Star Trek: Discovery star Doug Jones has spoken up to answer fans about why his character, Saru, has been missing from recent Season 5 episodes.

In a tweet that was posted when Star Trek: Discovery's Final Season started, Doug Jones revealed some behind-the-scenes tea about Discovery's production: "I was off promoting Hocus Pocus 2 at the time," the actor wrote in response to a fan question, before adding that "I will be back for more before the season ends!"

The fan's initial question implied that Doug Jones hadn't appeared onscreen as Saru for a very different reason: "Correct me if I'm misremembering but didn't you say that you're stepping back from Heavy Makeup work so this is why you're absent from a couple episodes?"

Jones is typically open with his fans, and probably wanted to quell any speculation that he was having any conflict with donning the extensive makeup and prosthetic work needed to become Saru. The actor's bread and butter has been using his unique physique as a canvas to create any number of creatures he has brought to life onscreen - including his role as "The Amphibian Man" in the Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water.

Saru has been offscreen since Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 3, "Jinaal". While Jones was promoting Hocus Pocus 2 offscreen, onscreen, Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 sectioned off Saru's story arc, giving him a romantic connection to the Vulcan leader of Ni'Var, T'Rina, and a new diplomatic job as a Federation ambassador. Those two worlds collided as Saru struggled with announcing his engagement to T'Rina, due to the personal and political ramifications it will have, after seeing his diplomatic views called into question over his relationship. That problem is not likely to fade away easily.

Saru is one character that a lot of Star Trek fans are keeping an eye on, as Discovery comes to its end. The upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be a spinoff of Discovery, with the new version of Starfleet being re-established in the 32nd Century training a new class of recruits, most of whom are probably unfamiliar with the Federation's legacy. Saru is someone who could easily have recurring appearances in that new series, as diplomatic issues arise.

So don't count on Doug Jones staying away from Star Trek for very long.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 is now streaming on Paramount+.

What's going on with the Star Trek franchise? Star Trek Universe head Alex Kurtzman is one again addressing that question, and has a pretty decisive and clear answer for fans!

Kurtzman appeared on Star Trek's official talk show The Ready Room, and host Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation) asked Kurtzman how he's looking at the next steps in the Star Trek Universe now that's bigger than its ever been. Star Trek: Picard might have ended, and Star Trek: Discovery is currently streaming its final season on Paramount+; however, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a breakout hit for the franchise; Star Trek: Lower Decks has successfully opened up an adult animation lane for the franchise; Star Trek: Prodigy has made kid-friendly Star Trek a thing; Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will continue where Discovery leaves off (a rebooted Starfleet operating in the 32nd Century), and the Star Trek TV Universe will be getting its first feature-film event with Section 31, which will follow Disovery's breakout anti-hero character Empress Georgiou (Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh).

All of that aforementioned content falls under Alex Kurtzman's purview - so how much more expansion could he have in mind at the moment? Kurtzman gave an extensive answer to that question, letting fans know that there's plenty of Star Trek content right now, and any new installments of the franchise will have to pass an important bar of consideration before getting made.

"I spent a lot of time that first season [of Discovery] really kind of meditating on, you know, this incredible universe that has been around for so long and how much more can be done with it, how many amazing stories there are to tell. There's really an infinite number of stories to tell. I only want to make another Star Trek show if there's something to say. I don't wanna do it just to do more. I think that would be a huge disservice to Star Trek; it would be a huge disservice to the fans, and I think the fans would feel it instantaneously. They would know this is not authentic. Because if there's one thing that Trek fans know, it's authenticity.

So for me, it's really just about figuring out a way to make sure that we take our time, we're deliberate, we're thoughtful, and we deliver on the promise of something different every time."

Kurtzman's answer does leave some questions hanging in the air. Paramount's new Star Trek Origins theatrical movie is a whole separate topic, while Star Trek: Picard (like Discovery)

Sylvia Tilly, played by Mary Wiseman, has been on a long character journey during Star Trek: Discovery's five seasons on Paramount+. She started in Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 as a nervous Starfleet cadet finding her place on the USS Discovery, a version of Tilly that Wiseman revisited in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4. Now, Tilly is a teacher at Starfleet Academy (and whether that has anything to do with the upcoming Starfleet Academy series remains uncertain), though she's split her time between the academy and Discovery's unexpected final season mission throughout Star Trek: Discovery's Season 5.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 6, "Whistlespeak," sees Tilly embarking on an away mission with Captain Burnham. Since they're visiting a pre-warp society, the mission means donning alien makeup and unfamiliar clothing to blend in with the planet's population. The episode featured some scenes that could be considered callbacks to past Tilly moments and highlighted how far Tilly has come over the years. ComicBook.com had the opportunity to speak to Wiseman about the episode and what it says about Tilly's character arc as Star Trek: Discovery nears its end.

