The Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Trailer Teases The Final Adventures For Captain Burnham

In March 2023 it was announce that the upcoming fifth season of "Star Trek: Discovery" was to be its last. This is something of a major moment for modern "Star Trek," as "Discovery" was seen as the bold return of the franchise to the small screen for the first time in 12 years. It was also the flagship show on Paramount's brand-new streaming service, CBS All Access, now called Paramount+. 

The show will last one more season, and "Star Trek" will be left in the hands of its remaining programs "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" and "Star Trek" Lower Decks." It's planned "Section 31" series was transformed into a movie, and "Star Trek: Prodigy" was also recently canceled, graciously allowed a second and final season before leaving the airwaves. There is currently a "Starfleet Academy" series in the works.

At the end of the show's second season, the Discovery was thrown forward in time by nearly a millennium, landing at a time when the Federation had shrunk to a tiny size, few starships were still functioning after a galaxy-wide cataclysm called the Burn, and the galaxy had come to be ruled by a vicious mercantile syndicate called the Mercantile. Because of the 32nd-century setting of "Star Trek: Discovery," the technology is amazingly advanced. Ships are now collections of free-floating parts that don't physically connect, and communicators now contain personal transporters and holographic workstations. The final season will likely tap into that high-tech world all the more, and the new trailer for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5 teases a few more vital discoveries still to come. 

While "Strange New Worlds" and "Lower Decks" have gained a lot of positive critical traction by reverting "Star Trek" back to a more traditional, episodic form of storytelling, "Discovery" will likely stay on its current, modern tack of telling a single story over the course of a whole season. The first season was about the Klingon War. The second season was about a mysterious red angel and Michael's brother Spock (Ethan Peck). The third season was about the crew acclimatizing to the 32nd century and investigating the source of the Burn, and the fourth was also about investigating the source of a massive spatial cataclysm. According to the official synopsis, "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5...

"...finds Captain Burnham 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."

Jonathan Frakes, who has directed numerous episodes of "Discovery" including some in season 5, has assured audiences that the series will conclude in a satisfying way. The showrunners didn't know the series was going to be canceled when they were making this season, however, so it will not be a season of teary farewells are grand wrap-ups. It will be merely another adventure. There's something refreshing about that. 

"Star Trek: Discovery" season 5 premieres April 4, 2024, on Paramount+.