Star Trek: Discovery season 5 could prove to be a pivotal year for the series, potentially setting the stage for its eventual endgame. Discovery famously endured a troubled genesis, and season 1 largely felt like a prequel series disconnected from the mythos it was supposedly setting up. The show found its creative footing in season 3 when it transported the titular Starfleet vessel to the 32nd century, where Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her time-displaced crew utilized their 23rd-century idealism to help heal the broken United Federation of Planets.
Discovery has always been a polarizing show, but its consistent strength has always been its ability to make its core cast compelling through constant evolution. That character development felt somewhat stifled in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, with Burnham and crew attempting to stop the Dark Matter Anomaly from wiping out the galaxy. Discovery season 5 appears set to feature another highly serialized, massively scaled adventure, with Burnham enlisted to track down "the greatest treasure in the known galaxy." With the show now leaning on epic science fiction plotting and less on the development of its characters, it may be time for Discovery to ponder its future.
Discovery Season 5 Could Determine If The Show Should Continue
More than any show in the franchise since Star Trek: The Original Series, Discovery has been about a small handful of lead characters. Burnham has always been the central focus, but the personal journeys of the Kelpien First Officer Captain Saru (Doug Jones) and Lieutenant Silvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) have also dominated the show's narrative. Most Star Trek shows since Star Trek: The Next Generation have focused on broader ensembles, but that's simply never been the way Discovery operates.
Part of the reason Discovery has shifted toward being more of a plot-driven show is that its main characters' arcs all feel as if they're approaching completion. Burnham has made the amazing journey from disgraced mutineer to arguably the most important captain in Starfleet. Saru has not only overcome his personal trials, he helped fundamentally change life for his entire species, while the ambitious young Tilly has seemingly found her calling as an instructor at Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Discovery season 5 needs to establish these characters can still grow and evolve beyond what seems to be the natural endpoint for their respective arcs.
Why Discovery Is A Success Story For Paramount
If season 5 ends up being the end for Discovery, it should be remembered as a victory for Paramount and the Star Trek franchise at large. Star Trek was at a pop culture nadir when Discovery launched in 2017, and the fact it even made it to air after its pre-production chaos is a minor miracle. Star Trek: Discovery season 1 was savaged by fans and critics for its dark tone, its seeming disregard for canon, and its radical reinvention of the Klingons. Discovery lost its co-creator, its showrunners, and a lot of audience goodwill before season 2 ever made it to air.
And yet the show persevered. Discovery Season 2 introduced the incredibly popular version of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) that would go on to headline Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Discovery's improvement and growth would eventually convince Paramount there was a sizable audience that was hungry for more of the franchise, leading to shows like Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Even for those who don't enjoy Discovery's particular flavor of Star Trek, there's no denying its success is the reason the franchise is in such great shape on the small screen now.
Will Discovery Get 7 Seasons Like TNG? (Or A Movie?)
The wildly popular Star Trek: The Next Generation set something of a franchise precedent by ending its run with seven successful seasons. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager would follow suit with their own seven-year runs. Star Trek: Enterprise is largely seen as a failure since it was canceled after season 4, failing to hit the seven-year benchmark.
That doesn't necessarily mean every Star Trek show should run for seven seasons. Star Trek: Picard is (probably) ending on its own creative terms with season 3, and Voyager was out of creative gas well before season 7 of the adventures of Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). Discovery doesn't need to make it to season 7 to be perceived as a success, and the increasingly spectacle-heavy show may in fact lend itself more to a follow-up movie than several more seasons anyway. Whatever Star Trek: Discovery's future may hold, it's an important part of the Star Trek mythos that deserves a proper sendoff before the creative well runs dry.