The Final 'Star Trek: Discovery' Voyage Will Commence in 2024 — Why Was it Canceled?

Back in 2017, the famed Star Trek universe (which began in 1966) expanded with the arrival of Alex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller's prequel series Star Trek: Discovery. Set about 10 years before Captain Kirk's five-year mission and about 100 years before the events of Star Trek: Enterprise, the Paramount Plus series "follows the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new lifeforms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself," as detailed by the official Star Trek website.

Starring Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead), Mary Wiseman (Longmire), Doug Jones (The Shape of Water), and Anthony Rapp (Rent), among others, Star Trek: Discovery's intergalactic adventures will cease after Season 5, which will hit the streamer in early 2024, per Deadline.

So why was Star Trek: Discovery canceled?

“Star Trek: Discovery is a perennial favorite on the service, near and dear to the hearts of legions of Star Trek fans as well as all of us here at Paramount Plus,” Tanya Giles, chief programming officer at Paramount Streaming, said in a statement.

“The series and its incredible cast and creatives ushered in a new era for Star Trek when it debuted over six years ago, embracing the future of streaming with serialized storytelling, bringing to life deep and complex characters that honor Gene Roddenberry’s legacy of representing diversity and inclusion, and pushing the envelope with award-winning world-building,” she continued. “This final season will see our beloved crew take on a new adventure, and we can’t wait to celebrate the series’ impact on the franchise leading up to its final season early next year.”

With the series earning an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 85 percent (though it boasts an audience score of 36 percent), it's difficult to see why Star Trek: Discovery is getting the ax. In fact, according to Parrot Analytics, "the audience demand for Star Trek: Discovery is 19.3 times the demand of the average TV series in the United States in the last 30 days."

Known for being one of the flagship series to aid in launching CBS All Access (which is now Paramount Plus), Star Trek: Discovery has been praised for featuring a Black female lead and LGBTQ+ representation (via Dr. Hugh Culber and Lieutenant Paul Stamets).

Though little information about the reasoning behind Star Trek: Discovery's end has been revealed, Trekkies will be pleased to know that the Star Trek universe is far from complete. Future voyages await viewers.

Per Entertainment Weekly, Alex Kurtzman revealed at 2022's San Diego Comic-Con that the team is "currently developing two more Star Trek shows." Furthermore, fans "can certainly expect to see more Star Trek shows with female leads."

The first four seasons of Star Trek: Discovery are currently streaming on Paramount Plus.