new star trek discovery season 4

Star Trek: Discovery season 4: everything we know

Spoilers ahead

• Release date

Star Trek : Discovery season 4 will warp onto Paramount Plus on November 18, 2021, and a new trailer has dropped as the date gets closer. 

With Michael Burnham now installed as the captain of the ship – the show's fourth commanding officer in as many years – Star Trek: Discovery season 4 will see the crew continuing to explore the distant future of the 32nd century. Having solved the mystery of the so-called “Burn” that had rendered warp travel impossible, and defeated the criminal empire of the Emerald Chain, attentions should now be turning to restoring the Federation to its former glories. Unfortunately, it sounds like a new antagonist is about to get in the way, in the form of a dangerous gravitational anomaly five light years across.  

With Saru, Tilly, Stamets, Culber and all the principal bridge crew back in action, Star Trek: Discovery 4 is set to continue the franchise's ongoing adventures on the final frontier. Here's everything you need to know, but be warned – Spoilers lie ahead for anyone yet to watch the previous seasons.

Release date: Star Trek Discovery season 4 will release on November 18 in the US. The show will roll out on Paramount Plus in the US, and is expected to stream on Netflix elsewhere. 

Story: With Burnham now installed as captain, as mentioned above, the USS Discovery will contend with a massive gravitational anomaly in the 32nd century – the idea is that the crew is dealing with a massive problem to solve this season rather than a specific villain. 

Is there a trailer? Yes. A first teaser for Discovery season 4 debuted in April 2021, and another full trailer dropped in October 2021. 

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Star Trek: Discovery season 4 release date

It was confirmed at the Star Trek Day event on September 8 that Star Trek: Discovery season 4 will debut on November 18 in the US. 

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The show will release on Paramount Plus , the rebranded version of CBS All Access. Outside the US we expect that – like the previous seasons – the show will stream on Netflix, where it's usually available within hours of its American debut.

The previous season had barely even started airing when Star Trek: Discovery season 4 got the official greenlight on October 16, 2020. Two weeks later, on November 2, production got underway at the show’s Toronto base, and continued until August 2021 – the end of shooting was confirmed in a tweet from showrunner Michelle Paradise . 

Inevitably, Covid-19 restrictions were a major factor in the shoot. For starters, as dictated by Canadian rules, the cast had to isolate for two weeks before coming to set.

Star Trek: Discovery season 4 also reportedly  took advantage of a pipeline put in place for the previous season, after coronavirus restrictions kicked in. “Our editors, miraculously and heroically, took their editing bays into their living rooms,” Alex Kurtzman, executive producer and overseer of Star Trek’s current raft of TV shows, told IndieWire . “We also scored the entire season [3], mixed the entire season, color-timed the entire season, all from [a] laptop .”

Reports suggest the process was further refined on Star Trek: Discovery season 4, with Space.com revealing that the show will make use of the groundbreaking augmented reality LED screens pioneered by The Mandalorian . Suddenly the fact that travel for location filming was off the table didn't seem quite so much of a problem...

Star Trek: Discovery season 4 trailer

"We are not in this alone." Star Trek: Discovery season four, coming soon ✨ #StarTrekDiscovery #FirstContactDay pic.twitter.com/ZRoI2QRNqp April 5, 2021

A first teaser trailer for Star Trek: Discovery season 4 was unveiled at the First Contact Day virtual event in April 2021 – watch it above. A second, fuller trailer dropped at New York Comic Con 2021, which you can check out below.

Let’s fly ✨ #StarTrekDiscovery #StarTrek https://t.co/NUVqZXAdrS pic.twitter.com/ZqJvodfqft October 9, 2021

Star Trek: Discovery season 4 cast

This is the current roll call for Star Trek: Discovery season 4:

• Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham
• Doug Jones as Saru
• Anthony Rapp as Lt Cmdr Paul Stamets
• Wilson Cruz as Dr Hugh Culber
• David Ajala as Book
• Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly
• Blu del Barrio as Adira
• Ian Alexander as Gray
• Oded Fehr as Admiral Charles Vance
• Oyin Oladejo as Lt Joann Owosekun
• Emily Coutts as Lt Keyla Detmer
• Patrick Kwok-Choo as Lt Gen Rhys
• Ronnie Rowe as Lt R.A. Bryce
• Sara Mitich as Lt Nilsson
• David Cronenberg as Kovich

It’s a case of ‘as you were’, with most of the established cast returning for another tour of duty – presumably they’re excited to be wearing new-look, Trek-appropriate primary-colored uniforms that don’t look quite so much like tracksuits.

It goes without saying that Sonequa Martin-Green is back as Captain Michael Burnham, and even though her predecessor in the big chair, Saru, has relocated to his home planet of Kaminar, Doug Jones still has a part to play. “It felt important for all of our characters to find new layers for them, to find new place for them to go, new things for our actors to play, and new ways for the characters to go,” showrunner Michelle Paradise told TVInsider . “[In season 3 we highlighted] that Saru hasn’t had a huge connection to Kaminar since leaving, and in a season that is all about connection – family connection and cultural connection – it seemed like an organic place to explore that theme with him.”

Among the lead cast, Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz reprise their roles as Lt Cmdr Paul Stamets and Dr Hugh Culber, while season 3 standout David Ajala is back as the 32nd century’s most famous feline owner, Cleveland ‘Book’ Booker. (Sadly, a Grudge the Cat spin-off is yet to be announced.) And surely Mary Wiseman’s Sylvia Tilly will be looking to make the First Officer role her own.

“[Saru] sees strength in [Tilly] she doesn’t quite see in herself necessarily,” Paradise said in TVInsider. “Then, [we watched] her over the course of the season become more confident in herself to the place where she’s ultimately able to serve as Number One, and having to essentially be acting captain in this crisis situation, where she handles herself beautifully. What does that mean to come is, I’m sure, a question she’ll be asking herself and we’ll be exploring in Season 4.”

The supporting bridge crew will surely be hoping to have a few more stories of their own, continuing their slow evolution from background players to actual characters – now we know that Lt Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) can hold her breath for 10 minutes, the sky’s the limit. It’ll be interesting to see what – if anything – is in store for Lt Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts), Lt Gen Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon), Lt R.A. Bryce (Ronnie Rowe) and Lt Nilsson (Sara Mitich).

Third season newcomer Blu del Barrio also returns as Adira, human host of the Trill symbiont Tal, along with their boyfriend, Gray (Ian Alexander). Dr Culber’s efforts to give Gray – who can only be seen and heard by Adira – physical form will be a big part of the season, as Gray becomes more and more integrated with the crew. “For season 4 I’ve had a lot more hands-on involvement, like my suggestions for the future of Gray,” Alexander told Inverse . “They already have so much planned. Michelle [Paradise] and Alex [Kurtzman] already have this vision that I’ve very, very excited for everyone to be able to see.”

“Culber does make a promise in our season three finale to Gray that, ‘You will be truly seen,’” Paradise said on a Discovery panel at Outfest (via TrekMovie ). “And we absolutely do pay that off in season four. That storyline and making sure we pay it off is hugely important.” It was confirmed by Wilson Cruz (Dr Culber) at Star Trek Day (via Variety ) that Gray will be gaining a corporeal form in Star Trek: Discovery season 4. 

Anthony Rapp, who plays Stamets, added that Stamets, Culber, Adira and Gray will become a family in Star Trek: Discovery season 4: “Parenting – they’re not children but they are young people – the pressures of how to be available to be a mentor or guide or parent in the face of job responsibilities and sort of crises, that’s an interesting sort of sub-thread through the through the season… There’s more in the ways Paul and Hugh continue to evolve in their relationship. This is certainly explored also in this season.”

And there’ll be at least two familiar faces at Federation headquarters, where Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance) and legendary movie director David Cronenberg (the mysterious Kovich) will be pulling some strings behind the scenes.

Star Trek: Discovery season 4 plot

Star trek: discovery season 4 plot: what can we expect to see.

Michelle Paradise is keeping her cards closer to her chest than The Next Generation crew at one of their regular poker games, though she did admit to TVInsider in January 2021 that the Discovery crew are hanging around in the 32nd century, rather than looking for a way back to their original pre-Kirk-and-Spock timeline. “I don’t expect that,” she said. “All of [the crew] knew going into that at the end of season 2 that this is a one-way trip. Now that they are here, we’re not looking to go back.”

