A first look at Star Trek: Lower Decks’ final season sees D’Vana Tendi returning to her pirate roots.
In honor of Star Trek Day, the Star Trek YouTube page released an exclusive clip of Tendi posing as an infatuated date to help her Orion pirate family take over a wealthy merchant’s ship. After successfully getting them aboard and defeating the guards, however, she convinces them to spare the whole crew rather than leave one survivor to tell the tale. Nonetheless, Tendi begrudgingly makes an exception so one Orion can take the merchant’s nose jewelry as a trophy.
Season 4 concluded with Tendi leaving the USS Cerritos and returning to Orion as compensation for her family’s assistance in defeating ex-Starfleet cadet Nick Locarno’s rogue fleet of Federation and non-Federation ships. Earlier this year, it was announced that Star Trek: Lower Decks would not be renewed for another season, though showrunner Mike McMahan teased the show concluding in such a way that it leaves room for more Trek stories to be told. According to McMahan, “There isn’t a natural end to being Lower Decks because I feel like I am still learning stuff all the time. So yes, the characters do go through a change this season, but ultimately where we end, you don’t feel like they aren’t still Lower Decks and that we couldn’t keep telling those kinds of stories.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks Will Go Out on a High Note
Since its premiere, Lower Deck’s cast has not only gained more acclaim with each new season, but also seen its characters appear in various Trek media. These appearances currently range from Lieutenant Shaxs cameoing in IDW’s Star Trek comics to Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome playing Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner in live-action on an episode of Star Trek:
Strange New Worlds. While it’s unclear where the Cerrito crew’s stories might continue post-cancelation, Quaid expressed some hope earlier this year that the show will “find a new home” on another platform, mirroring the fate of Star Trek: Prodigy. The franchise’s other animated series was initially canceled by Paramount+ last year but ultimately picked up by Netflix, with its second season releasing to widespread acclaim.
While Strange New Worlds season 3 is the only confirmed returning Trek show, several new franchise entries remain in development. Last month, production officially began on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, boasting a cast of new actors and established Trek faces like Oded Fehr’s Charles Vance and Robert Picardo’s Doctor. Additionally, Paramount dropped its first teaser for Star Trek: Section 31, a Discovery spinoff movie featuring the return of Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou.