Star Trek: Lower Decks just wrapped up its fourth season a few months ago, which tied up a lot of loose ends, so fans are very curious about season five. While the Star Trek universe is always ripe for indefinite storytelling, the latest season finale for Lower Decks left its future a bit unclear.
Star Trek: Lower Decks first premiered in August 2020 to solid reviews, thriving on Paramount Plus. It introduced a fresh comedic spin on classic Star Trek, and often ranks among the best sci-fi sitcoms. Lower Decks became a genuine hidden gem of the expansive franchise, cleverly concentrating on the ordinary support crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos.
In fact, the show’s signature oddball charm even earned a surprising crossover episode with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Lower Decks regularly explores the bizarre, so there’s always plenty of room for the Cerritos crew to continue.
Will Star Trek: Lower Decks return for season five?
According to a recent tweet from the official Paramount Star Trek feed, Lower Decks is coming back for a fifth season. Paramount did not announce an exact release date for season five. However, the latest post does tease a fall 2024 release window. Although the first three seasons all premiered in August, season four released on Sept. 7, 2023.
Since the fifth season is slated for Fall, it will likely remain consistent with that. So, fans might expect the new season to premiere around the first week of September again.
Paramount did not confirm how many episodes season five will feature, either. It will likely contain another 10 episodes, since all of the previous seasons included 10 total episodes.
Is Star Trek: Lower Decks ending after season five?
Unfortunately, the Paramount Star Trek post also confirms that Lower Decks is ending with season five, making it a bittersweet return. This could also potentially alter the number of episodes, either truncating the season, or even expanding it to properly finish the story.
The official Star Trek website, an umbrella for everything in the franchise, features a farewell message from executive producer Alex Kurtzman and series creator Mike McMahan.
Kurtzman and McMahan assured fans that previous episodes will remain on Paramount Plus. Surprisingly, they were also hopeful that Lower Deck’s main characters could potentially live on in new adventures. That should relieve fans, who are surely disappointed that season five will conclude the show.
It’s unclear what form a return could take. An animated film could be a plausible direction, since a series renewal seems unlikely at this point. Star Trek is also flexible and vast enough for the Cerritos crew to pop up here and there in totally separate shows. Its crossover episode with Strange New Worlds definitely proves that.
