Star Trek: Lower Decks – arguably the best Star Trek series, if its flawless ratings from critics are anything to go by – will make its final voyage later this year. The show will come to a close after its next season, its fifth, which is expected to air later in 2024.
But there's some solace for Star Trek fans, as Stark Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a fourth season. If a fifth season is the streaming equivalent of the red uniform that indicates one of the teleported team isn't coming back, that means Star Trek: Strange New Worlds should still be around for at least one more season after that.
The news of Star Trek: Lower Decks' cancellation comes via show creator Mike McMahan and co-producer Alex Kurtzman. In a message shared with the Star Trek website, they wrote: "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."
Stay tuned for the "hilarious" fifth and final season
According to the duo: "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... We remain hopeful that even beyond season five, Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford and the whole Cerritos crew will live on with new adventures."
Fans of the show will be disappointed. It's been consistently great, with season four currently sitting at an impressive 100% on Rotten Tomatoes – that's higher than even the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which has 99%. As Rolling Stone put it: "Next Generation and Deep Space Nine took a while to find themselves, and so did Lower Decks" – the fourth season has "become a highlight of this current phase of TV Trek".
Hopefully it's some consolation that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for another season. It's currently sitting with a 98% rating based on 99% for season one and 97% for season two. CBR says "it's shows like Strange New Worlds that confirm there is plenty of life in the venerable science fiction franchise, giving fans plenty to look forward to every Thursday for the exciting adventures of Captain Pike and his Enterprise", while The Mary Sue says that "Strange New Worlds shows that there’s still plenty of life left in the classic Star Trek format."
All the seasons so far of Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are streaming on Paramount Plus.
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