Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Mike McMahan Addresses Wild Discovery Reference In Series Finale, And Now It Has Me Wondering

Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Lower Decks finale, "The New Next Generation." Stream it with a Paramount+ subscription and read at your own risk!

The 2025 TV schedule is just around the corner, which means there are new upcoming Star Trek shows on the way as well. Unfortunately, 2024 was bittersweet for the franchise, as fans said goodbye to both Discovery and Lower Decks. Interestingly, the latter animated series referenced the former in its final episode, though the wild reference may open a can of worms for the fandom, and we talked to showrunner Mike McMahan about it.

Fans with no idea what I'm talking about shouldn't feel bad. Lower Decks is so jam-packed with references, especially in these past two episodes, that it's easy for anything to slide under the radar. Here's a recap for those that missed it, and what CinemaBlend learned from the showrunner about this potentially franchise-altering moment.

How Discovery's Klingons Show Up In Star Trek: Lower Decks' Series Finale

"The New Next Generation" kicks off with a fleet of Klingons patrolling the edge of their territory when the fissure shows up and emits waves that mess with the universe. Before one of the ships is destroyed, one of the Klingons transforms from their regular style based on the TNG era to resembling the Klingons from Star Trek: Discovery.

It's an eyebrow-raising moment, and I'm sure many hardcore Trekkies noticed it because of what it suggests. While one could chalk this up to a weird glitch in the multiverse, it could imply that Discovery takes place in an alternate timeline that is not actually part of Star Trek's Prime timeline. So, what is Lower Decks telling us here?

What Mike McMahan Had To Say About The Multiversal Moment

Star Trek: Discovery sparked an overall polarized reception from the fandom, and with the upcoming Starfleet Academy series pulling in familiar characters from Discovery, I would be a little shocked if Lower Decks was fully allowed to throw such a definitive wrench into its Prime universe status. I asked showrunner Mike McMahan about the moment, and his response told me everything I needed to know:

McMahan's response may solidify this short scene's place in every fandom argument related to Star Trek: Discovery for decades. Essentially, he's confirming that fans can interpret that moment however they want and adding that it works both ways.

If you want to believe it was just due to realities messing up and that there was no deeper message about Discovery, there's evidence to support that. If you want to argue that Discovery (and I guess Strange New Worlds as well) don't take place in the Prime Timeline, well, maybe in a decade, we can talk more with him about that.

I think there's also an argument to be made that if Star Trek: Lower Decks established there's far more than just the Prime/Kelvin/Mirror universes, then there's probably at least one or two more universes where Klingons look like the Discovery variants. For all we know, that Klingon might not have had two genitals! Perhaps someone else can volunteer to check on that.

While there will undoubtedly be some ruffled feathers over that specific moment, I can't help but applaud Star Trek: Lower Decks for going out with a bang. Setting up a potential "What if" format for projects in the future was a great legacy to leave behind if the show never returns, even if we all are hoping it will. Here's hoping, and at least in the meantime, we can look back on the great series on streaming for the foreseeable future.

With the conclusion of Star Trek: Lower Decks, we're now looking ahead to the arrival of the Section 31 movie, which is set to drop on Paramount+ on January 24th. We also have a new season of Strange New Worlds, so stay tuned and get pumped for 2025.