Spoilers Why I think Discovery is ending after season 4

[The Wormhole]

Yes, that is true. It would technically be the last season of Star Trek Discovery and the launch of a new show, but the idea makes some sense with what we know at present. This has also happened with many shows before:

All in the Family ended and Archie Bunker’s Place launched (the main character stayed, but the setting changed from his family’s life to him running a bar).

The Andy Griffith Show ended and Mayberry RFD launched (the focus shifted from Andy Taylor’s family to Sam Jones’ family in the last season of TAGS, and they became the focus of the new show).

The Golden Girls ended and The Golden Palace launched (three of the four Golden Gurls buy a hotel and that becomes the premise).

I’m sure there are others that I’m not thinking of at the moment. In each of those examples, the original show ended, but the bulk of the show continued under a new name.

Regardless, in all those cases, it's still officially classified as one show ending and another beginning. IE, the first season of Archie Bunker's Place is considered Season 1 and not season 10 of All in the Family, If that were the plan for Disco, then this season would be hyped as the last season in promotional material. Since it's not, then it stands to reason that's not happening.

Also, I noticed all your examples are from shows that were long-running and probably decided to reinvent themselves by becoming a new show to bring in new viewers who didn't feel daunted by jumping into a show that was in its eighth, ninth or tenth season. The whole "Issue #1 sells more copies than issue #36" mentality that goes into comic book reboots being so frequent. Disco is only in its fourth season and by the end of it it'll only have 52 or 55 episodes. I doubt anyone in this day and age is looking at a show with less than sixty episodes and saying "I don't got time to catch up with that before the next season starts." Likewise, there's no one at Paramount+ saying "That's too much to expect someone to invest in, we need to reinvent this show."

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

There are several instances where shows have changed their titles and not been classified as new shows restarting with a new season.

Off the top of my head the sitcom Ellen was originally titled These Friends of Mine, but after the first season was retooled and the title was changed to avoid confusion/competition with the super popular Friends, but they didn’t start over with a new pilot, or classify it as the first season of a new show, it was just revamped.

Similarly, the show Valerie’s Family became The Hogan Family, and then The Hogans, after they wrote out the show’s lead, Valerie Harper, because she wanted to be paid fairly. It had two name changes, but other than killing off the main character, it was the same show, with all the same cast but one character.

Another family sitcom, The Torkelsons, tried to reinvent itself and changed the family’s location and tweaked the premise and changed the second season’s title to Almost Home.

And less significant title changes, but changes all the same, can be seen in shows like Seinfeld first being called The Seinfeld Chronicles, Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place being shortened to Two Guys and a Girl, and Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane was shortened to simply Zoe….

That being said, ‪‪I don’t think there’s any chance that Paramount is renaming Discovery.

 

[Lord Garth]

Unless the Discovery is destroyed, the show's name is staying Star Trek: Discovery.

And Discovery can't be destroyed because Zora will protect the ship no matter what. They already tried to the destroy the ship in "Such Sweet Sorrow", to no avail. So, no, the title isn't changing. The series started off being called Discovery and it'll end being called Discovery.

Anything else is playing Devil's Advocate.

EDIT: Even if, for the sake of argument, they destroyed the Discovery-A, then they'd just replace it with the Discovery-B.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

On the newest Ready Room, for Discovery S04E06, in the interview segment Wil Wheaton talks to the episode director Jonathan Frakes about the AR wall a bit, though Frakes mentions he hasn’t gotten a chance to work with it yet.

Toward the end of the AR wall portion of the interview Frakes says:

Anyway, I will look forward to it next season,

which seems to indicate that he believes Disco’s not going anywhere.

Not saying it’s anything definitive, but it’s at least a positive indicator.

 

[shapeshifter]

Not definitive, as he may not be in the loop, but he also may be.

 

[Deks]

I remember reading before Season 3 aired (or was it during season 3) that Disco was renewed for Season 4 and reportedly for season 5 too.

This is a different article but says that Disco was purpotedly renewed for S5:
https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/star-trek-discovery-reportedly-renewed-season-5/

At any rate, a lot of time passed since then so things could have admittedly changed, but to be fair, if Disco was not going to continue past S4, I think we would have heard something by now.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Unless the Discovery is destroyed, the show's name is staying Star Trek: Discovery.

The USS Discovery could be destroyed, but I don’t think it will. I have a theory that the ship might be sent back to the 25th century in order to explain the “Calypso” story, because it was acknowledged in S3 that the ship’s metallurgy was from the 23rd-25th century time period. And the current Discovery is the Discovery-A.

