One Star Trek: Lower Decks Star Hopes The Series Will Pull A Futurama And Return

The final episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" aired on Paramount+ on December 19, 2024, bringing the show's five-season run to a graceful close. "Lower Decks" was merely the latest "Star Trek" show to be chopped from the schedule in a grand contraction phase for the franchise. In 2017, Paramount began putting all its eggs into one "Star Trek"-emblazoned basket, and Trekkies were treated to six Trek shows running simultaneously. In the last few years, though, five of those six shows have been canceled, and one of them ("Star Trek: Prodigy") was removed from Paramount+ altogether. It seems that the head honchos at Paramount didn't want to spend the money required to keep all those "Star Trek" shows afloat. 

As of this writing, only "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has a definite future. There will also be a TV movie, "Star Trek: Section 31," coming out in 2025, and a new series, "Starfleet Academy," is in production. Other "Star Trek" films and TV shows are also in early development, but time will tell if they get made. 

The end of "Lower Decks" was a sad moment for Trekkies. Of all the new "Star Trek" shows on the air, it seemed to be the most universally beloved, keeping the core tenets of "Star Trek" alive, while also featuring crass humor and put-upon characters. The series ended with the U.S.S. Cerritos still on its years-long mission, now outfitted with a new captain. The adventures would continue. We just can no longer watch them. 

Of course, some have already been hopefully floating the idea of a grand return for "Lower Decks" sometime in the near future. Indeed, lead actress Tawny Newsome, who played the mischievous troublemaker Beckett Mariner, recently said to Variety that she hopes "Lower Decks" can be like "Futurama," another animated sci-fi show that was notoriously canceled and resurrected multiple times. 

"Futurama," created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, debuted in 1999 and was set in the early 31st century when Earth had become a melting pot of humans, aliens, mutants, and robots. The show only lasted four seasons on Fox before being canceled in 2002. DVDs of "Futurama" sold incredibly well, though, and Comedy Central took notice. The station funded four straight-to-video "Futurama" movies in 2009, handily translating to an entire new season. After those four movies, though, "Futurama" hit a wall again. It was canceled a second time. Comedy Central must have seen an opportunity, though, and resurrected the show a second time in 2010, ultimately producing 52 more episodes. Then it was canceled a third time. Then, in 2023, Hulu stepped in and resurrected it once again. New episodes are still airing to this day. 

That arc is well-known to fans of sci-fi TV, including Tawny Newsome. "Star Trek: Lower Decks" may have ended, but now everyone knows that such shows can easily be resurrected if there is enough demand. She said:

"As far as the people creating it, we all would love to do that. I don't know who writes the check for that, so I don't know if they think it's possible. But [show creator] Mike [McMahan] has stories upon stories in him for these characters. He could do 10 more seasons. He is not done. None of us are done. Me, Jack [Quaid], Eugene [Cordero] and Noël [Wells] and not to mention the rest of our bridge crew and our recurring characters. Everybody's like, 'Yep, sign me up. We'll be the next "Futurama." We'll come back in 10 years, whatever you want.'"

As far as anyone knows, "Lower Decks" was not canceled because the show was doing anything wrong. It's more likely that it was merely cut from the Paramount+ lineup for budgetary reasons. In that case, the numbers would just have to come up to warrant a resurrection. 

Newsome also said that she's open to any format or medium. "Futurama" became four movies, after all. Why not four "Lower Decks" movies? There was a "Lower Decks" crossover episode, even, wherein Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Mariner played their characters in live-action. Newsome would love to see any new "Lower Decks" idea come to fruition, saying: 

"So we're all game. I would love a movie. I'd love a live-action movie, because we need to see Noël and Jerry [O'Connell] and Eugene in human form. ... Human-ish form." 

"Human-ish," as Noël Wells' character, D'Vana Tendi, is Orion. 

"Lower Decks" may, however, be facing an uphill battle. Paramount has long held the rights to "Star Trek," and they would be the only ones equipped to bring "Lower Decks" back into production. If they were suffering from low budgets (and Paramount has been in dire straits the last few years), then no amount of goodwill would bring any show back. "Futurama" had the advantage of passing hands; it moved from Fox to Comedy Central to the Disney-owned Hulu. Other outlets were more willing to take the risk. "Lower Decks" would have to appeal to the same studio that already canceled them. 

But there's precedent for that too. Newsome could point to the cancelation and resurrection of the animated sitcom "Family Guy," which was canceled by Fox in 2002 because of low ratings. Reruns of "Family Guy" were big business on Comedy Central, however, and Fox elected to restart the series after a three-year hiatus. The series has been in production ever since and is now rounding its 23rd season. 

The message is clear: fans of "Lower Decks" need to buy the Blu-rays and re-watch episodes on Paramount+. If the numbers are high, the Cerritos could very well return.