The environment and setting in "Whistlespeak" is beautiful. Can you tell me about filming? Was this on location?

Mary Wiseman: It was actually amazing. This one, we did film on location in this beautiful national park a couple hours outside of Toronto, so all that stuff in the woods is real and we got to shoot at night. It was just absolutely gorgeous to get to be in the woods and shoot that and it feels so appropriate for the episode also, because they live in such a natural world without the hyper technology that we see on the ship. It was just gorgeous, really nice change of pace.

This episode is an away mission with the Prime Directive being a factor, which is a common enough Star Trek trope but not one that Star Trek: Discovery has relied on much. Was it also a fun change of pace to get out of the Starfleet uniforms and have a bit of alien makeup on and do that who thing?

Oh my gosh, yeah. It was super fun to just... I don't know, I think there was something about having completely different visuals that felt really beautiful and saturated and refreshing and I haven't gotten to do a lot of stuff like that, go in disguise that much. I found it really fun to finally get to do the classic Star Trek thing of doing the alien makeup, so we blend in. So that was really fun, and it just has a completely different visual feel than the rest of the season and I think that's really special.

Are there things left kind of unchecked on your Star Trek bucket list or bingo card or whatever metaphor you want to use that you would still either wish you had gotten to do or would jump at a chance to do if they were to invite you to guest star on another series or something like that?

I got to do this a little bit, but I think anytime characters are possessed by another entity or something like that I think would be something that I would find really fun. Although, I kind of got to do that a little bit in the second season, I think, with the jahSepp and May character, but I think that would probably be the most fun thing to get to be. Also, getting to play the mirror characters was very fun, but anytime your character looks like themselves but is not themselves I would love to do more of that. I think that's very exciting. You just get to make a choice and run with it and see what happens.

Watching the episode, the sequence of Tilly and Michale Burnham running the race reminded me of the first season and the scenes of Tilly and Michael running laps around the ship. Given that the episode feels like coming full circle on Tilly's story, was that a thing that you guys discussed or were aware of, or was it almost incidental Did it occur to you at all?

I don't know that we discussed it. I think I took it as just this ongoing thing of Tilly running and her having a lot of stubborn endurance to get through something and not being a quitter, but particularly getting to do it with Michael when that's kind of where we started, I think is very sweet, especially as we're kind of winding up the series. I think there's a lovely symmetry to that. Yeah.

As I said, this episode feels a bit like coming full circle with Tilly. By the end, she's giving Rava the kind of support and comfort that she herself may have needed as a nervous cadet sharing a room with Michael Burnham. Having played here through that journey, how do you feel about where she is and what that arc looks like as it's nearing the end of the show?

I think Tilly has really found where she fits in terms of being a leader and really found her own voice as a teacher, and I think that's because she has these great wells of empathy and an ability to pull people up when they're down, but also alienated. I think she has a lot of empathy for people who feel isolated from the rest of a given community as she was with Tyler and even with Burnham right at the very beginning. To get to see how that's evolved and she's learned how to take almost that maternal quality to take care of others and help guide others through difficult moments, I love that. I love that as the conclusion to her arc.

Are you at all surprised about where Tilly's arc ended up in terms of her going from cadet to teacher? Is this at all where you expected her story to go when you first came on board in Star Trek: Discovery Season 1?

No. I think if I had to guess at Season 1, I thought the series would end with her being the captain of another ship just because that's everything that she says she wants. But in a very elegant way, what you think you want when you're younger is not always what you want when you're older and you have a little more self-knowledge and have gone through more experiences and find new things that feel good. I love that it's not what I expected, that it didn't just go by automatically to the things she said she always wanted, that it took a bit of a left turn and she found something that really suits her and really speaks to her talents.

Do you think that ambition she had carries over onto to this new path? Is she going to be running the academy at some point, you think, down the line?

Who knows? I think the cool thing about Tilly's story is that she came up with a very achievement-based paradigm of how you have value as a person, what gives you value is achievement, and started to question when things got hard and her life changed in so many different ways. What about what makes me happy? Or, what makes me feel fulfilled? Or, what do I think I can actually really add value as? So, I don't know, maybe someday she'll be a principal, but I don't think that's the goal. I think the goal right now for her is each and every student and being that person that changes people's lives when they're at really critical points in their life.

