I wishStar Trek: Discoverywas able to have the ending executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise originally wanted. The first Star Trek on Paramount+ series,Star Trek: Discoverywrapped up in May 2024 after five seasons. Paramount+ announcedDiscoverywould end with season 5 in March 2023, but the streamer authorized three additional days of filming in spring 2023 to add a climactic coda to what becameStar Trek: Discovery’s series finale, “Life Itself.”
Star Trek: Discoveryseason 5 was an adventurous and propulsive intergalactic treasure huntas Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) raced the criminal couple Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) to find the ancient technology of the Progenitors.Discoveryseason 5 was effectively a sequel to theStar Trek: The Next Generationepisode, “The Chase,“about how humanoid life was seeded in the galaxy.Discoveryseason 5 also culminated with thewedding of Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones) and Ni’Var President T’Rina(Tara Rosling).
Star Trek: Discoveryseason 5 was never originally intended to end the series, and planning forStar Trek: Discoveryseason 6would have commenced had Paramount+ not decided to pull the plug. While executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise, as well as series lead Sonequa Martin-Green, have expressed their thanks to Paramount+ for allowing them to filmStar Trek: Discovery’s finale coda,they all hoped for a more ambitious way to close outStar Trek: Discovery, and it’s a shame that it didn’t happen.
Sonequa Martin-Green Reveals Producers' Hopes For How Star Trek: Discovery Could Have Ended
Trek Talks 4, the annual fundraiser for the Hollywood Food Coalition, assembled 11 members ofStar Trek: Discovery’s castfor a special reunion hosted by Syfy Sistas' Tamia Harper. During the panel, Sonequa Martin-Green, who was also a producer onStar Trek: Discovery,revealed details she had never publicly offered before ofwhat went on behind the scenes regarding howStar Trek: Discovery’s finale coda came to be.Sonequa said executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise originally asked Paramount+ for more than the 12 extra minutesDiscoverygot. Read her quote below:
I remember from the moment we found out the show was going to be ending, and we were in talks with Paramount+ about how we were gonna wrap the show up. And what [Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise] wanted [was] an additional episode to really be able to touch everyone’s stories, to really be able to close this thing out. We were not able to be afforded that. They said, ‘It’s not gonna be an additional episode, it’s not gonna be’ -I think what Alex and Michelle originally wanted was a full 2-hour movie finalekind of thing.
And it was like, ‘No, we’re not gonna be able to do that.’ ‘Okay, what about an extra episode?’ ‘No, we’re not gonna be able to do that. ‘Okay, what about an extra half of an episode, or something like that?’What they ended up having was about 12 pages. Close it up in 12 pages… Then, all of a sudden, our options – I remember feeling really sad about that because suddenly, our options were very limited of what we were gonna be able to touch in that short period of time.
Sonequa Martin-Green also revealed her own"dreams and visions"about howStar Trek: Discoverycould have ended, like, “How about all of us are in a white room, and we’re talking, and we’re in a dream space, and we reveal things that have never been revealed before?“Star Trek: Discovery’s brain trust obviously had far more vaulting ambitions for how to give the show a fitting sendoff, but they were limited by Paramount+ downsizing their plans to the 12-minute coda that audiences saw.
Star Trek: Discoveryseason 5 addedBattlestar Galactica’s Callum Keith Rennie as Commander Rayner, and he would have continued on the show ifStar Trek: Discoveryseason 6 happened.
It’s disappointing thatStar Trek: Discoverydidn’t end with a 2-hour movie, or even an extra episode, althoughStar Trek: Discovery’s finale was still an extra-length conclusion with the addition of the coda.Star Trek: Discoveryalso didn’t enjoy its final two episodes screened theatrically in IMAX theaters likeStar Trek: Picardseason 3’s finale. However, fans in Los Angeles were treated to a special theatrical screening ofStar Trek: Discovery’s final episode in Beverly Hills with cast members and executive producer Michelle Paradise in attendance.
Why Paramount+ Ended Star Trek: Discovery With Season 5
Star Trek Was Being Downsized At The Streamer
Paramount+ endingStar Trek: Discoverywith season 5 was a result ofthe streamer downsizing itsStar Trekcontent.Thanks toStar Trek: Discovery’s success, Paramount+ expanded tofiveStar Trekseries, includingStar Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, andStar Trek: Strange New Worldsby 2022. However, the changing nature of the streaming business, and Paramount’s pending sale to Skydance, have forced cost-cutting.