What does that mean for plotlines? “I don’t want to speak specifically to themes, but we do have them!” she joked to ComicBook.com . “I think season 4 will absolutely continue the kinds of things we were doing in season 3, in that we do have very strong themes that we’re exploring. Star Trek: The Original Series explored present-day things via sci-fi. And that’s what we did in season 3, and I think that’s just baked into what Star Trek does.

“Ultimately the thing that really resonates, I think, with people is, what are our characters experiencing? What are they going through? How are they connecting with one another? What are the challenges they’re facing and how do they overcome them individually and then as a family? All of that I think will continue.”

With the Emerald Chain out of the way, it looks like the threat in Star Trek: Discovery season 4 will be rather different this time out. The trailer reveals that the crew is dealing with a gravitational anomaly “five light years across”, rather than a specific human or alien foe – a force that, as Tilly explains, “could go anywhere, and we may not have any kind of warning at all”.

“We’re actually exploring – we’re diving deep into science – in the fourth season, in a kind of new and interesting way,” said Kurtzman in a panel hosted by Deadline (via TrekMovie ). “There have been many kinds of villains over the course of Star Trek. What happens when the villain is not actually any kind of living, breathing entity, but something else? How do you solve that problem?”

Could we be looking at something technological Discovery season 2's hostile AI, Control? Or a lethal inorganic structure like the Crystalline Entity from Star Trek: The Next Generation? ScreenRant has suggested the rather plausible theory that the anomaly could be V’Ger, the rogue space probe from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In the finale of that movie, V’Ger merged with USS Enterprise first officer Will Decker to attain a new level of consciousness – who knows what it might be capable of nearly a thousand years later...

We can expect Star Trek: Discovery season 4 to follow a similar structure to previous years, with each season based around a self-contained story arc, with just a few loose ends left untied.

“Discovery has that sort of serialized, season-long story baked into its DNA,” Paradise said in an interview with Inverse . “We also wanted to give the show a more episodic feel in season 3. We got to explore a story of the week or a villain of the week – it gives us time to explore some of our characters who we normally wouldn’t have time to explore. That was definitely a choice on our part and will continue on our show.”

What questions does Star Trek: Discovery season 4 need to answer?

With the origins of the so-called ‘Burn’ revealed – who’d have guessed it was caused by a grieving kid with a symbiotic relationship to a planet made of dilithium? – and Osyraa and her Emerald Chain defeated, Star Trek: Discovery season 4 flies into uncharted waters.

Hopefully that means that Discovery and the crew can use the spore drive to truly explore the strange new worlds of the 32nd century – though, given this show’s love of callbacks to earlier series, it’s almost inevitable we’ll meet some familiar faces and species. (The presence in the trailer of a Federation official – possibly the president – who has a mix of human and Cardassian facial features suggests that those long-standing Deep Space Nine foes may be up for a comeback, this time in the Starfleet camp.)

Part of Starfleet's remit will be rebuilding a Federation that's a shadow of what it was 900 years earlier. The trailer suggests that many worlds will have to pull together to defeat a threat that affects Federation and non-Federation “equally” – as Burnham puts it, “We are not in this alone”. 

“The Federation is coming back together but it’s not fully back together,” Kurtzman told the aforementioned Deadline panel. “And so the continued mission of bringing other worlds in and meeting the criteria and standards of what it means to be a member of the Federation but also not to rob other cultures of their identity is something that we’ll explore.”

The biggest ongoing question Star Trek: Discovery season 4 needs to address is the nature of the ‘Sphere Data’, the ancient alien intelligence now integrated with Discovery’s databanks. Protecting it was the reason the ship made the one-way trip to the future in the first place, and it seems to be repaying the favor – first by helping the crew’s mental wellbeing, then by helping Tilly to forcibly eject the Emerald Chain from the ship. It’s a story that seems to be heading towards Short Trek episode ‘Calypso’, set in a distant future where Discovery is run by a sentient computer.

“‘Calypso’ is incredible,” Paradise told ComicBook.com . “And it is now a part of Trek canon , but specifically our show’s canon. It takes place many, many years beyond where our heroes are right now, and at some point, we will absolutely have to match up with that so that Discovery as a whole, including ‘Calypso’, all fits together as a piece.

“Certainly, bringing in that voice in episode four and having – we’ll call her Zora, she doesn't have a name at this point – but having her hide in the DOTs [helper robots on board Discovery] and be part of the story is the beginning of driving toward that. And eventually – who knows when? – we will absolutely have to make sure that we sync up with that.”

And then there’s the small matter of Stamets having issues with the way Burnham left his husband, Dr Culber, in a radiation-filled nebula in the season 3 finale. “I think that’s one they’ll get past in time,” Paradise said in TVLine .

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Richard is a freelance journalist specialising in movies and TV, primarily of the sci-fi and fantasy variety. An early encounter with a certain galaxy far, far away started a lifelong love affair with outer space, and these days Richard's happiest geeking out about Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and other long-running pop culture franchises. In a previous life he was editor of legendary sci-fi and fantasy magazine SFX, where he got to interview many of the biggest names in the business – though he'll always have a soft spot for Jeff Goldblum who (somewhat bizarrely) thought Richard's name was Winter.

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Season 4 – Star Trek: Discovery

Where to watch, star trek: discovery — season 4.

Watch Star Trek: Discovery — Season 4 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Michael Burnham finally comes into her own -- and so does Discovery -- in a confident fourth season that embraces the series' more heartfelt take on the Star Trek mythos.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Sonequa Martin-Green

Michael Burnham

Anthony Rapp

Paul Stamets

Mary Wiseman

Sylvia Tilly

Wilson Cruz

Dr. Hugh Culber

David Ajala

Cleveland Booker

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Tv news & guides, this show is featured in the following articles., critics reviews, season info.

'Star Trek: Discovery' Reveals the Season 4 Release Date Along With a New First-Look Image

Soon, Queen Grudge will boldly go where no cat has gone before.

It seems like only yesterday that Star Trek fans were getting their first look at Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery — and now, thanks to this year's second annual Star Trek Day , we know when to expect the next installment of what lies ahead for Captain Michael Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) and her crew. As part of the festivities, it was announced that Star Trek: Discovery will officially premiere on Thursday, November 18, exclusively on Paramount+. And it looks like Burnham is getting pretty comfortable in the captain's chair, as seen in the new first-look image below.

RELATED: 'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 4 Sets Production Start — Dare We Have Hope for the Future?

We knew Discovery would be coming back for Season 4 back in November , when the cast was reported to return to begin production, and cast member Doug Jones , who plays the Kelpien Saru, confirmed that filming had wrapped on the fourth season late last month . In addition to Martin-Green and Jones, Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery brings back several DISCO crew mainstays, including Paul Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ) and Sylvia Tilly ( Mary Wiseman ), and Season 3 newcomers David Ajala , Blu del Barrio , and Ian Alexander will also be coming back for the fourth season — as well as, of course, Book's cat Grudge, a new fan-favorite character.

Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery will air exclusively on Paramount+. Check out the official synopsis for Season 4 below:

Season 4 of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery facing a threat unlike any they’ve ever encountered. With Federation and non-Federation worlds alike feeling the impact, they must confront the unknown and work together to ensure a hopeful future for all.

Season 4, as mentioned before, will premiere November 18. Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3 are streaming now. ​​​​​

KEEP READING: How to Watch Paramount+: Pricing Details, What’s on It, and More

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Debuts Season 4 Trailer and Premiere Date

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“ Star Trek : Discovery” will go where no “Trek” show has gone before, in more ways than one, in its fourth season, as the newest trailer for the Paramount Plus series revealed.

Season 4 of “Discovery” picks up after Michael Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) was promoted to captain in the Season 3 finale, the first time a Black woman has sat in the captain’s chair in a live-action “Trek” series.

Set nearly 1,000 years further into the future than any other “Trek” series, Season 4 will find the crew of the Discovery contending with a massive anomaly that is five light-years in size, threatening to destroy life throughout the galaxy. The event is so catastrophic that it pulls together worlds that are in the Federation and outside of it.