I'm sure you feel this way, I definitely feel this way, I will never forget the teachers who changed my life or made me feel special or heard or told me I really had something. Those people are people who I will think about for all my days. So even though it's not like you don't get a special epaulet or a special star on your badge, she's still doing incredibly important work and I think that will lead her, how much of a difference she can make.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.

Pinewood Toronto Studios has rechristened one of its filming spaces in Star Trek's honor. The Pinewood Group announced on Wednesday that the sound stage has been renamed "The Star Trek Stage" to celebrate it being one of Star Trek's long-running filming locations. Pinewood rechristened the 18,000 square foot stage at Pinewood Toronto Studios to be called "The Star Trek Stage" as the cast of Star Trek: Discovery filmed the last scenes of the Paramount+ series' fifth and final season. Star Trek: Discovery has filmed at Pinewood Toronto Studios since January 2017, with the studio now known as "The Star Trek Stage" used for housing the Ready Room and the International Federation HQ. Star Trek: Discovery also used the 45,900 sq foot Mega Stage and Stage 7, 9, and 12 at the studio, as well as its production facilities and workshops.

"Pinewood Toronto Studios has become a second home for our Star Trek family, and we're grateful that they've named a stage in honor of the franchise," says Alex Kurtzman, Executive Producer of the Star Trek franchise in a press release. "In addition to the amazing stage space, we've benefitted from working with the talented artists in front of the camera and behind the scenes and look forward to our partnership in Toronto on future series."

Sarah Farrell, General Manager of Pinewood Toronto Studios, added, "We are so delighted to have hosted Star Trek: Discovery over 5 seasons and the recently wrapped Star Trek: Section 31 movie event and to celebrate our longstanding relationship with the franchise with our own Star Trek Stage. We look forward to welcoming many more productions to come."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 on Paramount+

According to Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's official synopsis, the season "finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well... dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's cast includes 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). Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's recurring guest stars include Elias Toufexis (L'ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

CBS Studios produces Star Trek: Discovery, in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth are executive producers. Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise are co-showrunners.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek Adventures Second Edition will debut later this year, and publisher Modiphius Entertainment has provided ComicBook.com exclusive details on some of the coming changes with the revised game rules. The new information arrives on the same day that Modiphius will release its new Star Trek Adventures Second Edition Quickstart Guide, offering players their first chance to embark on a mission using the updated Star Trek Adventures Second Edition rules. A first look posted on Modiphius' company blog earlier this month revealed some of the upcoming changes in Star Trek Adventures Second Edition, and ComicBook.com can now provide more details and context as to how those changes will impact the game.

One of the biggest changes revealed in the Star Trek Adventures Second Edition first look is that Modiphius has eliminated challenge dice from the game. That means that Star Trek Adventures, based on the d20 system, will use only 20-sided dice in its updated rules. This has several ramifications for how Star Trek Adventures is played:

Extended Tasks in Star Trek Adventures Second Edition

Succeeding at a task will mark off a set number of spaces on the progress track. This number is called Impact and is usually equal to the department used for the task. For example, succeeding an engineering task with an Engineering rating of 4 results in an Impact of 4, though complications, Momentum, and Resistance may alter that number.

Once players have filed the progress track, the extended task is complete. Some extended tasks have breakthroughs that trigger new events or circumstances.

Ship Combat in Star Trek Adventures Second Edition

In Star Trek Adventures Second Edition, the shields of starships work similarly to extended tasks. Shields use the progress track. Ship-to-ship weapons can deal damage to shields based on Impact. When a ship attacks, subtract the target's Resistance from the weapon's damage, and then reduce the target's Shields by the difference. Shields are breached if the progress track reaches zero.

There's also the possibility that a ship will become shaken. A shaken ship will suffer additional effects from damage as its shields weaken, like how breakthroughs work in extended tasks.

Personal Combat in Star Trek Adventures Second Edition

Dropping challenge dice from Star Trek Adventures Second Edition also changes how personal combat works. Attacks and hazards will inflict Injuries, eventually leading to a character being Defeated, or unable to continue participating in a scene. However, characters can suffer Stress to avoid Injury (while NPCs spend Threat). If a character takes too much Stress, they become Fatigued but can still act, albeit while suffering a penalty.

Characters can recover from Stress by using Momentum, receiving aid from allies, with time to rest. Characters who work too hard might find themselves being ordered to rest. That might mean spending time with friends, or begrudgingly obeying orders from the ship's doctor, depending on the character.

