Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 is the beloved animated comedy’s final season on Paramount+. Created by Mike McMahan, Star Trek: Lower Decks premiered in 2020 as the third Star Trek on Paramount+ series, following Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. Lower Decks is also the first animated Star Trek since Star Trek: The Animated Series in the 1970s, and it’s the first-ever half-hour Star Trek comedy.
For five seasons, Star Trek: Lower Decks has charted the hilarious voyages of the USS Cerritos, spotlighting the junior officers of “one of Starfleet’s least important ships.” Lower Decks takes place in the early 2280s, and brought back the popular aesthetic and iconography of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s 24th century. Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noel Wells), and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) gained a fifth Lower Decker, T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), and the Warp Core Five were all promoted to Lieutenant, junior grade, in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4.
Why Paramount Plus Is Ending Star Trek: Lower Decks After 5 Seasons
Lower Decks is the fourth Star Trek series ending at Paramount+
Paramount+ announced the end of Star Trek: Lower Decks with season 5 in March 2024, while simultaneously renewing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for season 4. This makes Lower Decks the fourth Star Trek series wrapping up on Paramount+ after Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Discovery. The reason Star Trek: Lower Decks is ending is driven by finances; despite being a relatively inexpensive animated series, Paramount+ is reacting to the changes in the streaming business model. In addition, Paramount Studios’ sale to Skydance has forced the streamer to trim its bottom line.
Related
Star Trek Ending Its Animated Comedy Still Makes No Sense
Star Trek: Lower Decks is entering its fifth and final season on Paramount+, but the prevalent question is why?
Despite being relatively inexpensive to produce compared to live-action series, Star Trek: Lower Decks unfortunately doesn’t garner the same level of streaming numbers as Star Trek: Picard season 3 or Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.Star Trek on Paramount+ has scaled down its projects for the few years, with the focus being the runaway hit Strange New Worlds and the next live-action series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which stars Academy Award-caliber actors Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti. It’s a consolation that in the streaming era, Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ 5 seasons is an impressive run, matching Star Trek: Discovery‘s lifespan.
Can Star Trek: Lower Decks Jump To Another Streaming Service?
Save Lower Decks!
Star Trek: Lower Decks is concluding on Paramount+, but, encouragingly, it may not be the definitive end of the animated comedy. Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman and Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ showrunner Mike McMahan have been deliberately careful with their phrasing that season 5 is Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ final season on Paramount+. Kurtzman and McMahan have strongly hinted that there is hope that Lower Decks could go to another streaming service or continue elsewhere in some form if the streaming numbers for season 5 (and the overall series) are impressive and attractive enough to pick up the show.
Futurama
has survived cancelation by FOX and jumped to Comedy Central and Hulu since its premiere in 1999.
Star Trek: Prodigy became the gold standard for jumping to a new streaming service when Paramount+ abruptly canceled the CGI animated series and dumped all of its episodes. A dedicated fan campaign rose up to save Star Trek: Prodigy, even hiring an airplane to literally fly Prodigy‘s banner. Netflix ultimately picked up Star Trek: Prodigy, acquiring and streaming all 40 episodes of season 1 and season 2. If Star Trek: Lower Decks can harness the same passion and unyielding dedication as Star Trek: Prodigy, it could also potentially find a new streaming home.
Can Lower Decks Cross Over With Other Star Trek?
The USS Cerrtios’ Lower Deckers could jump to live-action
While there are no indications yet that Star Trek: Lower Decks will continue after season 5 on Paramount+, this may not be the end of the characters aboard the USS Cerritos. Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid brought their animated characters to live-action in a crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Star Trek is a shared universe that has become even more integrated and self-referential, and there is potential for Mariner, Boimler, and their friends to jump to live-action and appear in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy as holograms, through time travel, or other sci-fi means.
Tawny Newsome is part of
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
‘s writer’s room.
Another possibility for the live-action return of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ characters lies with Tawny Newsome. As announced at San Diego Comic-Con, Newsome and Justin Simien are developing the first live-action Star Trek half-hour workplace comedy. As an executive producer, it’s quite possible Newsome could invite Jack Quaid, Eugene Cordero, Noel Wells, Gabrielle Ruiz, Dawnn Lewis (Captain Carol Freeman), and/or Jerry O’Connell (Commander Jack Ransom) as their Lower Decks’ characters in live-action. Even as Star Trek: Lower Decks wraps up on Paramount+, it may not be goodbye forever to the brave Starfleet Officers of the USS Cerritos.
- Release Date
- August 6, 2020
- Seasons
- 5
- Writers
- Mike McMahan
- Showrunner
- Mike McMahan