Season 4 will premiere on Nov. 18 on Paramount Plus in the U.S., on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and the Crave streaming service in Canada, and on Netflix in 190 other countries.

Along with Martin-Green, the rest of the main cast from Season 3 is returning, including Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira), and recurring guest star Ian Alexander (Gray). Filmmaker David Cronenberg is also reprising his role as the mysterious Federation operative named Kovich .

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Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth are executive producers on the show, and Paradise is the series’ showrunner.

During the “Star Trek Day” celebration on Sept. 8 , Cruz, del Barrio and Alexander talked about the unique — and historic — relationship between Adira and Gray, who are the first regular characters on a “Trek” project who are, respectively, non-binary and transgender. Cruz said in Season 4, Dr. Culber will fulfill his promise that Gray will have a corporeal body. (Through a particularly “Trek”-ian plot twist, Gray spent the bulk of Season 3 as a non-corporal being perceptible only to Adira.)

“It’s been a really fantastic way to spend a season, to create this family where people are relying on each other and supporting each other and creating the world that we all deserve to live in,” Cruz said.

Watch the trailer, which debuted at New York Comic-Con on Saturday, below:

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Star Trek Discovery season 4 trailer, release date, cast, and more

Star Trek Discovery is coming back, and here's what we know so far

Star Trek Discovery season 4 is coming, and it’s coming very soon. The show that helped restart the franchise for television is still going strong, and is making itself at home on Paramount Plus.

This new season continues the adventures of the Discovery after a 900 plus year trip into the future, where they discovered the Federation in ruins and Starfleet only a shadow of its former self after a galaxy-wide cataclysm known as "The Burn."

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Nobody could have expected what the source of the Burn was, but the Discovery crew were instrumental in figuring it all out. What’s more, in the process they found a source of enough dilithium fuel to power the galaxy’s warp drives for years. Something that finally brought Michael Burnham into the Captain’s chair.

Here’s everything we know about Star Trek Discovery’s fouth season, including cast, plot, release date, and more.

Star Trek: Discovery season 4 release date

As part of the ‘Star Trek Day’ celebrations on September 8, Paramount announced that Discovery would be returning on November 18 in the United States. Since CBS All Access rebranded as Paramount Plus earlier this year, that’s where Discovery will make its home in the United States.

Internationally (except Canada), Netflix holds the rights to Discovery, and typically releases new episodes within 24 hours of their U.S. debut. Canadians can watch the new episodes on the CTV Sci-Fi channel, and in the past new episodes have aired on the same day as in the U.S.

In other words everyone, no matter their country, will get to watch new episodes almost as soon as they’re available.

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Star Trek Discovery season 4 cast

• Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham 
• Doug Jones as Saru 
• Anthony Rapp as Lt Cmdr Paul Stamets 
• Wilson Cruz as Dr Hugh Culber 
• David Ajala as Book 
• Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly 
• Blu del Barrio as Adira 
• Ian Alexander as Gray 
• Oded Fehr as Admiral Charles Vance 
• Oyin Oladejo as Lt Joann Owosekun 
• Emily Coutts as Lt Keyla Detmer 
• Patrick Kwok-Choo as Lt Gen Rhys 
• Ronnie Rowe as Lt R.A. Bryce 
• Sara Mitich as Lt Nilsson 
• David Cronenberg as Kovich 

Discovery has accumulated rather a large cast over the years, including a handful more after the crew jumped into the future. But we do know that all the major players from the previous seasons will have parts to play, including former Captain Saru who was seen leaving the ship during the third season’s finale.

Ian Alexander has also confirmed his character, the Trill Gray, will have a larger presence in the story going forward, despite officially being dead and visible only to his partner Adira — since Gray’s consciousness stored inside the Tal symbiont.

Finally Kenneth Mitchell, who played various different characters in the first three seasons of Discovery, has confirmed he will also be returning in a brand new role. However this role will be “unique” in his words, to account for the fact ALS has limited his ability to move and speak unaided. Since Mitchell’s character Aurellio, the Emerald Chain scientist working to uncover the secrets of Discovery's spore drive, survived season 3 in tact, it’s possible he may also return in some capacity.

Book’s cat Grudge is also returning, which is the most important piece of news of all.

Star Trek Discovery season 4 trailer

While Star Trek Day 2021 didn’t bring a new Discovery trailer along, we got our first look at the fourth season back in April. 

The trailer reveals that there are some pretty high stakes this season (again), and shows off some of the familiar faces returning to the final frontier.

Star Trek season 4 plot

There’s a lot we still don’t know about Discovery’s fourth season, though the trailer revealed that the high-stakes antics of the crew never seem to end. This season is focussing on some sort of gravitational anomaly in space, which seems to have the ability to cause all kinds of havoc. 

It’s also five light years wide, which is pretty darn big, possibly even planet-killing big, should it wind up in the wrong place.

Unfortunately that’s about all we know regarding the season’s plot, and there’s not much to speculate on either. That said it seems likely there’s going to be a lot of action, which Discovery has always been heavy on, and no doubt Burnham will clash with her superiors several times — like she always does.

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Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.

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Published Nov 24, 2021

Star Trek: Discovery Season Four Lands on Paramount+ & Pluto TV Internationally

Take flight with all-new episodes premiering this week

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To all of the International Star Trek: Discovery fans: we hear you. We love this series too. We love it for the incredible cast, the hardworking crew, the imaginative storytelling, the groundbreaking, diverse characters who bring the show to life and what it represents to so many people around the world. Star Trek has always put its fans first. We want to do the same.

Therefore, during this transition, we are doing everything we can to get the new season to you as soon as possible. Where Paramount+ is available in Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Sweden, Uruguay, and Venezuela, the first two episodes will be available Friday, November 26, with new episodes being released weekly. We are also offering Star Trek fans in these markets a new membership promotion on Paramount+ for 50% off for the first three months with code STARTREK.*

In Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service, will drop new episodes at 9pm local time on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with a simulcast running on the Star Trek channel in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. This will begin with the first two episodes on Friday, November 26.

In the UK, Germany, France, Russia, South Korea and additional select countries, we are also making Season 4 available for purchase on participating digital platforms beginning Friday, November 26.

We too are super fans of Star Trek and incredibly proud of Discovery. We promise to give this franchise and its loyal fans all the global love and visibility it deserves in our expanding universe on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery Season Four Trailer

*New Paramount+ members only; redeemable on https://www.paramountplus.com/ ; promotion valid until December 15, 2021.

Star Trek: Discovery currently streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. Internationally, the series is available on Paramount+ in Australia, Latin America and the Nordics, and on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.

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Episode list

Star trek: discovery.

S4.E1 ∙ Kobayashi Maru

S4.E2 ∙ Anomaly

S4.E3 ∙ Choose to Live

S4.E4 ∙ All Is Possible

S4.E5 ∙ The Examples

S4.E6 ∙ Stormy Weather

S4.E7 ∙ ...But to Connect

S4.E8 ∙ All In

S4.E9 ∙ Rubicon

S4.E10 ∙ The Galactic Barrier

S4.E11 ∙ Rosetta

S4.E12 ∙ Species Ten-C

S4.E13 ∙ Coming Home

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 13 Review – Coming Home

Star Trek: Discovery wraps up Season 4 with an action-packed finale that ties up many loose ends.

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The following contains Star Trek: Discovery spoilers.

Star Trek Discovery Season 4 Episode 13

Star Trek: Discovery wraps up Season 4 with a fairly satisfactory if not necessarily groundbreaking finale that neatly wraps up most of its outstanding plot points in a bow by the end of the episode. This is a fairly impressive feat, given how much ground we needed to cover in this hour to begin with. Looking back on this season as a whole, it seems rather obvious now that the show would have done well to jettison some of the meandering middle episodes where not much happened in favor of making this finale more of a two-parter. If only to give some of its more obvious twists and contrivances a little more room to breathe. 

Though “Coming Home” threatens our Discovery faves, most of the populations of Earth and Ni’Var, the 10-C themselves, and big chunks of the Milky Way itself with imminent death and/or possible genocide, everything turns out alright in the end. Michael and Saru manage to figure out a way to convey some really complex thoughts and emotional bonds using a translation algorithm based on math, the 10-C turn out to be incredibly emotionally empathetic and are suitably shamed into changing their ore-mining ways by an impassioned speech from Book about the destruction of Kweijan and what its loss has meant. 

