Paramount+ released the teaser trailer for the final season of “Star Trek: Lower Decks” at Comic-Con today, and it’s already clear that fans have a lot to look forward to. The final season of “Lower Decks” will see the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos working to close “space potholes” — subspace rifts that are wreaking havoc throughout the Alpha Quadrant.
Of course, these goals would be pretty easy if the team didn’t have to contend with an Orion war, rageful Klingons, catastrophe after catastrophe, murders, and their own hopes and dreams.
The teaser debuted as part of the “Star Trek” panel, moderated by “Dear White People” creator Justin Simien, featuring cast members Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells and Jerry O’Connell, and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Mike McMahan.
In the trailer, Mariner is in deep denial about the end of the show — it was announced in January that Season 5 would be the last — and that somewhat continued in the panel itself, when Newsome and O’Connell both basically begged for a 6th season. We concur by the way so Paramount+, if you’re watching etc.
McMahan was more philosophical, promising, “There’s some amazing legacy guest stars… and just again, just from me personally… we’ve heard you this whole time, you fueled us through the pandemic and after… I promise you’re gonna love it when you see it.”
The panel also announced the first two episodes of season 5 will premiere on Thursday, Oct. 24, with subsequent episodes being released every Thursday until the finale on Dec. 19.
Other highlights from the panel include a hint from McMahan that while the show’s finale will “close a chapter,” it will not serve as a conclusion for the show’s ship or crew. Whether that means it might continue in some form was left ambiguous, though the panelists didrefer to “Futurama,” another acclaimed animated series that was revived — multiple times! — after being canceled by Fox in 2004.
Kurtzman was careful to note that “Futurama” takes place in another universe, but he did encourage fans to express support for the show and cited how “Star Trek: Prodigy” was saved. (The show debuted on Nickelodeon, moved to Paramount+ for Season Two and then was canceled again and has since been saved by Netflix.)
The series also stars Dawnn Lewis, Fred Tatasciore and Gillian Vigman. “Lower Decks” is produced by CBS’ Eye Animation Productions, CBS Studios’
animation arm; Secret Hideout; and Roddenberry Entertainment. Executive producers include Kurtzman and McMahan as well as Aaron Baiers, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth. Titmouse, the Emmy Award-winning independent animation production company, serves as the animation studio for the series.
The series was first renewed for a fifth season in March 2023.
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