BREAKING: The End Is Nigh For Star Trek: Discovery
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY will be ending with season 5. Image: Paramount+.
MARCH 2, 2023 - As the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation reminded us, “all good things come to an end.”
By 2017, there had been no new Star Trek on television for over a decade. For fans of the franchise, it seemed like a lot longer. And then Star Trek: Discovery premiered, and a new era of Trek began. The show was an immediate success for the streaming service CBS All Access, which eventually came to be rebranded as Paramount+. Not every Trek fan fell in love with DISCO, but we all realized that it heralded good things on the horizon.
It was rumored at the time that the plan was for the show to run five seasons, but even as it spawned new spinoff series like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, diehard fans were hoping it would continue past that predicted finish line. Today, however, we learned that DISCO’s fifth season will be its last.
The news was delivered via a letter from Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise, posted on StarTrek.com. It says in part,
There is much adventure yet to come in season five – but today we share the bittersweet news that after 65 incredible episodes with Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery, the upcoming season premiering in early 2024 will be our last. No series continues forever, of course, so this day was always going to come. We are forever grateful to have been able to share such an amazing journey with you.
The letter goes on to promise that a release date announcement is on the horizon, but the above paragraph reveals that it will be in early 2024. There will also be “some very special fan events” to celebrate the first series of the modern era of Trek, details of which will be revealed in the near future.
There’s still plenty of new Star Trek to enjoy, but while DISCO may not have been for everyone it’s still a little sad to see the show that reinvigorated the fandom leave the airways. (Or the streamways?) On the other hand, DISCO’s departure may mean new series are on the horizon. The producers have said that in order for another series to premiere one will have to end. Perhaps now we’ll get the Section 31 spinoff or the Starfleet Academy series, both of which have been gently teased over the years. If there’s a silver lining, that’s it.
You can read the letter in its entirety over at StarTrek.com. And stay tuned to Daily Star Trek News to find out about the fan events and season 5’s release date.
T is the Managing Editor for Daily Star Trek News and a contributing writer for Sherlock Holmes Magazine and a Shakespeare nerd. He may have been the last professional Stage Manager to work with Leonard Nimoy, has worked Off-Broadway and regionally, and is the union Stage Manager for Legacy Theatre, where he is currently working with Julie Andrews. after which he’ll be working on Richard III at Elm Shakespeare Company.