Is it kind of cheesy? Absolutely. Does it work anyway? Actually, for the most part, yes.

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It’s true, “Coming Home” is not a particularly complex hour, particularly given some of the more in-depth philosophical and political debates we’ve seen this season. But, there are some great emotional beats and cool visuals that feel so incredibly Star Trek , it’s hard not to simply sit back and enjoy them. From the Federation’s attempt to evacuate as many people from Earth as possible to Tilly’s return (!!!)  in the role of a confident leader and finally getting the chance to see the 10-C and their homeworld for ourselves, there’s a lot to like here. 

It’s true, the 10-C still come off more as glowy giant krill than anything else, but the awe with which the Discovery true reacts to their world and their floaty godlike selves is wonderful. (Plus, on some level, it feels so right that a species who’s so far advanced from us in every conceivable way appears not to have become monstrous, but simply better and more kind.) Tilly returns and gets stuck spending three-fourths of the episode with Admiral Vance, but it turns out that Mary Wiseman and Oded Fehr have wonderful chemistry, and their (admittedly very random) bonding session about purpose and family is lovely. 

Despite the fact that “Coming Home” does its best to make us think someone significant won’t survive the hour, almost everyone manages to make it out just fine. T’Rina’s mind-meld with the 10-C only knocks her out for a day or so. Detmer’s willingness to sacrifice herself to stop Tarka turns out to not be necessary. General Odoye purposefully crashes her ship into Book’s and survives. Tilly decides to stay behind with Admiral Vance on the sure-to-be-destroyed headquarters to help give her cadets the chance to escape, but they’re both saved at the last minute when the DMA debris begins to recede. Even Book himself is somehow miraculously rescued by the 10-C, even though they don’t entirely understand the concept of individual existence. 

Star Trek: Discovery Needs More of Saru and T’Rina’s Sweet Flirtations

Star Trek: Picard – Time Jump and Episode 3 Ending Explained

It’s unlikely that any of us are truly surprised by any of these twists— Discovery is not the sort of show that often takes the sort of risks killing major characters involves—but there are moments where everyone’s miraculous survival does feel a bit convenient (even if Sonequa Martin-Green truly does do her level best to sell us the idea that at least Michael believes Book is really dead).  Look, I’m not saying I wanted any of these characters to shuffle off this mortal coil, but it’s an outcome that feels like a poor payoff to the stakes the back half of the season was insisting were legitimate. 

The only true casualty is Tarka who ultimately sacrifices himself to save Book and gets a sort of mild redemption attempt, where he finally realizes that his alien bestie is most likely not waiting for him in a parallel universe, but is probably just dead and has been for some time. I realize I’ve had a much harsher read of this character and his arc than most, but 

“Coming Home” also feels remarkably closed-ended for a season finale, leaving few hints as to what we can expect from the show’s fifth season. At one point, it appeared as though the destruction of the spore drive might mean that next year’s outing would involve the crew heading home from the Galactic Barrier the long way round. But, nope. The 10-C uses their final DMA-caused wormhole to transport them all back. The Federation is expanding once more. Book, having committed some light but mostly understandable treason is sentenced to help refugee families who’ve been displaced by the DMA’s path of destruction. He and Michael are forced to part, but neither seems terribly daunted by going galactically long-distance for a while. Tilly gets to hug it out with her former crewmates before ostensibly heading back to her cadets. Culber and Hugh finally get a vacation. And it turns out that Stacey Abrams is the President of Earth.

One of the few developments that seem likely to have any real impact on whatever next season’s story happens to be is the fact that Saru and T’Rina finally admit they’re into each other and want to give their adorably weird interspecies love a try. (Saru makes an emotional confession! T’Rina finally tells him to stop calling her Madame President! They hold hands!) How they’re going to make it work while she’s got a planet to run and he has to serve as Michael’s 24/7 emotional sounding board is up in the air, but watching them try is going to be amazing. Vulcan/Kelpian inter-species wedding ceremony when?

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Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4: Release Date, Cast, And More

(Welcome to ...And More , our no-frills, zero B.S. guide to when and where you can watch upcoming movies and shows, and everything else you could possibly stand to know.)

"Star Trek: Discovery" is about to boldly go into its fourth season, as Paramount+ continues to amass more ships in its fleet of streaming "Star Trek" shows . Sonequa Martin-Green, long since recovered from her zombification on "The Walking Dead," is back to captain the flagship, "Discovery," for season 4. Here's what we know about the upcoming episodes.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Release Date and Where You Can Watch It

"Star Trek: Discovery" season 4 flies onto the Paramount+ streaming service on Thursday, November 18, 2021. You can watch it there in the U.S. if you have a subscription.

The international rights to "Star Trek" shows are split between Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Unfortunately, global "Star Trek" fans don't have the same one-stop shopping option as Stateside viewers. However, in most countries outside the U.S. you can stream "Discovery" on Netflix and "Star Trek: Picard" on Amazon.

What Is Star Trek: Discovery?

Though Paramount+ has expanded its streaming "Star Trek" universe to include four other shows — including "Picard" and the "Discovery" spin-off "Strange New Worlds" — "Star Trek: Discovery" is the show that started it all. It launched back in 2017 when Paramount+ was still calling itself CBS All Access. Trades reported at the time that "Discovery" prompted a record number of signups, and the show has been cruising through space ever since.

The series follows the adventures of the USS Discovery crew, led by Martin-Green's character, Michael Burnham. Season 1 revealed Burnham's backstory as a first officer turned mutineer turned prisoner turned parolee and xeno-anthropologist. She initially served as the science specialist aboard the USS Discovery under the anti-Klingon Starfleet captain, Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs). In "Star Trek: Discovery" season 4, Burnham has moved up to the rank of full captain herself.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Showrunners and Cast

Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise serve as the co-showrunners for "Star Trek: Discovery." We don't have much info yet on who is in the writer's room or directing the episodes for season 4.

In addition to Martin-Green, "Discovery" season 4 stars Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Wilson Cruz, all of whom have been with the show since the beginning.

David Ajala, Blu del Barrio, and Ian Alexander are also returning, along with some high-profile guest stars, including David Cronenberg, Oded Fehr, and Tig Notaro. That's the same Cronenberg who helmed films like "The Dead Zone," "The Fly," "A History of Violence," and "Eastern Promises." He showed off his acting chops in season 3 and will do so again in season 4.

There's also a cat onboard the Discovery, though if certain other non-"Star Trek," space-faring adventures have taught us anything, it's that what looks like a cat in space may in fact be a fearsome creature with a pocket dimension inside its body. Beware space cats.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Trailer

"Five light years across. That's the size of the gravitational anomaly ..." that Captain Burnham and her crew are dealing with in "Star Trek: Discovery" season 4. In season 3, the show grappled with the aftermath of a 900-year time-jump to the future. As a result, "Discovery" is now far removed from other shows on the "Star Trek" timeline and "ready to seek out new life," per the "Trek" mission statement.

You can see the first teaser trailer for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 4 above.

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‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 4 Leads With Its Heart

Where to stream:.

• Star Trek: Discovery

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Renewed For Season 4 At Paramount+

Bill maher applauds william shatner for controversial 'star trek' interracial kiss, patrick stewart was asked to wear a wig at his 'star trek' audition — a wig that flew by itself from heathrow to lax, tom hardy "never said 'good morning'" or "good night" while filming 'star trek: nemesis,' says patrick stewart.

When  Star Trek: Discovery premiered on what was then called CBS All Access, the show was a bold, dark, innovative reinvention of the  Star Trek franchise. Shows, and even some of the movies, had been serialized before. Discovery ‘s willingness, though, to seemingly obliterate its premise every episode led to jaw-dropping moment after jaw-dropping moment. It was purposefully alarming, purposefully divisive, but also helped launch Paramount’s next generation of Star Trek series that now includes  Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy and the soon to come direct spinoff series  Strange New Worlds .

But on the just debuted fourth season of  Star Trek: Discovery , the series isn’t dropping shocks-a-minute; instead, with the crew established and the characters beloved, the series is now taking the time to lead boldly not with surprises, but with tremendous amounts of heart.

