Star Trek: Discovery’s final season kicked off at the SXSW conferance in Austin, Texas this past week, where the cast and showrunners made an appearance at an early screening of the show’s season premiere and then took part in an hour-long discussion panel focused on Discovery’s upcoming adventure.
 
Following surprising cancellation announced last March — which came after the fifth season had wrapped production — the show’s cast and crew reconvened for some additional filming prior to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last summer, allowing the show a chance to put some closure into the finale episode.
 
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During Tuesday’s panel, series showrunner Michelle Paradise spoke about how the cancellation impacted the final season, and getting the opportunity to film a “coda” for Star Trek: Discovery as a whole.
 

“We didn’t know [Season 5 would be the end]. We finished shooting in November of [2022] and then found out around the New Year — and we can’t say enough of our gratitude to CBS Studios and Paramount Plus for giving us the opportunity to go back and shoot some additional days, because we felt like we really then got to wrap up the series. Season 5 will feel like a satisfying journey.

 

Then, we were able to kind of do a little bit extra to wrap up the show as a whole, and we’re so grateful for that. So when we got to go back and shoot that material we knew going in that those few days were going be the last days — and it was kind of cool, because we got to go in knowing that and really just appreciate being there; appreciate being with one another.

 

We got to say goodbye on the sets, which was just a really special and bittersweet thing. So it was wonderful to get to do that.”

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The writer-producer also commented on if the cancellation impacted Season 5’s storyline.

“I don’t think [knowing about the cancellation] would have [changed Season 5]… Each season in Discovery we explore big themes and big ideas; this season is no exception. Without giving any spoilers away, this season is – thematically — about purpose and meaning. I’m not sure you can get much bigger than that, ultimately.

 

So after we finished filming and then found out that this would be our last season, we sort of talked about it – if this [had to] happen on any given season of the show, it felt like this was the season for that to have happened. Because when we found out that we were going to be able to shoot some additional material, we looked back, but there was nothing that we changed in the season itself.

 

We did some additional shooting, but we didn’t do reshoots. We didn’t have to go back and chop up episodes and change a bunch of things. It felt very organic, what we were doing for those last few days of shooting, and I think people who don’t know that we didn’t know going in  that it would be our last season will have no idea that we didn’t know. I think it will have felt planned.

 

Even for people who do know, I think it will feel very, very satisfying when we get to the end, I think we’ve done really wonderful work over the season just for the season itself — and then, our characters get, you know, a proper ending.

 

We’re fortunate it’s not ending on some sort of cliffhanger. Are they all gonna die? And then we never find out? Spoiler alert, they don’t all die! [Laughs] I’m super appreciative of all of that, I know we all are.”

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Discovery actor Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber) also weighed in, revealing that he was not able to return to set for the additional finale filming.

“[This SXSW event] has been really cathartic for me because I didn’t get to [participate in the additional filming] — I had already taken a job. So when they went back to film the the end of the series, I couldn’t join the group. I was in Thailand.

 

Sonequa [Martin-Green] was kind enough to call me from the party afterwards, and she ruined my makeup… and I had to go back and get it redone. [Laughs]. So this has been my opportunity to see each other again.”

We’ll have more coverage from the SXSW panel this week, and stay tuned for interviews with Discovery’s cast and creatives as we get closer to the Season 5 premiere this April.