Inside Paramount+'s The Lodge 2025: Holodecks, Hurricanes, and Heists

Computer, initiate program...

When Girafe and I passed by The Lodge around 1:30 PM, it was clearly still in the final stages of construction. That’s why when we returned just a few hours later for our 4:00 PM press preview, we were honestly floored. Somehow, between then and now, the space had been fully transformed into this year’s Paramount+ The Lodge offsite in the Gaslamp, and transformed well. Huge kudos to the teams that pull off this kind of magic in real time.

Naturally, we made a beeline straight to the Star Trek area of the experience (not before I snagged one of the cheeseburger sliders being served from the replica-I mean kitchen, which tasted as good as they looked). We were instantly immersed in an accurate holodeck recreation, before stepping onto a wonderfully kitschy 1960s-style sci-fi set straight out of the Strange New Worlds Season 3 teaser trailer. It was gloriously cheesy in the best way possible and gave us a great little photo op to kick things off.

We Fly the Ship....

From there, we were ushered into the bar set, this year dubbed the Intergalactic Love Lounge, and welcomed by Dante, a charming joined Trill who Girafe immediately befriended. The lounge vibe was perfect, and we tried the Orion Hurricane (remember those drinks Mariner serves Uhura and Ortegas in "Those Old Scientists?"), a vibrant little mocktail topped with a bubble that, when popped, released a smoke effect that was as fun as it was unexpected. And yes, it tasted as good as it looked.

"I like you...you're a good bad influence." - Erica Ortegas

After some delightful small talk with Dante, we moved into the Starfleet Academy section of The Lodge. There, a friendly officer handed us sleek, high-quality Academy tote bags (if only actual Academy admissions were this easy). This area felt like it had the least going on Trek-wise, but it was still an enjoyable stop and a nice breather before heading deeper into the experience.

We also spent some time inside the Pluto TV Popcorn Bar, a compact space dedicated to the free streaming platform where I catch most of my Trek reruns these days. One standout here was a set piece that dropped you into a wind tunnel chamber and challenged you to catch flying popcorn packing peanuts in a cup. I failed miserably, but it was a hilarious moment nonetheless.

The rest of The Lodge is a fun, well-designed maze of rooms dedicated to current and upcoming Paramount+ content. If you’re a fan of Dexter, the Resurrection Vault (complete with his iconic slide collection) was unsettling in the best way. My wife’s family swears Dexter: Resurrection is actually great, so I guess we’re starting that one now.

Where 2022's space gave us the massive 10 Forward lounge, this year it’s been reimagined as a Landman-themed bar based on the new Billy Bob Thornton series. A tasty mule-style drink was served in a branded M*tex mug you could keep, which was a very nice touch.

And then? Maybe the coolest part of the entire Lodge, non-Trek related, of course, was getting to recreate the legendary data heist scene from the original Mission: Impossible film, in celebration of the full 7-film collection now available to stream. Crawling into that white room? Yeah, that was a core memory moment.

Ask Julian about Mission Impossible...that's your mission if you choose to accept it.

All in all, this year’s Lodge was a good vibe. Not too crowded for a press preview which I've heard has not been the case in previous years. The perfect mix of interactive and chill, and it gave everyone space to actually experience the experience. That’s what these activations are supposed to be, and this one nailed it.

The Lodge is open Thursday through Sunday, 9 AM to 7 PM at Happy Does Bar. Tickets are available here, with a standby line option as well. Make sure to check out our video coverage of The Lodge on our Instagram and YouTube channels.

Stay tuned to Strange New Pod all Comic-Con long for our full coverage, including the Star Trek Universe Hall H Panel this Saturday!