Paramount+ has published a (brief) season five synopsis

Like the T'Kon, the Iconians, or even the Chodak?

 

Why not the Preservers or the Slavers?

 

Addendum to my Prediction: It'll be something new. I cite Season 3 as precedent. Lots of people thought the Omega Particle caused The Burn, but it didn't. It was something else. Season 4, a threat from beyond the Galaxy. It wasn't the Kelvins (from TOS's "By Any Other Name"), or anyone else they listed, it was something else: Species 10-C.

If what they're looking for comes from any of the defunct civilizations listed above, it doesn't work. They were known during the 23rd or 24th Centuries, meaning Starfleet will have hundreds of years of historical research by this point. The Federation's enemies would all know about them too and do research of their own.

It has to be a civilization none of them has ever heard of before.

 

I've always wanted them to bump into a bigger, better and more benevolent Federation and just be absorbed into that.

 

They keep teasing Iconians and the current showrunners like pulling from non-canon sources like with Control, so I could see the Iconians being the ancient power.

 

Maybe? I'm not too familiar with SFB but that MA article is on the right track.

 

The United Federation of Federations?

 

The UFP (United Federation of Planets) is the protagonist Nation State.

If anything, The UFP will absorb others into it, not the other way around.

 

The Federation has already peaked. It went from 150 members in FC to 300+ before The Burn, to roughly 60 as of DSC Season 4. In other words: The Federation is less than half the size it was in TNG.

What they should do is have previous members, probably members who joined from the 25th to 31st Century -- and thus haven't been seen -- who don't want to rejoin and form their own type of alliances. Maybe these are who we'll find out the Federation's rivals are in the fifth season. If they can introduce some good rivals who are roughly at the same level as the Federation, then I'll forgive them for doing away with the Emerald Chain so quickly. I still think that was a huge mistake.

I think during the fourth season, the Federation got back the members who want to rejoin, with Earth and Ni'Var being the most resistant. From here, you'll get former member worlds who are more like, "We don't want to go back. We like what we have now!"

The problem I see with the Federation during later centuries is that the more worlds join, the more conflicting ideas pop up, and the less on the same page everyone is. I think the Federation gradually decayed and became an entity too tied up in bureaucracy that couldn't get anything done. It's like trying to get things done through committee. The bigger the committee, the more everything stalls. That's why Rillak and Vance like Burnham and the Discovery crew. They come from a time before all that. So they see Discovery as an infusion of fresh blood, helping them to rediscover their way. And it should be easier with a smaller Federation.

 

I would say that its the opposite.
Most of the worlds who were part of UFP before ended up doing most of the reforms BECAUSE they had to satisfy UFP membership requirements.
Once they were part of UFP, prosperity for those worlds increased further... self-sufficiency, etc. Ways of thinking that didn't occur to them before.
Then after the Burn, it was found that these worlds can in fact retain the best of what they learned, but not necessarily become part of UFP again, and would on the whole not necessarily benefit of joining the Federation again.

At the same time, what the UFP offers is connection and closeness that species don't necessarily experience when not part of UFP... that and humanitarian aid becoming more widely available should it become necessary.

There are still reasons for previous species to rejoin UFP... and I would think that getting most of the worlds back into the fold is more than possible.... but I imagine a few would be opposed.

The Emerald Chain collapsing makes sense if Osyra was the 'primary dictator'. Without her, the entire operation more or less collapses under its own weight.
Its also possible that in her attempt to forge an alliance with the Federation, she said she expended 'significant political capital' to get things done in a manner the UFP would approve of... and its possible that this was what effectively allowed for the Chain to effectively fall apart (it couldn't maintain its cohesion anymore) and so, the previous territories the Chain occupied were or will be at some point re-absorbed into the Federation.

 

She wasn't. She even says herself she only represented her home sector in the Emerald Chain's congress. She was clearly an influential member of congress, but there was clearly a leadership structure above her who she answered to and therefore the Emerald Chain should have continued without.

But that doesn't make for a satisfying ending to a season.

 

You also realize of course how Trek portrayed that if Earth gets destroyed for example, the UFP would have crumbled (even though it really shouldn't even if such an eventuality came to pass).

 

Im hoping today at NYCC they show us a trailer and give us a date for Season Five. for the next 10 weeks its going to be nothing but Animated Star Trek. I miss me some Live-action.

 

Indeed. Drama is critical here.

 

Well, pre-Burn, Earth was the capital of the Federation and where its government was based and the headquarters of its military space exploration service responsible for defense, It's a lot more understandable how its loss could have led to the Federation's downfall than the loss of one member of one congresswoman (no matter how influential) would lead to the Emerald Chain's. Except of course that this is a TV show and the needs of drama outweigh the needs of logic.

 

It's nice to see Callum Keith Renee working. More CanCon for Trek.

 

Remember that the Burn was the cause of Earth leaving the Federation, not the result of it...

 

So begins the search for the Tox Uthat. Plus the Vorgans and time travel since time travel was part of the mystery.