Which streaming service has Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5? All to know

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 is the fifth and final season of the long-running Star Trek spinoff. The season will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ on Monday, October 28, 2024, with the first two episodes releasing simultaneously.

As with previous seasons, Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 will continue to follow the story of the lower-deck crewmates of the starship Cerritos, which the Federation considers one of its least important ventures. The season will be produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions, alongside Important Science, Secret Hideout, Roddenberry Entertainment, and Titmouse.

Production on Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 had been disrupted by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Though the animated series was technically not under the strike's coverage, the cast chose to strike anyway out of solidarity towards their peers. Production resumed after the strike ended in November.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 is available on Paramount+

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 will feature a colorful cast of characters. (Image via Paramount+)

The upcoming season of Star Trek: Lower Decks will stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States. Those looking to tune into the series can take a 7-day free trial for Paramount+ Essentials, followed by a monthly fee of $7.99.

Viewers who want to view Showtime's library of content alongside that of Paramount+ can take the Paramount+ with Showtime bundle, which will cost $12.99 a month instead. This will not be necessary to watch Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, but it will grant access to Showtime's vast library of content, which includes shows like Your Honor and Dexter: New Blood.

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What is Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 about?

The final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks focuses on the crew of the Cerritos being tasked with managing space potholes in the Alpha Quadrant. These space potholes are subspace rifts that can trigger galactic chaos if left unattended.

However, pothole duty isn't the only conflict faced by the lower deck crew of the Cerritos. As the official synopsis puts it:

"Pothole duty would be easy for Junior Officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford … If they didn’t also have to deal with an Orion war, furious Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries and scariest of all: their own career aspirations."

The "space pothole" arc will be the final major story beat of the series, given that Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 is the final season of the show. However, in an October 20 interview with ScreenRant, showrunner Mike Mahan spoke about his decision to produce the fifth season without leaning excessively into the "farewell" aspect.

As he put it:

So, this season does serve to be a great season of Lower Decks where we do great Star Trek stuff, really funny episodes, just all the stuff we love at Lower Decks.

And then, as we get to the end of the season, it doesn't feel like we've just stopped it. It's not like a movie where it's the end and then the credits roll. It's more like — Eugene, you'll get this, you're a big Taylor Swift fan — an era, right?

While there won't be any follow-up seasons to Star Trek: Lower Decks beyond season 5, Mike's comments leave open the possibility of the characters making appearances in other Star Trek media down the line.

It wouldn't be all that surprising if that came to pass, given that Star Trek has one of the longest-running expanded universes in film and television history. Crossovers in Star Trek media have occurred regularly, with notable examples being the original series Spock's appearance in the Kelvin Timeline films, and Star Trek Generations showing Captain Kirk and Pcard sharing the silver screen.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks is available for streaming on Paramount+. The fifth season will premiere on Monday, October 28, 2024.