Paramount+ canceledStar Trek: Prodigyin 2023, but a dedicated fan campaign led to Netflix picking up the series and hostingStar Trek: Prodigyseasons 1 and 2.
Today, onlyStar Trek: Strange New WorldsandStar Trek: Starfleet Academyare in Paramount+’s lineup, with the rest of theStar Trekshows now over. Paramount+ launchedStar Trekmovies made for streaming in January 2025 withStar Trek: Section 31, but negative reception may havecurtailed plans for moreStar Trekstreaming movies.Starfleet AcademyandStrange New Worldseach have 2 new seasons on the way, soParamount+ has newStar Trekcontent through 2026. What comes after isn’t clear.
Star Trek: Discovery Still Got A Great Ending, Even If It Could Have Been More
Discovery’s Coda Synched Up To One Of Its Biggest Mysteries
Star Trek: Discovery’s ending was immensely satisfying, even if the show’s masterminds hoped for much more than a 12-minute coda. “Life Itself” saw Captain Burnham meet one of the Progenitors and decide that its life-giving technology was too dangerous in a galaxy filled with enemies like the Breen.Discoveryshockingly connected toStar Trek: Enterpriseby revealing Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) is really the time-traveling Agent Daniels from Enterprise. And Saru’s wedding to T’Rina was a heartfelt moment, culminating in Burnham and Cleveland Booker’s (David Ajala) romantic reunion.
Burnham & Book’s Discovery Happy Ending Is Something I’ve Wanted From Star Trek Forever
Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker get a happy ending in Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale and a love story Star Trek rarely does this right.
WhatStar Trek: Discovery’s coda achieved with its finale coda is even more remarkable. In just 12 minutes,Discoveryflash-forwarded decades to find Admiral Michael Burnham and Book happily married. They even have a son, Captain Leto Burnham-Booker (Sawandi Wilson), who flew his mother back to the USS Discovery for its final mission.Discovery’s coda honored its cast before shockingly synching up to theStar Trek: Short Treksepisode, “Calypso,“withBurnham sending the USS Discovery’s sentient A.I., Zora (Annabelle Wallis), and her starship to its ultimate destiny centuries into the future.
Star Trek: Discovery’s ending could have been grander.
Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, and Sonequa Martin-Green’s gratitude to Paramount+ is apropos for allowingStar Trek: Discoveryto bow out in such a fitting way.WithoutDiscovery’s coda, the alternative would have been a more abrupt, open-ending that doesn’t deliver the kind of emotional closure to the breadth ofDiscoverythat “Life Itself” achieved. Still,Star Trek: Discovery’s ending could have been grander, and how the show might have concluded with a 2-hour movie or another episode instead of an extra 12 minutes is now an eternal"What If?”
Will Star Trek: Discovery Ever Return?
Never Say Never
For now,Star Trek: Discoveryis over.There are no plans to reunite the crew of the USS Discovery,and the cast has moved onto other projects, occasionally seeing each other at variousStar Trekconventions to meet fans and reminisce about the glory days ofDisco. Star Trek: Discovery’s 32nd century era continues inStar Trek: Starfleet Academy,withDisco’s Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr), and Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) featured in recurring roles.Discovery’s other cast members also hope to be called to appear inStarfleet Academy.
Every Star Trek: Discovery Main Character’s Ending Explained
What happened to Captain Michael Burnham & the USS Discovery crew in the Star Trek: Discovery series finale, and where did they end up afterwards?
The misfire ofStar Trek: Section 31,another direct spinoff ofStar Trek: Discovery,leaves thefuture ofStar Trekstreaming moviesin limbo. A future streaming movie reunion is, otherwise, a viable potential scenario to bring backStar Trek: Discoveryfor another galaxy-saving adventure. As time marches on,Star Trek: Discovery’s legacy and importance to the franchise will be reassessed as new fans discover the show, and moreStar Trekis built upon its foundation. Perhaps aStar Trek: Discoveryreunion movie could one day serve as the substitute for the bigger conclusionDiscoseason 5 originally hoped for.