In the new season (the first four episodes were provided for review), the crew of  Discovery is now firmly established in a far-flung future, nearly 1000 years after the events of Seasons 1 and 2. Last season, they figured out what caused The Burn, a massive event that isolated the galaxy and nearly wrecked the Federation. When we pick up in “Kobayashi Maru”, the Federation is slowly rebuilding, the galaxy is reconnecting, and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is captain of the ship .

Mind you, that doesn’t mean that Burnham isn’t still going on away missions and saving the day whenever she can. But thanks to the addition of a new character, Chelah Horsdal’s politically inclined Federation President Laira Rillak, she’s being challenged to think about things a different way. How can Burnham lead her crew if she’s also constantly throwing herself in the way of danger? Is making herself the only one who can solve problems a way of choosing the best resource; or is centering the narrative around herself a way of avoiding responsibility, by taking all of it? It’s a fascinating discussion that doesn’t just test Burnham, it also takes to task the rogue adventurer nature of every captain in the Star Trek franchise for the past several decades.

That’s not to say that  Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 is a political clash of ideologies, though that plays heavily into the season as it moves forward. Instead, the promising nature of the rebuilt Federation comes crashing to a halt thanks to the season premiere’s cliffhanger — and  spoilers past this point — which sees the destruction of Cleveland “Book” Booker’s (David Ajala) home planet of Kwejian. This isn’t the first time a planet’s explosion has kicked off a Star Trek plot, most notably the destruction of Vulcan in the 2009  Star Trek film. But here the tragedy isn’t the start of a rollicking adventure, it’s something that all the characters feel; most notably Book, though it touches every corner of the galaxy. And the fight here, at least in the early going, isn’t against some vengeful enemy or mad scientist; it’s a light years wide anomaly , which provides an impossible scientific challenge and stretches every member of the crew to their limits.

If you thought a massive, unknowable force coming for everyone is reminiscent of a certain pandemic we’re still in the middle of? You would be correct. That is, in fact, the direct analogue the show is working with this season, from the strapped scientists trying to solve the problem, to the populace of the galaxy reacting in big ways; some helpful, some extremely combative. But like the best of Star Trek , this season attempts to use COVID as a starting point, versus a one to one analogy. You can see the inspiration, but it’s not distracting.

What  Discovery gets right, though, is the enormous well of emotion that infused everyone, particularly in the early stages of the pandemic. It’s tough to watch at times, particularly when it comes to Ajala’s heartbreaking performance, or Anthony Rapp’s Paul Stamets desperately trying to fix this problem all by himself. But what you get more than anything else is that after fighting the Mirror Universe, villainous AI, and being flung into a future where everyone they knew are all long dead and gone, the crew of  Discovery are now each other’s family. There’s even families in that family, thanks to Adira (Blu del Barrio) and Gray Tal (Ian Alexander), who have essentially been adopted by Stamets and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz). But those bonds extend to the rest of the crew, too, including a more emotionally stable Saru (Doug Jones), and Tilly (Mary Wiseman), who is trying to find her own place during these tumultuous times. Even the rest of the crew on deck gets powerful one on one moments to express their feelings about what’s going on in the universe, to stand up and be counted and make a difference.

Mind you, it’s early going. The first four episodes definitely throw some twists at the crew as they try to figure out what the anomaly is, and how to stop it. And there’s every possibility that a vengeful enemy or mad scientist could be behind it, once the season continues. There also are big changes and shake-ups in store, but even those are treated with more depth of emotion and heart than you might have seen in the cold, combative first season of the show. When  Discovery began, they were at war with an enemy, but also with each other and their basic natures. In Season 4, the crew of  Discovery is united, whole, and providing comfort and hope both to each other, and to a world that needs that right now. Maybe that’s the most radical reinvention of all.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Where to watch  Star Trek: Discovery

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David Ajala Explains Star Trek: Discovery Seemingly Ending Cleveland Booker's Story In Season 4, And Why He’s Glad He Returned For Season 5

This worked out really well for all involved.

Watching Star Trek: Discovery 's final season, I find it hard to imagine what it'd look like without David Ajala's Cleveland Booker in the mix. Fans were delighted to see him return in early trailers, to the point where Sonequa Martin-Green was surprised by his reveal , given what happened to the character in Disco 's Season 4 ending . I was just as baffled at the time, but the actor was fortunately able to set the record straight on Book's return, and why he's glad it all worked out.

David Ajala was kind enough to speak to CinemaBlend ahead of another Booker-heavy episode that'll make this month's Paramount+ subscription cost worth it. I mentioned how heavily his character's story has been incorporated into Season 5, and asked why Star Trek: Discovery seemingly wrote him off back when he was sent to help refugees as penance for his betrayal of the Federation. Ajala cleared up the situation, recalling both Booker's fake-out death in the finale and his eventual punishment that sent him away from the ship:

It's funny because I remember reading the [Season 4 finale] episode and thinking, ‘Oh, so Cleveland Booker is out of here,' and then, you know, seeing the reveal. It was fun because it was such a superb dramatic beat. But I was only meant to be on the show for two seasons, Seasons 3 and 4. As fate would have it, the stars aligned, and the producers and powers that be wanted to flesh out Cleveland Booker's story a little more and gave me the invitation to come back, which I graciously accepted.

There were no guarantees that David Ajala would remain with Star Trek: Discovery after his contract was up, so it seems that story decision was landed on as a way to offer wiggle room to the writers to explain away his absence had the actor not been available to return. Fortunately, it all worked out, and while we don't know exactly when the decisions were made, Ajala confirmed to CinemaBlend in December of 2022 that he would appear in Season 5. Suffice it to say, this fan was not shocked to see him in the trailers.

As is widely reported at this point, no one involved in Star Trek: Discovery knew Season 5 would be the final outing when it was in production, so it's a blessing David Ajala did agree to return for another season. The actor continued, sharing why he's been so grateful for this additional story, and how it benefitted the character of Cleveland Booker overall.

And I'm so happy that my ‘yes’ was yes because we've been really able to dig into a much more well-rounded individual. Not perfect, well-rounded. Whose strengths and weaknesses have been so publicly displayed, and whose fall from grace has been so publicly displayed. I think it shows great character with his leaving Booker because he's able to bounce back and still be of service to many people.

Star Trek: Discovery fans still have more to see from Cleveland Booker, and at least some confirmation from star Sonequa Martin-Green that we'll get a sense of where he and Michael stand . David Ajala also teased to CinemaBlend that he's very excited for fans to see a particular scene , and I'm really curious if it involves Booker and the lead of Discovery .

The top brass shared the reality of doing a modern Star Trek show.

I'm hoping to see as much of Cleveland Booker as I possibly can, knowing that there may not be much room for him on Star Trek television in the future. Unless Book joins Starfleet, I don't really see him appearing on upcoming Trek shows like Starfleet Academy , which is also set in the 32nd century. Stranger things have happened, however, and it's hard to believe that at least one or two stars from Discovery series won't be a part of this in-development spinoff.

As for what's coming for Cleveland Booker in the immediate future, it seemed he managed to gain some headway with rival courier Moll, who is the daughter of his mentor, the original Cleveland Booker. Perhaps she and L'ak can ultimately be shifted into allies, rather than enemies who intend to hand a dangerous technology to the Breen in exchange for their freedom. Hopefully, he can convince them to work with Starfleet before it's too late.

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Star Trek: Discovery continues its final season on Paramount+ with new episodes on Thursdays. Don't miss the back half of this season, as the action is only sure to heat up as we head to that big finish filmed after the show was canceled.

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) isn’t thrilled by this prospect, pointing out before she leaves that it’s too dangerous a mission for a captain to undertake. But Burnham disagrees that this is enough of a reason to stop her; it’s a nice reminder that this is a show and a character that originated in the time of James T. Kirk, a time when captains didn’t stay behind in the face of danger.

But it’s not only that, there’s something else going on. Burnham gives Rayner permission to be blunt, quoting a classic work on Rayner’s native Kellerun , The Ballad of Krull , asking him to “serve it without a crumb of ossekat .” (As far as made-up Star Trek idioms go, that’s a pretty good one.)

