doesn't know is that Gamble can't pass through the gateway alone as it's built for two. The Vezda in Gamble's body ambushes them and throws itself and M'Benga through the gateway.

Inside, Gamble starts to lash out at the Beholder statue – and, with every blow, Batel appears to become injured. It quickly becomes clear that the pair are somehow linked and, after Chapel runs some tests, she discovers that the DNA signatures from the statue and from Batel are identical. Somehow, Batel actually is the Beholder.

Later on in the episode, Batel establishes how she became the Beholder – that the Vezda is actually evil itself and, after everything she's been through, she's managed to take on all of the adaptive qualities from every race that has fought evil, turning her into a universal protector.

She suggests that she was the one to lock away the Vezda all those aeons ago. When Pike asks how that could have been possible, Spock points out that, when talking about inter-dimensional events, cause and effect can be reversed.

Finally, Batel realises she can never leave Vadia IX and must stay to protect the world from evil as the Beholder, with Pike realising he must say goodbye to the love of his life forever.

What happened to the Vezda?

Afterwards, Batel goes to face Gamble. After some trouble with opening the portal, Spock mind melds with Kirk (Paul Wesley) to allow both starships to fire at the temple, hitting it with enough power to open it.

As Pike urges Batel to fight back against Gamble, she tells him that, as both the Beholder and Marie Batel, the light she holds in her is brighter than his darkness.

Batel easily vanquishes Gamble, leaving the rest of the Vezda in their prison, and vanishes into light, finally transforming into the Beholder for good, to stand guard and stop evil being unleashed on the universe.

Was Batel and Pike's alternate life together real?

Just before Batel faces down Gamble, though, we're taken out of the story for a glimpse into an alternative version of Pike and Batel's life together. Just how 'real' this version of their life together was is open to interpretation but there's a big clue near the end that it never happened.

As Batel prepares to fight back, we her and Pike in another life, in which they're married, and have promised to enjoy however much time they have together before his inevitable accident. For one anniversary, Batel gifts Pike an apron with 'Chef Pike' written on the front.

We see glimpses of their life together, including one scene of Batel and Pike preparing for the accident as he heads off on a three-month training mission. But he returns unharmed, and he's left puzzled about how he avoids his destiny, with Batel suggesting that Skygowan is the reason. She claims that she was able to open up the fabric of space and time and "reset everything".

With Pike avoiding the accident in this lifetime, he and Batel celebrate anniversaries, as well as their daughter's engagement (to Robert April's son Eli).

But Pike starts to hear a phantom knocking that Batel seemingly can't hear. Finally, we see Batel on her death bed as Pike sits next to her in her final moments.

She tells him to open the door, where he finds Gamble looking back at him, and he's transported back to reality, before Batel faces down the Vezda.

Later on, when Pike's back on the Enterprise, he finds an apron. Turning it over, he sees it's blank rather than the one emblazoned with 'Chef Pike', seemingly confirming that none of his life with Batel actually ever happened.

What happened to the rest of the crew?

After Batel's defeat of Gamble, the season wraps up pretty quickly.

Korby reveals he wants to stay on Skygowan and says goodbye to Chapel. Elsewhere, Kirk and Spock's friendship has developed after their mind meld. Pike is heartbroken after the loss of Batel, but has Number One to look after him.

Finally, it's revealed that Korby's research unveiled many uncharted planets – enough for a five-year mission – with Pike ordering Ortegas to whisk them away.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+.

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