Starships in Star Trek Adventures Second Edition

Star Trek Adventures Second Edition introduces refined Starship mechanics. Modiphius has three goals in mind:

• Better guidance for out-of-combat use such as being the setting of an adventure or for assistance in a task.
• Refined starship combat, including ensuring that those not at the helm or the tactical console can participate meaningfully.
• Reduced resource tracking, focusing on Momentum, Determination, and Threat.

A ship's Reserve Power is an extra energy reserve that exists after all essential systems have been accounted for. Rather than working as a pool of points to be spent on extra Momentum, as in Star Trek Adventures First Edition, Reserve Power in Star Trek Adventure Second Edition is something players either have or don't. In each scene, a ship gains the use of Reserve Power, which can be used in a few ways:

• Reroute Power allows players to direct power to a specific system, such as Structure, Weapons, or Engines. If a task is attempted using one of those systems to assist, the assist die counts as a 1. However, if the task generates a complication, two complications are created instead of one.
• Powered actions are actions that can only be taken when using Reserve Power. These actions include going to warp speed or regenerating shields during combat.

Once Reserve Power has been used in a scene, it can't be used again unless an engineer succeeds at Regain Power. Of course, a ship may lose Reserve Power by other means, such as battle damage, so it may be best for players to use it while they have it.

When does Star Trek Adventures Second Edition release?

The new Star Trek Adventures Second Edition Core Rulebook will debut at Gen Con. A new Star Trek Adventure Second Edition Starter Set will follow in the fall. The core rulebook includes rules for players to create original characters and starships, will be compatible with supplements and expansions previously released for Star Trek Adventures' first edition, and will feature artwork inspired by the look of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Gen Con 2024 kicks off on August 1st. Look for the Star Trek Adventures Second Edition Core Rulebook there, and for the Star Trek Adventures Second Edition Starter Set to follow in the fall.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 used time travel to consider how far the show's heroes have come. SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4, "Face the Strange," follow. Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 sees this season's antagonists, Moll and L'ak, sabotaging Discovery by using time travel technology to trap the ship and its crew in a time loop. Luckily, Captain Burnham, Commander Raynor, and Commander Stamets prove immune to the time loop's effects, which means it's up to them to free the rest of the crew. For Burnham, that means facing the person she used to be in the most literal sense.

It's a premise that feels serendipitous given that Star Trek: Discovery's writers didn't know this would be the show's last season. The episode's climax sees Captain Burnham coming face to face with science Specialist Burnam, her Season 1 self, assigned to Discovery as a mutineer prisoner under the command of Captain Lorca. This leads to an understandable misunderstanding, some fairly symmetrical violence, and ultimately, Captain Burnham giving her younger self the Vulcan nerve pinch.

Ahead of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's premiere, ComicBook.com had the opportunity to ask Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Burnham, what it was like to have to reconnect with the Season 1 version of the character. She admits it wasn't easy.

"It was challenging," Martin-Green says. "It was, and it really hit me once we were there shooting. I knew that it would probably be challenging when I was reading the script but when we were actually shooting, I thought, 'Oh my goodness, look at all the growth.' What a gift that the writers gave this character, that the writers gave me, to be able to have that context and see the contrast as well. And you go, 'Oh my goodness, this woman has grown.'"

Martin-Green continues, owning up to not being eager to revisit some difficult emotions that dominated Burnham during Discovery's first season. "But I didn't want to go back there. I actually was like, 'Oh, it was painful back there,' you know what I mean? Like, 'Oh, gosh, sweet Burnham, when you were still so riddled with guilt and pain and, insecurity.' So it was hard, actually, to do that. I mean, once I was in it, I was in it, but yeah, I'm so grateful that we got to see, look, at all the growth that has happened. It's easy to forget when you're in the present moment, but when you look back, you can really see."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 on Paramount+

According to Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's official synopsis, the season "finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well... dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's cast includes 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). Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's recurring guest stars include Elias Toufexis (L'ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

CBS Studios produces Star Trek: Discovery in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth are executive producers. Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise are co-showrunners.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.

The rogue crew of the USS Defiant takes a dangerous detour into the realm of Romulan politics in Star Trek: Defiant's next story arc, "The Stars of Home." The new arc begins in Star Trek: Defiant #17, from writer Christopher Cantwell and artist Angel Unzueta. The story builds on Sela's character-redefining story in Star Trek: Defiant 2024 Annual and her recent return in Star Trek: Defiant's most recent issues. The story casts Sela's father (mentioned in Star Trek: The Next Generation but not seen until Star Trek: Defiant), the Romulan General Revo, as a new problem for the Defiant crew to deal with as Nero's coup and the Romulan star's supernova both loom in the Romulan Star Empire's near future. Here's IDW Publishing's synopsis for Star Trek: Defiant #17:

"Political corruption ensues as Sela and her father, General Revo, leverage the imprisoned Defiant crewmates to kidnap the Romulan praetor and chairman of Tal Shiar Intelligence to advance their sinister plot to take over Romulus..."

