‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Kicks Off Final Season with David Cronenberg Posing a Moral Dilemma — Watch Clip
“Star Trek: Discovery,” the flagship series of Paramount+’s “Star Trek” universe, is heading toward its ending. The series, which premiered in 2017, will premiere its fifth and final season on April 4, closing the book on the adventures of Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew.
A new season also means new challenges for any Starfleet captain, and IndieWire can exclusively share a new clip from the premiere episode that promises a big one for Burnham. On a recovery mission to secure a mysterious ship, Burnham receives information from her crew about signs of life on board. But as her supervisor Kovich (played by perennial guest star David Cronenberg, now having appeared as a top Federation official in three seasons of this show) coldly reminds her, her mission requires her to neutralize the potential threat “by any means necessary.”
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Created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, “Discovery” was a prequel to the groundbreaking original 1966 “Star Trek” series, taking place a decade before the adventures of Captain Kirk, Spock, and the other iconic characters — before then jumping ahead in time to the 32nd century. The series followed Burnham, initially a science specialist and officer aboard the USS Discovery, as she adventured with the crew on missions led by a rotating series of captains, including Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), and Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) before ultimately getting promoted to commander of the ship by the third season. Since the Season 2 finale, the Discovery, and the show, has jumped far ahead of time and now takes place in the 32nd century, where Burnham and the crew have worked to rebuild the Federation following the cataclysmic “Burn” event. Season 5 sees Burnham go on one last mission through the galaxy to uncover an ancient artifact with a mysterious power.
While this season marks the end of “Discovery,” the show was only the beginning of “Star Trek” on Paramount+. When the series first premiered, the sci-fi franchise hadn’t been on TV since the UPN spinoff “Enterprise” aired its finale in 2005. “Discovery’s” success led to multiple other “Star Trek” shows on the streamer, including acclaimed spinoff “Strange New Worlds” and recently concluded “Next Generation” sequel “Picard.” In addition, the streamer will premiere “Section 31,” a standalone film starring Michelle Yeoh as her recurring character Philippa Georgiou, at an unannounced date.
Martin-Green leads the cast of “Discovery,” which also includes Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz , David Ajala, Blu del Barrio, and Callum Keith Rennie. Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise co-showrun the series, and executive produce with Martin-Green, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth. CBS Studios produces the series in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
The first two episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” season five will debut on Paramount+ starting April 4. The remainder of the 10-episode season will stream weekly on Thursdays, and the series finale will air on May 30. Watch the preview clip below.
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