It’s also the beginning of a sudden and relentless onslaught of references to Rayner’s culture, but more on that later. What’s Rayner’s problem? He’s uncomfortable with the prospect of being left in command of a ship and crew that aren’t “his.” Welcome to being second in command, buddy.

Book and Burnham take off, heading into the wormhole and finding it to be an inhospitable place. They quickly drop out of communication range with Discovery , there’s ship debris everywhere, including the wreckage of Moll and L’ak’s ship…. and what’s that, the  ISS Enterprise ?!

(A side note before we get too excited about that: what is the deal with all the empty space in the new shuttlecraft set, introduced in last season’s “All Is Possible”? The two pilot seats looked like they were crammed into the corner of a huge unfurnished room.)

Okay, Enterprise time. Burnham and Book rightly surmise that this is where Moll and L’ak must have escaped to and beam to the ship, which of course turns out to be a redress of the Strange New Worlds  standing sets. A quick scan identifies that no one else is aboard — though the clue, which Moll and L’ak have found, does also have a lifesign, hmm — and that Moll and L’ak are holed up in sickbay. Burnham takes a few moments to ponder her visit to the Mirror Universe back in Season 1 and wonder what the alternate version of her half-brother Spock might have been like (bearded, for one).

And aside from some brief storytelling about Mirror Saru’s role as a rebel leader, that’s about it for the Terran Empire of it all. Star Trek: Discovery has spent plenty of time in and around the Mirror Universe already, and I personally don’t think they need to revisit it again. But introducing the  ISS Enterprise — the ship that started it all with The Original Series ’ “Mirror, Mirror” — and then not doing anything momentous with it? Strange decision, and one that makes it ultimately feel more like this was a way for the show to get to reuse a set on the cheap than it does a materially significant addition to the episode.

In fact, in some ways it’s actually a detriment to the episode. If the action had been set on any other ship it would have been fine, but being on the ISS Enterprise I kept expecting something — like seeing Paul Wesley as Mirror Kirk slinking around, or finding Anson Mount camping it up as Mirror Pike in a personal log. If they’d set the action on a generic derelict ship, what we got wouldn’t have seemed like a let down. As it is though, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop… and it simply never did.

Maybe in a subsequent episode, it’ll turn out that there’s an advantage in having an entire functional starship composed of atoms from another universe at Starfleet’s disposal — or to have a convenient collection of Constitution -class sets available for that Starfleet Academy show to borrow once in a while — but until that happens (if it even does) the use of the ISS Enterprise just seems like a name drop and a “We have to set the action somewhere , why not here?” instead of a significant use of the setting and the huge amount of lore and history that comes with it.

It’s like setting something aboard the Titanic without ever mentioning any icebergs.

As Burnham and Book make their way down to sickbay they do find evidence that the ship was being used in a way that seemed unusually gentle for a Terran Empire vessel: signs that children and families were aboard at one time, and that they were the kind of people sentimental enough to have keepsakes and favorite stuffed animals. But again, nothing about this seems like it needs the Mirror Universe connection. Ships of people trying to escape adversity are already a Star Trek staple.

Burnham and Book find Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) in sickbay, and after a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at getting them to surrender, everyone starts shooting. Moll and L’ak have a Breen blood bounty — an erigah — on their heads and surrender is simply not an option. During the firefight a lockdown is triggered, forcefields coming down that split the group into pairs: Burnham and L’ak stuck in sickbay, while Book and Moll able to go back to the bridge to try and reset sickbay.

Pairing off also gives Book the opportunity to continue his efforts to connect with Moll, and I have to say, I don’t think I’m a fan. Setting aside the portion of this that’s purely a strategic attempt to forge a connection with someone who is very to keen to kill him, my first reaction to the way Book talks to Moll about her father (and his mentor) was distaste.

I don’t think Book meant it this way, but the way he’s written in these scenes feels unpleasantly close to the “Well, he was a great guy to me , I never saw him do anything bad” response that’s sometimes made to accusations of misconduct. A person can be wonderful to some people in their life and terrible to others; both experiences are true for the people who received them, but they’re not mutually exclusive.

Book is preternaturally empathetic, and yet he doesn’t seem to see how continually assuring Moll that her father loved her is an act that’s both unwanted and actively painful for Moll to hear. I understand that Book is just trying to bring a sliver of comfort to Moll – but in the process he’s dismissing her own experiences of her father and his place in her life. Unless Moll asks him for this, it’s really none of Book’s business.

I suspect they’re setting up Moll’s character for a nice, cathartic arc where she comes to terms with her life, forgives her father, releases her past, whatever. And when that happens in real life that’s great — but it doesn’t always, and that’s okay too. If Moll never sees in her father the man Book saw in his mentor, it’s not a character failing. Discovery is really hammering home the theme of confronting one’s past in order to take control of one’s present and future, and I think it would be valuable if they included an example of a character learning to do the latter… without having to be okay with the former.

And to return to a question I posed in my review of “Under the Twin Moons,” I know Book is isolated and excruciatingly lonely after the destruction of Kweijan and his split with Michael, but the weight he’s placed on his relationship with Moll as “the closest thing he has to family” seems like he’s setting himself up for disappointment. Maybe I’m just a cynic, but this does not feel like a hopeful storyline to me. Not everyone wants to be family, and right now it doesn’t seem like Moll’s been given much of a choice in the matter — despite her frequent and very powerful explanations of why she’s not interested.

Clearly frustrated with Book’s topic of conversation and desperate to return to L’ak, Moll makes a reckless decision to brute-force a solution and overload some circuits. It works, and the forcefields in sickbay come down, but it also sends the Enterprise onto an unstoppable collision course with the too-small-to-pass-through and also going-to-be-closing-forever-soon wormhole. They’ve got eight minutes to figure this out.

Meanwhile aboard Discovery , we see Rayner’s struggles to interact with the crew. This thread could have gone so many different ways, Rayner seeming “too good” for a temporary command, him seeing this as his chance to do things “better” than Burnham or show how it’s “really done,” but instead the show takes the much more subtle and satisfying route: Rayner is deeply respectful of the captaincy, as a rank and a role, and really doesn’t want to step on Burnham’s authority.

He’s more than willing to disagree with her on command decisions , but he doesn’t question her command . And more personally, he doesn’t want his gruffness and lack of experience with this crew to cause problems. He’s trying, in his own Rayner way, and more importantly he’s succeeding — and, as we see as he shepherds the crew through figuring out how to communicate with and then rescue Book and Burnham, the crew does their part and meets him halfway.

Rayner is learning that he needs to tone down his temperament just enough that he doesn’t come across as an actual asshole to this crew, and the crew is learning that his gruffness isn’t a sign of disrespect but simply a desire to cut to the chase and get to direct, actionable information with a minimum of fluff. There are shades of Nimoy’s Spock or Voyager -era Seven of Nine here, but couched within a distinctly different temperament, and it’s fascinating to watch. I’d love to have seen him interacting with the crew of the Antares , where he presumably felt more comfortable.

The interpersonal stuff with Rayner and the crew is great; where Rayner’s thread feels distractingly like a box being checked is the explosion of “Rayner is a Kellerun!” being shouted from the bulkheads. I could practically hear the writers yelping out a panicked “Oh crap, we forgot to say what kind of alien Rayner is!”

Again, Discovery is back to its old self with the clunky, heavy-handed, and oddly paced character work. Rayner goes from having zero cultural touchstones to having about five in the span of the 15-20 minutes of screentime that his story gets this week. They’re good touchstones, don’t get me wrong — I’m skeptical of Kellerun citrus mash, I have to be honest, but I’d give it a try; not so sure about boiling a cake though — they’re just very present .

As with Rayner’s alienness, the frequent flashbacks throughout the episode to Moll and L’ak’s meeting and courtship feel like a “We forgot to explain this and now we’re trying to reference it!” correction. The content of the flashbacks is fine, there’s a lot of interesting Breen worldbuilding for a species that’s been mysterious from the start — and watching Moll and L’ak’s relationship grow from one of mutual convenience to one of true love is genuinely moving. But the way it’s woven into an episode that, again, feels like it’s composed of bits and pieces of storyline, makes it hard to shake the sense that I was watching a To Do list get checked off.