"This next Defiant arc delves into all things Romulan and finds Worf and his rogue crew in the deep end of some serious scheming that has galactic implications," Cantwell says. "We drop into a serpentine Romulan conspiracy, which ties together the Romulan supernova on the empire's distant horizon with Commander Sela herself, a decades-long favorite Trek character of mine that has been integral to our book since nearly the start."

He continues, "Most excitingly for me is the reveal of a never-before-seen character in Star Trek, one we only got to tease at a distance in our January Annual--Sela's father. In this arc, we dig deeper into who this man is, his position within Romulan Command, how he has molded Sela, and how she might break from him once and for all in her own bid for power... and we also put Spock right in the middle of them."

IDW's Star Trek Group Editor Heather Antos adds, "Out of the depths of the parasitic hell, our Defiant crew is kidnapped by a Romulan vessel and forced undercover once again, but this time from beyond the Neutral Zone. Christopher Cantwell and Angel Unzueta are raising all the galactic stakes in this arc. If Star Trek is taking things to the Gods, Defiant is bringing the fight to the streets... and it is getting dirty."

Miles O'Brien, the beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character, is featured on Star Trek: Defiant #17 Cover B, by Jake Bartok. When asked about the cover, Antos teased, "You mean O'Brienheimer? I guess you'll just have to read this arc and find out..."

Star Trek: Defiant #17 goes on sale on July 24th. The final day to pre-order the issue is June 17th. Here's the solicitation information:

Star Trek: Defiant #17

• Writer: Christopher Cantwell
• Artist: Angel Unzueta
• Colorist: Marissa Louise
• Letterer: Clayton Cowles
• Cover A by Angel Unzueta
• Cover B by Jake Bartok
• Cover RI by Declan Shalvey

Enter a brand-new arc and the beginning of a new era for the disavowed, mercenary crew of the U.S.S. Defiant!

Political corruption ensues as Sela and her father, General Revo, leverage the imprisoned Defiant crewmates to kidnap the Romulan praetor and chairman of Tal Shiar Intelligence to advance their sinister plot to take over Romulus...

• On Sale Date: 07/24/2024
• FOC Date: 06/17/2024

Star Trek: Discovery stars Doug Jones and David Ajala discuss some of the complicated relationships and romances that develop during Season 5. The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery kicked off earlier this month, reminding viewers why now is a good time to be a Star Trek fan. The next theatrically-released Star Trek movie is set to begin filming this fall, with a 2025 release date, and there are other Star Trek projects on the horizon to look forward to. But a topic that Star Trek: Discovery fans will be curious about is the romances between the show's cast.

ComicBook.com spoke to Doug Jones and David Ajala ahead of the debut of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, where we got to ask them about the romances and relationships their characters face. Commander Saru actor Doug Jones replied, "It is a challenge, yes. A romance has a challenge to it, especially when you're so career-driven as both Saru and President T'Rina, who plays my love interest, both are. We're both at a certain level of responsibility, and how do we carry forward with those responsibilities and those careers, while also finding each other in a romantic way for the first time for both of us. I don't think either of these people have ever had a romance in their lifetimes before. This is both new and awkward for them. They're kind of like teenagers, but they're also trying to hold their dignity together while doing so. That's the challenge."

Star Trek: Discovery stars open up on romances in Season 5

Jones also talked about how Saru is up for a promotion, and has to factor in his feelings for T'Rina while also thinking about whether to take the promotion. For her part, T'Rina has said not to let their feelings for each other be a determining factor in his decision.

"I think that's a really important point Doug mentioned," Cleveland Booker actor David Ajala chimed in. "It's explored in a similar but different way with Michael Burnham. There's this episode in Season 5 where Michael Burnham has to arrive at a place and do some real soul-searching work to understand her purpose. Because she's lived a life that's very binary, where it's career-oriented and there's no room for being weak or to be seen not knowing the answers, and then she goes to a period in her life where she has to unpack these things and understand all these things can exist equally and together."

He added, "For me, that's a very powerful thing I'm looking forward to everyone seeing. And Book plays an important part in that specific episode, with Michael soul-searching."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 is now streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is wrapping up after its fifth season, which is set to release on Paramount+ sometime later this year. If one of the show's leads get his way, however, the show will happen to live on through another streamer or network. Shortly after news surfaced of Paramount+'s intentions to cancel the series, Jack Quaid shared a heartfelt message on Instagram in which he revealed he hoped the show could find a home elsewhere.

