It turns out that Star Trek: Discovery should have had a huge finale, and one star still wants it to happen!
Star Trek: Discovery had an interesting journey. The first season on CBS All Access (now Paramount+) wasn’t bad, although the prequel to TOS seemed lacking. Season 2 was a bit better but the show really took off in season 3.
That had the Discovery crew sent almost a thousand years into the future when the Federation had almost fallen. That allowed the series to cut loose with some great storytelling, mixing classic Trek themes with some inventive turns.
The series was unexpectedly canceled by Paramount+ in early 2023 after season 5 had wrapped. That meant they didn’t have a real series finale, although they were able to film an epilogue set a few decades ahead. Michael Burnam (Sonequa Martin-Green) was now an admiral ready for a new mission.
Fans were let down by this ending, and they’re not alone, as the stars agree it should have been bigger!
What the cast wanted from a Discovery finale
April 5 was the annual Trek Talks livestream to benefit charities. The entire Discovery cast took part, sharing stories and various anecdotes from the series.
The talk turned to the finale, with everyone agreeing they wished they had been given the chance to do a real epic final episode. Martin-Queen was upfront about how they had expected a big two-hour event, but Paramount refused.
“I remember from the moment we found out that the show was going to be ending and we were in talks with Paramount Plus about how we were going to wrap the show up. What they wanted was an additional episode to really be able to touch everyone’s stories, to really be able to close this thing out. We were not able to be afforded that. So they said, it’s not going to be an additional episode. It’s not going to be, I think what Alex and Michelle, originally wanted was a full two-hour movie finale kind of thing, right? And it was like, no, we’re not going to be able to do that. And it’s like, okay, well then what about an extra episode? No, we’re not going to be able to do that. Okay, what about like an extra like half of an episode or something like that?
What they ended up having was about 12 pages.. closed it up in 12 pages, right? I feel like that’s how long the coda was. It couldn’t have been any longer than that, right, David? I feel like it was really short. … I remember being really sad when I found out about that because suddenly our options were very limited of what we were going to be able to touch in that short period of time.”
Martin-Green shared the cast had tried to dream up a finale that could be done on a lower budget. She was happy that they at least got some sort of ending, just saddened it wasn't about the full cast, only focusing on Burnham.
David Alaja, who played Burnham’s lover Book, confessed he still wasn’t able to watch the finale as “in my mind, it have really weird kind of slightly selfish way, I haven’t watched this, it means that the show hasn’t ended.”
It’s obvious the crew had expected a much bigger ending, and fans will agree that the series deserved it!
Why Discovery needed a real ending
Every other Star Trek show has had a proper series finale. Even Enterprise, while often slammed by fans for the inclusion of Riker in a holodeck scenario, at least tried to wrap things up. TNG and DS9 both had wonderful finales and Discovery should have followed suit.
We needed to see more of Saru as a married diplomat; whether Tilly rose up higher in the ranks of Starfleet; if Rayner took over as captain of Discovery; Adria’s own talents as an officer; the relationship between Paul and Hugh; and the revelation David Croenberg’s mysterious Doctor Kovich was Agent Daniels from Star Trek: Enterprise.
That's without mentioning still more to explore on this 32nd century galaxy with other alien races, new species and adventures and how the Federation rebuilds. The upcoming Starfleet Academy show can play on that yet Discovery would have done it better.
The writers clearly had more planned for a sixth season involving the Progenitors and a trip further into the future. It was sad they couldn’t do it but even worse Paramount wouldn’t allow them to film one more episode to serve as a proper ending.
Discovery didn’t have a big cliffhanger that will never be resolved and in many ways, a better sendoff than Enterprise did. Yet it’s never good when a show doesn’t get a chance to do the finale they want and Martin-Green’s words will echo the feelings of fans that Star Trek: Discovery should have gotten a proper final voyage for the viewers.
Star Trek: Discovery streaming on Paramount+.