Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Will End The Series, Will Premiere In 2024

No series or Starfleet mission can last forever, and one show's time has come. According to Variety, "Star Trek: Discovery" will end with the upcoming fifth season. Additionally, the series was supposed to debut later this year but has been pushed to an early 2024 release. Variety's sources indicate that filming is mostly complete on season 5, but additional shooting has yet to take place that pushes the release date back a bit. That makes sense, given the series is ending and there might be some rewrites to wrap things up nicely, but it also hopefully means that "Discovery" fans will get the kind of send-off they want and deserve. 

"Star Trek: Discovery" has been a somewhat contentious "Trek" offering, with mixed reviews from fans and critics alike, but the series did introduce us to many of the characters that have since gone on to shine in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," and it had Michelle Yeoh, so it can't be all bad. The series also stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham, plus David Ajala, Blu del Barrio, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, and Callum Keith Rennie. As Paramount looks to expand on the "Star Trek" brand and move forward with the other entries in the franchise like "Strange New Worlds," "Star Trek: Lower Decks," and "Star Trek: Prodigy," ending "Discovery" feels right. After all, the other "Star Trek" series with a similar format, "Star Trek: Picard," is also ending with its current season, now airing new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+. 

While it's still uncertain how Paramount will fill in the space left by "Discovery" and "Picard," we'll have plenty of time to guess before "Discovery" returns for one last tour of duty in 2024.

Here's the official logline for season 5 of "Star Trek: Discovery":

"[The season] will find Captain Burnham (Martin-Green) and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well ... dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Given the fact that the crew explored the outer reaches of the galaxy and met an extra-galactic species at the end of season 4, it's likely that this "ancient power" is some kind of seriously powerful alien. Aliens as god-like creatures have been explored in "Trek" plenty, and it will be fun to see how "Discovery" tackles the concept. 

"Star Trek: Discovery" was created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, and was considered the flagship show for "modern" "Star Trek," though its focus on serialization and galaxy-scale catastrophes left some fans feeling cold. Even after "Discovery" and "Picard" end, there will still be plenty of "Star Trek" to enjoy on Paramount+, with the second season of "Strange New Worlds," the fourth season of the animated comedy "Star Trek: Lower Decks," and second season of the kid-friendly "Star Trek: Prodigy" on the way. There are also allegedly a Starfleet Academy and Section 31 series (starring Yeoh as her character from Discovery, Phillipa Georgiou!) in the works, which means there's more than enough "Trek" for everyone.