"I'm so sad to announce that Paramount Plus won't be moving forward with more seasons of Lower Decks. I can't begin to tell you what an honor it's been to be a part of this show and the Star Trek universe at large. I am unbelievably grateful for 5 awesome seasons with this wonderful family," Quaid said in his post.

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A post shared by Jack Quaid (@jack_quaid)

He added, "I want to thank each and every person who put so much of their hard work and talent into every episode. You are AMAZING. The good news is that everyone who makes Lower Decks LOVES making Lower Decks. I could play Boimler for 17 more seasons. No joke. I'm serious. I love that purple-haired nerd. Hopefully we find a new home, but until then please look forward to an amazing season five (airing this fall).

There's been no indication yet that Lower Decks is actually being shopped around, and series creators Alex Kurtzman and Mike McMahan didn't touch on the subject on a statement shared to the official Star Trek website.

"While five seasons of any series these days seems like a miracle, it's no exaggeration to say that every second we've spent making this show has been a dream come true. Our incredible cast, crew and artists have given you everything they have because they love the characters they play, they love the world we've built, and more than anything we all love love love Star Trek," the statement reads. "We're excited for the world to see our hilarious fifth season which we're working on right now, and the good news is that all previous episodes will remain on Paramount+ so there is still so much to look forward to as we celebrate the Cerritos crew with a big send-off. ... We remain hopeful that even beyond season five, Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford and the whole Cerritos crew will live on with new adventures."

The first four seasons of Lower Decks are now streaming on Paramount+ while Season Five has yet to set a release date.

In this episode, the ComicBook Nation Crew reviews the new Fallout series from Amazon Video as well as the new episode of X-Men '97 and all the craziness from CinemaCon. That includes the new footage from Deadpool and Wolverine, Sonic 3, Inside Out 2, Gladiator 2, & Captain America: Brave New World! We also break down the big reveals (like that Transformers and GI Joe crossover) and even some comics with Ultimate X-Men, so get ready for a big show!

Civil War Review

Here's what host Kofi Outlaw said in his Civil War (2024) review:

With Civil War Garland takes on his most ambitious story yet, writing and directing a vision of what it would look like if America's Culture War explodes into an all-out Civil War - and not in some distant dystopian future, but right here, and right now.

By the end of the film, that sentiment persists, as we're left to wonder if a nation so violently divided could ever be healed again - even with significant symbolic action or "victory," on one side. More terrifying yet is the notion that all this horror and carnage is bubbling just below the surface of our current society, waiting to make this film all too real.

Civil War will not be an easy film to engage with, but it is an important one to consider.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Fallout TV Series Review

Here's what ComicBook gaming editor Tanner Dedmon said in his Fallout TV series review:

Even where the Fallout show slips on occasion with an unneeded kiss or a questionable encounter, time and time again, I kept marveling at how authentic the world felt. The original story told in Fallout is paramount to this trait since it lets us focus on the characters, world, and narrative rather than getting hung up on shot-for-shot remakes of key moments. Fallout is technically canon, according to Bethesda's Todd Howard, so it'll be under the microscope for nitpicking and "well actually" moments, but even when the show takes leaps to expand on the world, it always feels deserved.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Paramount+ has renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for Season 4 and confirmed that Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 will be the last season of the animated comedy. Star Trek Strange New Worlds, the live-action Star Trek: Discovery spinoff that serves as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, is now filming its third season in Toronto to debut on Paramount+ in 2025. In a statement, co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers and executive producer Alex Kurtzman said, "On behalf of the cast and crew of 'Strange New Worlds' we are thrilled and grateful to continue our voyages together. We can't wait for you to join us and the crew of the Enterprise on another season of exploration and adventure."

Star Trek: Lower Decks' fifth and final season will debut on Paramount+ in the fall. Kurtzman, an executive producer on the series, and creator Mike McMahan released the following statement: "We wanted to let you know that this fall will be the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. While five seasons of any series these days seems like a miracle, it's no exaggeration to say that every second we've spent making this show has been a dream come true. Our incredible cast, crew and artists have given you everything they have because they love the characters they play, they love the world we've built, and more than anything we all love love love Star Trek. We're excited for the world to see our hilarious fifth season which we're working on right now, and the good news is that all previous episodes will remain on Paramount+ so there is still so much to look forward to as we celebrate the Cerritos crew with a big send-off.

