When Star Trek: Discovery wrapped production on season 5 in November of 2022, the cast and crew didn’t know that season would be their last. When the cancellation announcement came, producers were offered the opportunity to film a 16-minute epilogue to wrap up the series properly; five months later, the cast got back together to board Discovery one last time. Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham), who became a producer on the show in season 4, revealed details about the original plans—and hopes—for ending the series.
From a 2-hour movie to 12 pages…
The largest and most ambitious panel at Trek Talks 4 this year—an all-day Star Trek telethon that benefits the Hollywood Food Coalition—was a gathering of the Star Trek: Discovery cast from across all five seasons: Sonequa Martin-Green, David Ajala (Book), Doug Jones(Saru), Wilson Cruz (Culber), Jayne Brook (Cornwell), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell), Blu del Barrio (Adira), Ian Alexander (Gray), Emily Coutts (Detmer), Ronnie Rowe (Bryce), and Sara Mitich (Airiam/Nilsson). Moderator Tamia Harper of the SyFy Sistas asked about the finale, and Sonequa Martin-Green took a moment to debate whether to give the “pretty” answer or the “honest” one. She went for the honest one.
“I remember from the moment we found out that the show was going to be ending and we were we were in talks with Paramount Plus about how we were going to wrap the show up. What they wanted was an additional episode to really be able to touch everyone’s stories, to really be able to close this thing out. We were not able to be afforded that. So they said, it’s not going to be an additional episode. It’s not going to be, I think what what Alex and Michelle, originally wanted was a full two-hour movie finale kind of thing, right? And it was like, no, we’re not going to be able to do that. And it’s like, okay, well then what about an extra episode? No, we’re not going to be able to do that. Okay, what about like an extra like half of an episode or something like that?
What they ended up having was about 12 pages.. closed it up in 12 pages, right? I feel like that’s how long the coda was. It couldn’t have been any longer than that, right, David? I feel like it was really short. … I remember being really sad when I found out about that because suddenly our options were very limited of what we were going to be able to touch in that short period of time.”
She said she tried to come up with something that would include everybody without costing a lot of money.
“I had all these dreams and visions and ideas about like, how about all of us are in a white room? And and we’re talking. We’re in in a dream space. And it’s all of us. And we have this amazing conversation in like all this stuff. We reveal things that have never been revealed before…”
In the end, they had to make the most of the resources they had.
“Alex and Michelle have said this, we’ll keep saying this, that we’re grateful that they gave us this because they did not have to. And this is not always the case with shows. So we did get to close up and I am so grateful for that.”
Martin-Green felt satisfied with how it turned out.
“… This flashback with everyone, I remember that really touched me. That really hit me in my gut and hit me in my heart when it was like, okay, we have this. We have this moment. . And even the way we were able to bring Wilson in, it was so important and so big on so many levels… And in that, you know, three days that we started, I don’t know how we got anything done because it was just, it was just a bunch of, we were just like, it was just crying and delirium and like, and tears and laughter and delirium and tears. the whole three days, because we almost shot straight through three days. We shot so long, you know, to close everything out. But yeah, it was really big.”
L-R Mary Wiseman as Tilly, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, Blu del Barrio as Adira and Anthony Rapp as Stamets in Star Trek: Discovery episode 10, season 5 steaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+.
David Ajala still hasn’t been able to watch the finale
David Ajala told the group about his reluctance to accept that the show is really over.
“… It felt like such a big moment and I don’t know if I was intentionally just being quite flippant with it all. because I felt like being able to just embrace it with levity helped me to just enjoy it from a very simple place. And then to allow the viewers to watch it for that impact, for them to feel the impact of that. All that to say that I haven’t watched the ending of season 5. And in my mind, it have really weird kind of slightly selfish way, I haven’t watched this, it means that the show hasn’t ended.”
Martin Green admitted she felt the weight of it all.
“… When I did read it, I, like you, David, I sensed the the severity of it and the breadth of it and how big it was and how meaningful it was. And I had to allow myself to accept it and honestly humble myself to it because I was under that feeling of like, oh, it shouldn’t just be me and Book. It’s just be everybody… But seeing the legacy and being able to communicate the theme of Discovery, being able to communicate how legacy lives on, being able to communicate the contribution that Discovery and … that meta thing of like us as Discovery, carrying the heirloom of Trek, but then also the crew of Discovery, making a mark on the history of time. And being able to do that from this position of Black love and Black excellence like you were talking about, Tamia, and being able to see this Black family, because that was something that was really important to us from the very beginning. But being able to see it play out completely. I felt that it was poetry.”
L-R Sawandi Wilson as Captain Leto, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham and David Ajala as Book in Star Trek: Discovery episode 10, season 5 steaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+.
As for Michael Burnham’s personal growth over five seasons, Martin-Green tied her character’s arc to the show itself.
“Wilson, you said this before, she wasn’t defined by her worst moment, but was able to go from mutineer to admiral. And being able to see what that trajectory is like. And everybody had that same kind of trajectory and then being able to see us close it out that way and send off Discovery. And even, you know, my captain’s phrase ‘let’s fly’ being the last thing. It’s like, that’s what it is. You know, this legacy is an invitation. And so it was it was big. It was really big.”
Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery episode 10, season 5 steaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+.