By the time the season is over it might be clear that there was simply no extra room to give a full episode over to Moll and L’ak’s meeting, or maybe an episode without any of the main cast wasn’t something they were willing or contractually able to do, but I would have loved if these flashbacks were pulled out and expanded into a full-length episode of their own. Some of the worldbuilding felt hasty to the point of hindering the emotional beats — at times I wondered if I’d forgotten a whole bunch of Breen lore and at others I was just trying to keep up with what was going on.

For example, my confusion about L’ak’s comment about having two faces, which Moll seemed to completely understand — “Duh, everyone knows the Breen have two faces” — was a distraction in the middle of an otherwise nice and significant moment. This is later clarified as the translucent face and the solid face, but again I was distracted from fully appreciating an interesting bit of Breen culture because I was busy applying what I’d just learned back to the previous scene.

The quickly (and maybe not totally clearly articulated notion) that Breen deliberately restrict themselves to their translucent form for reasons that are entirely to do with avoiding any perception of weakness is a potent if hasty bit of social commentary, and as I said I nearly didn’t catch it.

Whether holding the translucent form requires the armor for protection or the armor necessitates the translucent form — it seems like it would be more comfortable wearing that helmet all the time if you were the texture and consistency of lime jello — this is surely a metaphor for the increasingly rigid, isolating, and emotionally and sometimes physically unhealthy things men in certain circles feel they must do to be appropriately masculine. Seeing L’ak free himself from that rigidity is powerful.

With the forcefields in sickbay down, Burnham and L’ak immediately spring into action:  Burnham trying to get the artifact from L’ak and L’ak simply trying to get away. They fight, and Burnham impressively proves she can hold her own against a Breen. When L’ak accidentally falls on his own blade, Burnham grabs the clue and speeds to the bridge where she manages to get a message to Rayner through some tractor beam trickery. The message? Another reference to that classic of Kellerun literature that gives Rayner the info he needs. Hey, did you know Rayner was a Kellerun?

The ISS Enterprise makes it through the wormhole, Moll and L’ak zip away in an escape pod, and it’s time to wrap things up. We head to Red’s for a quick but significant moment between Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Culber (Wilson Cruz), as Tilly offers advice and an ear to a Culber who’s going through a quiet existential – maybe also spiritual? – crisis.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• In addition to the dedication plaques on the bridge, the ISS Enterprise has an additional plaque in its transporter room — one which, despite recounting the heroism of rebel action hero Mirror Saru, still states “Long Live the Empire.”
• The transporter room plaque is marked with “Stardate 32336.6,” which is about 9 years before the events of “Encounter at Farpoint.”
• The plaque describes the fate of Mirror Spock, who was killed after instituting the reforms which later led to the fall of the Terran Empire (as described in DS9’s “Crossover”).

The full text of the ISS Enterprise transporter room plaque:

The new High Chancellor presented hope and justice as if they were natural to our world. His words, “The light of hope shines through even the darkest of nights” became our rallying cry. He spoke of reform, and changed many of us. But some saw this as weakness. They killed him, and we sought help from an unlikely ally: A Kelpien slave turned rebel leader.   He spoke of visitors from another world… a near perfect mirror cast our darkness into light. With his aid we secured the Enterprise and stayed behind to continue his work. We bear scars from our escape, but our hope remains. May it carry us into a pristine, peaceful, and just future.

• Not counting L’ak’s previous appearances this season, this episode marks the first time we have seen the Breen in live action since their involvement in the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine.  (The species has appeared in  Star Trek: Lower Decks three times.)
• The 32nd century Breen wear updated encounter suits clearly based on the designs introduced in  Deep Space Nine ; their digital speech is extremely faithful to the incomprehensible noises Breen soldiers have spoken in past appearances.
• Given the fact that Moll appears to be just fine in the environment of the Breen ship, I guess Weyoun was right when he said the Breen homeworld was “quite comfortable” in “The Changing Face of Evil.”
• When L’ak is stabbed he gently oozes some green goo — but as we learned in “In Purgatory’s Shadow,” Breen do not have traditional humanoid blood.

• During his time in command of Discovery , Rayner never sits in the captain’s chair.
• This episode closes with a dedication plaque that reads “In loving memory of our friend, Allan ‘Red’ Marceta”. Marceta was, I presume, the namesake for Discovery’s bar.
• Someone aboard Discovery keeps a Cardassian vole as a pet. Going by Tilly’s reaction, and what we know from  Deep Space Nine , this is not a good thing.
• Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) plays a mean piano.
• Owosekun and Detmer get the off-screen cherry assignment of flying the ISS Enterprise back to Federation Headquarters, alone. I’m thinking that’s going to inspire some fanfic…

We don’t learn what this week’s clue is, though we know there’s a blue vial tucked away inside it, but we do learn that the crew of the ISS Enterprise did indeed make it to our universe. The scientist responsible for hiding this particular clue there was one of them, a Dr. Cho, who eventually made it all the way to branch admiral.

They strove for something positive and succeeded against all odds. Hopefully Discovery will be able to do the same as they continue their pursuit of Moll, L’ak, and the Progenitors.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 returns with “Whistlespeak” on Thursday, May 2.

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Preview: Star Trek: Discovery 505 “Mirrors”

The fifth episode of Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth and final season “Mirrors” premieres this Thursday, April 25 . The episode is written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco and directed by Jen McGowan .

Today, we have a video preview, a clip, and a few new photos from the episode — featuring Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, David Ajala as Book, Mary Wiseman as Tilly, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Anthony Rapp as Stamets, and Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner

You can check out the new photos below. Please be aware of some minor spoilers.

Official description:

Captain Burnham and Book journey into extradimensional space in search of the next clue to the location of the Progenitors’ power. Meanwhile, Rayner navigates his first mission in command of the  U.S.S. Discovery , and Culber opens up to Tilly.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 castmembers include Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira) and Callum Keith Rennie (Rayner). Season five also features recurring guest stars Elias Toufexis (L’ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Prodigy , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Lower Decks, and more.

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Star trek: discovery’s 4 number ones explained.

Star Trek: Discovery has had four different Number Ones over the course of its five seasons, including Captain Michael Burnham.

• Star Trek: Discovery features a rotating cast of Captains and Number Ones, showcasing dynamic leadership changes throughout the series.
• Characters like Saru, Burnham, Tilly, and new addition Rayner bring diverse personalities and skills to the USS Discovery crew.
• The evolution of these key roles, from First Officer to Captain, demonstrates the growth and adaptability of each character over the seasons.

Just as Star Trek: Discovery has featured several different Captains of the USS Discovery throughout its five-season run, the show has also introduced four different Number Ones. Since its beginning, Discovery has been less of an ensemble show than previous Star Trek series, and the crew of the USS Discovery has been constantly shifting. Discovery tells the story of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), who has gone from being an accomplished First Officer to a notorious criminal to the Captain of Discovery. Burnham has filled the position of Number One more than once, and two of her best friends have also taken on that role.

Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones) and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) have both served as First Officers of the USS Discovery, although their careers have since taken them in different directions. In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, the show found a dynamic that worked well, with Burnham as Captain and Saru as her First Officer. But Discovery can never go too long without shaking things up, and Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner did just that when he joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . As Captain Burnham's newest Number One, Rayner has proven to be a great addition to Discovery's crew, despite (and also because of) his gruff, no-nonsense command style.

Every Star Trek Discovery Captain In All 5 Seasons

4 commander/captain saru, under the command of captain gabriel lorca & captain michael burnham.

During the two-part premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, Saru was serving as the Chief Science Officer on the USS Shenzhou, under the command of Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). After Commander Burnham committed mutiny and Captain Georgiou was killed, Saru was promoted Commander and became First Officer on the USS Discovery, under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) . Although Saru had not yet gained the confidence he would in later seasons of Star Trek: Discovery , he proved to be a capable and compassionate First Officer.

Saru took over command of the USS Discovery after Lorca was revealed to be from the Mirror Universe, and he shared "joint custody" of the ship with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) for most of Star Trek: Discovery season 2.