"Finally, thank you for always being so creative and joyful, for filling convention halls and chanting LOWER DECKS!" We remain hopeful that even beyond season five, Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford and the whole Cerritos crew will live on with new adventures."

This news comes as Star Trek: Discovery, the series that launched the streaming era of Star Trek television, is airing its fifth and final season. Previously, Paramount+ canceled Star Trek: Prodigy, the first animated Star Trek series aimed at children, despite its second season being in production, and removed the show's released episodes from its library. Prodigy has since found a new home at Netflix, which will debut Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 later this year. Star Trek: Picard also concluded with its third season in 2023.

Paramount+ recently wrapped filming on its first straight-to-streaming Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Section 31, and is developing another Star Trek: Discovery spinoff, Starfleet Academy. ComicBook.com had the opportunity to speak to Kurtzman, who oversees the Star Trek television franchise, about the future of the franchise as its first wave of streaming shows begin coming to their end.

"I think that contrary to what some people think, we're not really in the volume business," Kurtzman said. "It's not about turning out lots of shows, it's about turning out shows that mean something. So for me, I think I'm looking for every show to be different than the one that came before it. That's really the only thing that matters. I'm not looking at this as, 'Okay I'm planning out the next 20 years, what are we going to do?' I'm really thinking more, 'What's a story we haven't told, a crew we haven't met yet, and an adventure we haven't gone on?' That is really the qualification."

He added, "What I don't want is for you to feel like, 'Well, I don't really need to watch this show because I've already watched that show, so I've gotten my fill of Star Trek.' I want each show to feel individualized and specific. And a lot of that has to do with trusting different voices and different showrunners to come in and give their read on Star Trek, and tell their version of a story that's interesting to them. And that's the way you keep it fresh."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 3, "Jinaal" debuted on Paramount+ on Thursday, bringing a big change for Adira Tal. [SPOILERS for the episode follow.] For as long as they've been on Star Trek: Discovery, Adira has been involved with Gray Tal, a Trill who became a literal part of Adira after his death. Through some sci-fi shenanigans involving the synthetic golem body introduced in Star Trek: Picard, Gray got a new lease on life. He returned to Trill to train as a Guardian while Adira remained on Discovery. It seems distance has led Gray and Adira on different paths as the couple decided to call it quits, but remain friends, in "Jinaal." ComicBook.com had the opportunity to ask Blu del Barrio, who plays Adira, about the storytelling opportunities this opens up for Adira in the remainder of Discovery's final season.

"Without saying too much, I think they show a lot more initiative than they have in the past with their own path and with what they want to do, and I think putting themselves, maybe not first but a little bit higher on the list, which is a huge change for them," del Barrio says. And I think that the rest of the season is time that they are able to be a bit more introspective and actually think about, "What do I want? What is going to make me feel better? What do I want my path to look like?" We've usually seen them much more externally focused on other people and how other people are perceiving them. So this is, I think it's just a big growing moment for them."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 on Paramount+

According to Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's official synopsis, the season "finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well... dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's cast includes 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). Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's recurring guest stars include Elias Toufexis (L'ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

CBS Studios produces Star Trek: Discovery in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth are executive producers. Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise are co-showrunners.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.

The next theatrically-released Star Trek movie is set to begin filming this fall, with plans to debut in 2025. Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins announced the news during Thursday's Paramount Pictures CinemaCon panel. While the studio is developing multiple Star Trek films, the next to begin shooting is the origin story movie with Toby Haynes directing. The movie is said to be set decades before 2009's Star Trek movie, which created the splinter timeline. in which the sequels Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond also take place. This raises some questions about the exact nature of the film's plot, but Paramount is keeping those details secret for now.

Seth Grahame-Smith, who worked on Star Trek Beyond, is writing the new Star Trek movie's script. Haynes rose to prominence with his work on sci-fi television shows like Doctor Who, Black Mirror, and the Star Wars series Andor.

What about Star Trek 4?

Star Trek 4 is still also in development as the final chapter of the Star Trek reboot saga with the Enterprise crew played by Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, and John Cho (and, previously, the late Anton Yelchin). That film hasn't yet found a director to replace Matt Shakman, who was attached before departing to direct Marvel's Fantastic Four reboot.