Discovery as a show could continue, if the focus changed to self-discovery or exploration if the USS Discovery gets destroyed at some point. The show has never really been about the ship anyways; the show has always been about Michael Burnham.

 

[Quinton]

This is a different article but says that Disco was purpotedly renewed for S5:
https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/star-trek-discovery-reportedly-renewed-season-5/

I would suggest refraining from posting that site's links. Far more frequently, they spam clickbait falsehoods designed to placate people who detest modern Trek. Pretty sure they've exclusively revealed the show's cancelation at least once.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'll give The Enemy a bone to chew on because it's the Holiday Season and I'm feeling in a charitable mood.

Usually with these serialized, "prestige format" series, they like to split the final season in half. Mad Men, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and even Battlestar Galactica have all done it. And -- oh no! -- Discovery is splitting its season too!

I made it easy for you. Eat this up.

 

[Paul755]

Maybe they haven’t announced a S5 because it’s so far off. I mean if they were planning a ‘22 release they would already be filming no?

maybe going forward Disco and SNW are going to alternate years. SNW in ‘22, Disco in ‘23, etc… with Picard, LD and Prodigy in between.

 

[DaveyNY]

Maybe they haven’t announced a S5 because it’s so far off. I mean if they were planning a ‘22 release they would already be filming no?

maybe going forward Disco and SNW are going to alternate years. SNW in ‘22, Disco in ‘23, etc… with Picard, LD and Prodigy in between.

... and Section-31 & Star Fleet Academy & God knows what else They will come up with.

 

[StarMan]

I like Garth's idea. Repackaging the 2nd half of S4 as "Discovery's final adventure" or some-such? Pull up a chair to the Disco forum and don't forget the popcorn - it'll be spectacular.

Personally I think S5 is more likely than not. But I'd wager that'll be it.

 

[fireproof78]

If this is the last season then so be it. It isn't changing anyone's opinion on the show.

 

[dinzy]

I can't see them cancelling without giving the writers the chance to finish it and market the last season as a finale. Their whole streaming Trek thing was launched with Discovery. The negative press that an unplanned cancellation would cause is not good for the business. It might be that they are working on S5 with the ask to determine if it could be the final season or if they could wrap it up in 2 seasons. They have 2 seasons worth of Trek ready to roll out and are close to having a 3rd done with production.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I hope it continues. Just because Michael's original arc is satisfied doesn't mean they can't find...much more interesting stuff to do in the 32nd century than they have done this season so far.

 

[Quinton]

It could be as simple as the scripts and such not being far enough along yet. That's essentially what editor Chad Rubel told me a couple of weeks ago, though tbh, I don't want to link directly to his reply anymore because he may have gotten in trouble for telling a fan on the 20th that this season has 13 episodes. He deleted that yesterday, right around the time more of us were talking about it.

 

[DaveyNY]

In a recent interview Kurtzman had already alluded to the fact that 7 Seasons is a
'Trek Magic Number' (paraphrased).

I highly doubt DISCOVERY will get any less than that at this point.

The stigma of 'ENTERPRISE' being cut short by UPN/Les Moonface and the fan outcry at that time, is most likely something he doesn't want hanging over the current run of shows.

 

[shapeshifter]

I remember Kurtzman saying how much story potential moving to this century opened up for them so I cannot see them running low on material soon.

I think the plan may be, to transition story potential, branching out from DISC in all directions, slowly replacing their importance.

Once we're all distracted looking at those squirrels they can close down this production and we won't even blink an eye.

3 more years sounds like ample time to set up the distracting squirrels. ;-)

 

[DaveyNY]

I remember Kurtzman saying how much story potential moving to this century opened up for them so I cannot see them running low on material soon.

I think the plan may be, to transition story potential, branching out from DISC in all directions, slowly replacing their importance.

Once we're all distracted looking at those squirrels they can close down this production and we won't even blink an eye.

3 more years sounds like ample time to set up the distracting squirrels. ;-)

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[seigezunt]

No matter which season is the last, a certain segment of fandom will cite it as proof of the show's "failure."

I could see it ending this season. But I could see it going on. Shows don't seem to run on the same season model as they used to, especially with overlapping shows coming out.

I don't know for certain what goes on behind the scenes, and I've seen too much "insider sources" baloney to care to read any more speculation.