quote:Star Trek: Lower Decks, the animated comedy that was received with skepticism from franchise fans before becoming a beloved favorite, is officially coming to an end. Paramount announced today that Lower Decks' previously-announced fifth season will be its last, bringing the adventures of the U.S.S. Cerritos to a close.
Paramount announced the news alongside word that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a fourth season. In the official release, Paramount praised both shows. Showrunner McMahan and producer Alex Kurtman sent the following message to fans.
quote:"We wanted to let you know that this fall will be the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. While five seasons of any series these days seems like a miracle, it’s no exaggeration to say that every second we've spent making this show has been a dream come true. Our incredible cast, crew and artists have given you everything they have because they love the characters they play, they love the world we've built, and more than anything we all love love love Star Trek. We’re excited for the world to see our hilarious fifth season which we're working on right now, and the good news is that all previous episodes will remain on Paramount+ so there is still so much to look forward to as we celebrate the Cerritos crew with a big send-off."
Lower Decks first released in 2020, earning praise for its light but faithful take on Gene Roddenberry's mythos. We called it at a "great addition" at the time, writing in our review, "Some of the humor doesn’t quite land in this first episode, but the voice cast are all having a ball, the animation design is sleek and will warm the heart of any TNG fan, and the nerdy Trek references are plentiful… and yet will not be distracting for newcomers to the franchise."
Some of its most popular episodes include Season 3's Hear All, Trust Nothing, which brings back Deep Space Nine, and Season 2's "Wej Duj," which offers a deeper look at the Vulcans and Klingons. Its simple animation belied sharp writing and a genuine appreciation for the franchise's sprawling universe. And of course, Lower Decks entered the real-world in a crossover with Strange New Worlds in that show's second season.
Back in 2023, showrunner Mike McMahan admitted doubt about Lower Decks' future, saying that "Lower Decks could very well be a five-season show." His comments followed the abrupt cancellation (and subsequent renewal) of Prodigy, which led us to wonder if we had reached the end of Star Trek's golden age of streaming.
It's uncertain what the future will hold, but Lower Decks will at least get one final voyage. Season 5 does not yet have a release date but is expected to release on Paramount+ sometime in 2024.
posted
It felt like the writing was on the wall when MMcM made those comments last year. Maybe he was hoping the outpouring of support would shore up the show. But truth be told, these days five seasons is pretty good.
But that’s before you factor in whatever the hell is happening with Paramount. It’s widely acknowledged they overextended themselves in general, and on Trek in particular. But for one of their supposed tent poles, they’re mismanaging it even worse than they were before. It felt absurd when they were doing “a new episode every week” for months on end a couple years back; this isn’t much better.
So. By the end of this year, DSC will be done and so will LDS. However well received PDG s2 ends up being on Netflix, that won’t change anything there. Legacy… was probably never going to happen anyway. Therefore the future of Trek is… a season or two at most of SNW; the S31 telemovie; a 32nd-century Starfleet Academy show that nobody’s feeling enthused about; and some sort of cinematic Trek prequel/origin story that might be some sort of Kelvinverse reboot. Thrilling, you’ll agree.
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Tawny's gonna be in the SF Academy writer room, so I had a feeling this was gonna happen.
I hope this signals the coming dusk of 21st century Trek. While I've generally enjoyed some things about it, its overall production has left me unenthused.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
I think the Production has been fine. Pretty damn good in fact. It’s never looked less than utterly gorgeous. But there have been some absolute howlers in terms of show creating, show running and episode writing. Flaunting of continuity in ways that were often unnecessary. And so on.
posted
I have never found LDS to be particularly funny. I find most of the characters annoying, loud and talking waaaaay too fast (most of all Mariner), and while I do think that there's actually a good show buried somewhere in there, it's covered over by the incessant need for dumb humor, f-bombs, and constant annoying callbacks and memberberries.
With that said, I'm sorry to see it go, as it did have a lot of fans. I'm curious as to what's going to be happening with Trek down the pipeline once Skydance acquires Paramount Global. Because right now there's little to look forward to. SFA won't be until 2026 and I'm not particularly enthused about it anyway. I like that SNW had become far more TOS-fied than DSC ever was, but honestly if it got cancelled tomorrow I wouldn't miss it.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
I always considered Lower Decks to be The Office for Starfleet.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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