"I had a great time working on 'Star Trek' for a little over a year, working closely with J.J. Abrams and everyone at Paramount, and I love that franchise, and I love that cast that J.J. put together, and it would have been an unbelievable pleasure to work with them on the fourth installment there," Shakman said during an interview with The Wrap. "But movies have different journeys and momentums and schedules are a little bit mercurial, and so when the 'Fantastic Four' opportunity came up, it was just too hard to pass up, and to go back home to Marvel, a place that I worked on 'WandaVision' at, with those people who are wonderful collaborators. It's really a family there and to be able to go back and tackle something that I truly love, and they're very similar in some ways: they both were launched in the '60s at the same time, they're both about optimism and looking to the stars and technology can solve everything and they're about family too -- the family you have, the family you make. So they're aligned in many ways and speak to my heart and equally, so I'm excited to be working on 'Fantastic Four.'"

Lyndsey Anderson Beer, one of the film's writers, also departed the project to focus on another film, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. "I wrote a couple drafts of that before I had to leave for Pet Sematary. And it was originally, the seed of the idea came from J.J. himself, who's such a creatively generous person, and it was amazing collaborating with him," Anderson Beer shared with ComicBook.com of leaving Star Trek 4. "And it was very sad to leave our Zoom sessions to focus on [Pet Sematary: Bloodlines], but this was my baby, so I had to prioritize."

Paramount+ is also producing its own straight-to-streaming Star Trek movies. The first, Star Trek: Section 31, recently wrapped filming.

Star Trek: Discovery released the third episode of its fifth and final season today, "Jinaal," which sees the USS Discovery crew returning to the planet Trill in pursuit of the Progenitor technology related to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Chase." To get the next clue to continue the quest, Dr. Hugh Culber has to allow himself to become possessed by the memories and personalities of a long-dead Trill host, which gives Star Trek: Discovery star Wilson Cruz, who plays Culber, the chance to inhabit an entirely different character. ComicBook.com had the opportunity to talk to Cruz about the change in character ahead of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's premiere.

"I will not lie and say that it wasn't nerve-wracking," Cruz admits. "You know, they hand you a script two weeks before and you read it and you go, 'Ohm I have questions,' and literally the answer to my questions were all, 'Whatever you want," you know, "Whoever you want him to be. I love parameters and there were none. That could also be very freeing, and so it took me a minute to kind of develop this guy and just pray that it was the right thing."

Cruz continues, "Thank God for Sonequa and for David because they kind of cheerleadered me on and they were like, 'Yes, keep going, keep going.' But I've seen it and I'm really happy with it. I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't watch it like this, hoping and praying that it all worked out, but I'm really proud of the work on that one. I really am. I'm really, really proud of it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 on Paramount+

According to Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's official synopsis, the season "finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well... dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's cast includes 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). Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's recurring guest stars include Elias Toufexis (L'ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery returned last week with its two-episode Season 5 premiere on Paramount+, and though there were hints at a connection to Star Trek: The Next Generation ahead of the premiere, many fans were surprised by references to the TNG Season 6 episode "The Chase." Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's plot is a sequel to that Next Generation episode as Captain Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery crew race to acquire the technology of the so-called Progenitors, the ancient aliens whose DNA seeded all humanoid life in the galaxy. ComicBook.com spoke with Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise - who also wrote the Season 5 premiere episode, "Red Directive" - about how "The Chase" entered into the Star Trek: Discovery conversation.

"Someone brought it up in the room," Paradise says. "It was an episode that had kind of stuck with me just because it explores such big ideas and then at the end, they just kind of, they move on and I had so many questions at the end of that episode and of course, in the episode, they're not named Progenitors, we named them that and we were actually wondering back in season four, if they should be part of that season. and then as the story continued in season four with the 10-C, it just became too much to include them. But the idea of the progenitors and what that meant and the kinds of questions that we were all asking sort of stuck with us. And so when we came into Season 5, knowing that we wanted kind of an action-adventure season, we returned to that idea of how life was seeded in the galaxy and what that might have been like and who did it and how and all of that and it then became the core of our adventure."

Star Trek: Discovery will end with its fifth season, which Paradise and the rest of the show's cast and crew did not learn until after they'd completed production. Despite that, Paradise believes they'd have stuck to following up on "The Chase" even if they had known Discovery's fifth season would be its last.

"You know, we've actually had that conversation that, of all the seasons, this one does feel like the most fitting," Paradise says. "I think we would have, even in retrospect, there's nothing we've talked about that we would have done differently if we had known that it was the last season. And certainly, in terms of the questions it raises, the journeys that our heroes are on in terms of searching for meaning and finding out more about themselves and growth, all of that naturally comes up when you're talking about life itself if you will. I think we probably would have gone that same direction."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 on Paramount+

According to Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's official synopsis, the season "finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well... dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's cast includes 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). Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's recurring guest stars include Elias Toufexis (L'ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.