Star Trek: Lower Decks may be about to embark on its fifth and final season later this month, but it is determined to go out on top.
During the Star Trek Universe panel at New York ComicCon this weekend, Lower Decks series creator Mike McMahan suggested that just because the show is ending it doesn’t mean its the end for the characters. “It’s more of like an era, right?” he said. “Like, Lower Decks the show is one era for these characters. They were there before, and they’re going to go on and do all sorts of interesting stuff after.”
McMahan states that finding the right balance between ending the series while leaving the door open to the characters’ futures in those final episodes was a tricky thing.
“I didn’t want to do a final season that felt like a big goodbye kind of thing,” he explains. “And then, as it was going, as we were writing it, that felt unfair to fans.”
In addition to McMahan, the panel consisted of all four lead voice actors – Tawny Newsome (Mariner), Jack Quaid (Boimler), Noël Wells (Tendi), and Eugene Cordero (Rutherford). It is noted that this was the first time all four actors had shared a convention panel stage together.
“It’s funny,” stated Quaid. “We almost never record together, but we have gotten really close. I think that’s because Mike has assembled a beautiful team of weirdos.”
Quaid and Newsome did have time working together recently when Mariner and Boimler made the jump from animation to live action thanks to a pesky time portal in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover episode “These Old Scientists.” It was a crossover that took Quaid and Newsome out of the recording booth and onto a soundstage in front of cameras.
“I think what really helped was being able to be directed by Jonathan Frakes,” Quaid stated enthusiastically. “That was unbelievable. He’s so cool. I just had the best time getting to actually be on a practical Enterprise set.”
Newsome added that it was nice to be able to create the banter Mariner shares with Boimler in real life, where it is often recreated through editing when they record their lines separately for Lower Decks. “It was really cool to have the camaraderie but to actually be at work,” she stated. “Because we all record separately, we don’t really get to have that.”
The Lower Decks season five premiere episode, “Dos Ceritos,” was screened for the audience. While it does address some of the immediate cliffhanger situations from season four’s finale, it does not return everything to their original status quo. The episode actually starts the journeys of the lead quartet will take across the final season.
For Cordero’s Rutherford, that means coming to grips with the fact that his best friend Tendi is not on the Ciritos but is off dealing with some family issues on Orion. “I’ve been so focused on doing the best that I can. And then when you lose the person you’ve enjoyed that with the most, it’s just not as fun,” he explains. “So he’s just not having as much fun as he usually is.”
“This season is really Tendi coming to terms with her past,” Wells says of her character’s season five journey. “And this part of herself that she tried to get away from. She pursued another path. And then, eventually, I think she comes to learn that it is a part of her history.”
Lower Decks Season 5 will premier on the Paramount+ streaming service on October 24th with a double episode.