Saru commanded the USS Discovery for its journey to the 32nd century, and he was promoted to Captain. Saru later took time away from Starfleet to become a member of the village council on his homeworld of Kaminar. After the Dark Matter Anomaly destroyed Kwejian, Saru returned to Discovery as Captain Burnham's First Officer, retaining the rank of Captain but choosing to go by the designation Mr. Saru. As the first Kelpien in Starfleet, Saru had already made history , but in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Saru accepted a position as a Federation Ambassador, adding another achievement to his impressive resume.

3 Commander Michael Burnham

Under the command of captain philippa georgiou & captain saru.

When Star Trek: Discovery began, Commander Burnham was serving as the First Officer on the USS Shenzhou, under the command of Captain Georgiou. After her subsequent mutiny, Burnham served six months in prison before transferring to the USS Discovery, where Captain Lorca assigned her as a Specialist in the science division. After Michael helped end the Federation/Klingon War, she was fully reinstated as a Commander and became Chief Science Officer on Discovery. At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Burnham wore the Red Angel suit to lead the USS Discovery into the 32nd century.

Michael Burnham was a fine First Officer (aside from the whole mutiny thing), but she truly excels at being a Starfleet Captain.

Captain Burnham arrived in the future a year before Discovery, but she later reconnected with her former crew and reluctantly accepted the role of Captain Saru's Number One. Michael served as First Officer throughout Star Trek: Discovery season 3, until she helped take the ship back from Osyraa (Janet Kidder), the leader of the Emerald Chain. Saru then suggested that Burnham take over as Captain , and Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) assigned Michael as Captain of the USS Discovery. Michael Burnham was a fine First Officer (aside from the whole mutiny thing), but she truly excels at being a Starfleet Captain.

With its time travel plot that saw Captain Burnham run into her past self, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange," illustrates just how far Michael has come since Discovery season 1.

2 Lt. Sylvia Tilly

Under the command of captain saru & captain michael burnham.

Sylvia Tilly began her Star Trek: Discovery career as a cadet aboard the USS Discovery under the command of Captain Lorca. After the end of the Klingons' War with the Federation , Tilly was promoted to Ensign and was placed on the command track. She continued on this trajectory until Discovery traveled into the future. When Captain Saru demoted Burnham for insubordination, he asked Tilly to be his First Officer. Although she was initially reluctant to take the job, fearing others on the ship were better qualified, Tilly's fellow crew members assured her she was the right choice as Number One.

After Commander Burnham helped take the USS Discovery back from Osyraa and became Captain, Tilly remained First Officer and was promoted to Lt. junior grade. Tilly then began to question whether she wanted to remain on the command track, and spoke with Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) about ways she could step out of her comfort zone. Culber recommended Tilly for a mission that involved leading a group of young Starfleet cadets. Although the mission quickly turned dangerous, Tilly successfully coached the cadets through it, and she later accepted a teaching position at the recently reopened Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Discovery Proves Starfleet Academy Show Doesn’t Make Sense Without Tilly

1 commander rayner, under the command of captain michael burnham.

Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery for its fifth and final season, and the gruff former Captain has proven to be a breath of fresh air. In Discovery's season 5 premiere, Rayner held the rank of Captain and commanded the USS Antares, but was asked to accept early retirement after making a questionable call during a Red Directive mission. Captain Burnham, however, asked Rayner to be her new First Officer after Saru accepted a position as a Federation Ambassador.

Commander Rayner has proven invaluable to Discovery's mission and remains a highlight of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

As a Kellerun, Commander Rayner's personality contrasts sharply with the more optimistic crew of the USS Discovery, and his command style is very different from Burnham's. Rayner has struggled to relate to Discovery's crew members and adapt to Michael's command style , but his advice and knowledge have helped save the day on multiple occasions. As Discovery races against couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) to find the Progenitors' treasure, Commander Rayner has proven invaluable to the mission and remains a highlight of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

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Star Trek: Discovery

'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 4 uses time travel to remember the past 5 seasons

It's pretty obvious watching this episode that the cast and crew, at the very least, strongly suspected that this was going to be the last season of "Discovery" when it was written.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 4

With the news that "Star Trek: Lower Decks" is ending after its current season, that really only leaves "Strange New Worlds" as the last remaining Nu-Trek series currently airing on television. 

And, a word to the wise: If you're a die-hard fan of " Discovery ," make sure you have your own physical media, 'cause no one likes being at the mercy of whatever an overpaid television executive thinks. You're welcome. Moreover, after this final season of "Discovery," we're going to have until wait until next year for the next season of " Strange New Worlds ." It's all starting to feel a bit like "Game of Thrones" all over again.

Episode four, entitled "Face the Strange," is without a doubt the best entry so far in the fifth season, and one can't help but wonder after watching exactly when the cast and production crew were first informed that this would be the last season, because it was definitely before this episode was actually written. The reason? It is, for all intents and purposes, a 60-minute, time-travel-powered, postscript-style reminiscence of all elements of all five seasons — or as much as you can cram into an hour — and what a rollercoaster ride it's been.

So when Alex Kurtzman or Michelle Paradise or whoever it is that actually has authority in the writer's room entered said room, put down their grande iced sugar-free vanilla half-double decaffeinated half-caff latte with soy milk and a twist of lemon in their Paramount-branded 40oz Stanley Clean Slate Quencher H2.0 Flowstate™ Tumbler and announced, "Wouldn't it be great to revisit chapters from seasons one, two, three and four?" no doubt everyone cheered. "And how will this be possible?" asked Kurtzman, to which an eager-beaver intern no doubt excitedly thrust their hand up into the air and exclaimed, "Why, time travel , of course!"

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"Quite right," replied Kurtzman (in our imaginations, at least), adding, "But it can be for one episode, so it has to be an isolated, self-contained form of time travel." Thus was conceived the "Time Bug," and with it came a ton of technobabble to precisely explain its parameters. Although quite why Zora didn't detect it was not addressed. Also, you know, transporters. 

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But this clever Time Bug, which can manipulate time in just about any way that's convenient for the writers to overcome any potential chronological complications — like life-changing paradoxes — came onboard the USS Discovery by way of that shifty Malinne "Moll" Ravel (Eve Harlow), who managed to infiltrate the Trill homeworld undetected, as we saw last week .

As a result, we get reminder glimpses of Michael Burnham's first coming aboard the USS Discovery way, way, way back in season one, complete with appropriate uniforms and everything. We get a fleeting reminder of the Red Angel and the battle with Control , naturally The Burn gets a mention, and there's even a not-very-subtle nod to the short-Trek " Calypso ." It's all a little bit like a Greatest Hits album that doesn't include any of the tracks that you actually liked, being played at 45 instead of 33. Remember vinyl?

Since it's now obvious that this season was written after the cancellation announcement had been made to the cast and crew, the single most important question is, Will the show benefit from that, or will it suffer? Are the remaining six episodes going to be a drawn-out epilogue, tied loosely together with a mostly lame plot? Or, will advance knowledge of the show's future actually serve the writers well, allowing them to produce something above and beyond the normal level of writing? 

There's even a very entertaining scene, in which 23rd-century Burnham must fight her 32nd-century self. Of course, the illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator fitted to the space bug prevents any changes from affecting the timeline, so you know, phew . 

Most of the original Discovery bridge reappear, as close to how they looked seven years ago as possible, and even Lt. Cmdr. Airiam (played by Sara Mitich in the first season and Hannah Cheesman in the second) makes a cameo, so that's nice. Also, we can really see as Sonequa Martin-Green flips between her two Burnhams just how effective that dreadlock hair piece that she wears through this season actually is. Half the show's budget probably went to that. 

 —   Watch the bittersweet trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery's final season (video)

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It's a fun filler episode, and, even if it doesn't advance the plot an inch, it does allow character development to take place, particularly between Burnham and Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie). Arguably the biggest surprise was that the writers were able to resist putting Captain Pike (Anson Mount) into this episode. 

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery," and every other episode of every "Star Trek" show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the U.S., while "Prodigy" has found a new home on Netflix.  

Internationally, the shows are available on  Paramount Plus  in Australia, Latin America, the U.K. and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on  Paramount Plus  in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

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When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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• EFH Dreadlock hair piece? Really? Before you publish, please do your research. Those are not dreadlocs. She is wearing braids. Yikes and cringe. I'm embarrassed for you. Reply
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