Why did Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 never materialize? Details explored 

It's been a year since Paramount+ canceled Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 and aired its series finale titled Life, Itself. The news of the show's cancellation was not only tragic for Star Trek fans but also shocking for the creative team behind the show.

As reported by Variety, Paramount+ did not announce the show's ending until after the cast and crew wrapped up shooting for Season 5. While it was just another season finale for them, the news was shocking and disappointing. The decision also led the team to take an additional three days to film an epilogue, to give a definitive feeling to the fans.

Even one year after the Discovery left for its last mission, fans are wondering why Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 was canceled by Paramount+. While the network has not disclosed the exact reason, it was likely due to budget restraints and the pressure to turn their streaming content profitable.

Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Wilson Cruz in the main cast.

More on this in our story.

Why was Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 canceled?

Since Discovery was hailed as one of the best modern series from the franchise, which also paved the way for further Star Trek shows, it is a bummer that fans did not get to see Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 materialize on the small screen.

The creative team and cast behind the show were equally surprised by the show's cancellation, which makes it explicitly clear that axing Discovery was a Paramount decision. While the network has not given an official reason for the show's cancellation, it was reported that Paramount+ is making efforts to cut costs, become profitable, and adopt a new strategy.

The reason behind Star Trek: Discovery Season 6's cancellation is considerable pressure on Paramount Global to turn its streaming ventures profitable. In March 2023, Paramount Global's CFO Naveen Chopra revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that 2023 was their 'peak year' in streaming investment, following which the network became highly selective of its content. Since Paramount+ is currently adopting this cost-cutting strategy, Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 was axed.

Can Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 materialize in the future?

While Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 was canceled by Paramount+, the Season 5 finale saw many characters well and alive, who could still return in other shows of the franchise. In an interview with Den Of Geek, showrunner Michelle Paradise contemplated the possibilities and the show's future:

“In terms of a possible season 6 and how we would’ve mixed things up further moving forward, I can’t really answer that because we didn’t really get farther down the road. We were in the very early stages of thinking what a season 6 might be when we found out that season 5 would be our last.”

In another interview with Radio Times, she admits that the franchise is always brimming with possibilities:

"If they wanted to do that, and if the actors wanted to do it, I think that’s certainly a possibility. There are so many wonderful stories that we have told, and so many other stories that we could tell if there’s a desire to do that."

The cancellation of Star Trek: Discovery Season 6 forced the writers to include an additional 16-minute epilogue, set 30 years after the Season 5 finale. This sequence (called Coda by Paradise) certainly provides some clarity to the show's fans, who were suddenly met with the tragic news of its cancellation.

Star Trek: Discovery is available on Paramount+.

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