The Starship Discovery has come home. Star Trek’s flagship show will end with Discovery Season 5. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming series finale, including release date info, the cast, plot, and more.
How did Discovery season 4 end?
The biggest news from the Season 4 Disco finale is easily the fact that the planet Earth has now rejoined the Federation. Previously, in Season 3, after time traveling to the 32nd century from the 23rd, the crew of Discovery learned Earth had split off from the Federation following the galaxy-wide cataclysm of the Burn. But now, after solving the Burn mystery last season, and averting the planet-crushing DMA this season, Earth is now back in the Federation.
We also learned that the headquarters of the Federation, previously a stationary starbase, is also a giant starship. Showrunner Michelle Paradise told Inverse how the writers decided to make this starbase fly:
“It felt like an organic capability of the ship coming out of the Burn [in Season 3.] It having that capability made sense, given the time and the environment. Then the question was when do we show that and in what story do we make that capability known? Flying to help rescue people from Earth felt like wow — what an awesome way to show that that FHQ [Federation Headquarters] can can travel in that way.”
Who is in the cast for Discovery Season 5?
The assumption right now is that the vast majority of the existing cast will return. That would include:
- Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham
- David Ajala as Clevland Booker
- Wilson Cruz as Dr. Culber
- Mary Wiseman as Ensign Tilly
- Doug Jones as Saru
- Anthony Rapp as Lt. Commander Stamets
- Ian Alexander as Gray Tal
- Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal
- Tig Notaro as Jett Reno
- Oyin Oladejo as Joann Owosekun
- Emily Coutts as Keyla Detmer
- Sara Mitich as Nilsson
- Patrick Kwok-Choon as Gen Rhys
- Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Ronald A. Bryce
- David Cronenberg as Kovich
- Oded Fehr as Admiral Vance
- Annabelle Wallis as the voice of Zora
- Tara Rosling as President T’Rina
- Phumzile Sitole as General Ndoye
- Orville Cummings as Lt. Christopher
- David Benjamin Tomlinson as Linus
- Chelah Horsdal as President Rillak
- Hiro Kanagawa as Dr. Hirai
- Eve Harlow as Moll
- Elias Toufexis as L’ak
- Callum Keith Rennie as Captain Rayner
Whether or not Stacey Abrams will reprise her cameo as the President of Earth is unclear.
Discovery Season 5 trailer
The first trailer for Discovery Season 5 was released at New York Comic-Con in 2022. It teases an expansive galaxy-wide treasure hunt, with stakes that feel massive.
Discovery Season 5 release date
Although it was initially expected that Discovery Season 5 would hit in 2023, Paramount revealed on March 2, 2023, that Discovery Season 5 would actually hit in early 2024, and that this season would be the final season for the series.
What is the Discovery Season 5 plot?
The cast and creative team of Discovery have been very tight-lipped about the tone and style of Season 5. When Inverse asked Michelle Paradise about Kovich (David Cronenberg), Klingons, and more in Season 5, she politely declined to comment, saying, “I can’t say anything about Season 5.”
Wilson Cruz has mentioned that the “tone” of Season 5 will “shift again” from Season 4, but also noted that thematic changes in between Discovery seasons is something “we usually do.”
Some fans suspect that Discovery Season 5 will have more action centered on Earth since the revelation that Earth has returned to the Federation was so central to the Season 4 finale. Then again, Captain Burnham does talk to the President about more worlds that need exploring, so like the ending of Season 4, Discovery Season 5 has a pretty clean slate.
Season 5 is the end of Discovery
Back in 2022, it wasn’t clear how long Discovery would run beyond Season 4. However, in 2021, Doug Jones told Inverse that Discovery did start with a “5-year plan,” and now it seems that the show will, indeed end after five seasons. (Although in the end, all of the DISCO seasons will span seven years.)
Still, whatever “5-year-plan” laid out back in 2016 or 2017 when the show first was created, is surely not the path the series is on now. Series co-creator Bryan Fuller left before Discovery began filming, and Season 1 and Season 2 showrunners, Aaron Harberts, and Gretchen Berg were eventually replaced by Michelle Paradise for the latter half of Season 2 up until the present.
As of this writing, it also appears that Season 5 becoming the ending for Discovery may be a retroactive decision. Although filming is reportedly complete, the Hollywood Reporter claims that “there will be additional filming to help craft a conclusion for the series.”
What that means for the final adventures of Captain Burnham and the crew of the Discovery, for now, remains a mystery that can only be answered in the future.
Star Trek: Discovery is streaming now on Paramount+.
