It's been a long summer for Star Trek fans, to say the least. While it was great to receive the Section 31 trailer and learn about the big legacy castings in Starfleet Academy, I'm excited to get back to watching actual shows soon. On that note, Lower Decks' final season is just around the corner and, in honor of Star Trek Day, Paramount+ shared a new clip of D'Vana Tendi with the Orion pirates. Needless to say, the situation plays out exactly as I expected.
Amid fans' wait for upcoming Trek series to return, I definitely appreciate the folks at Paramount+ dropping a snippet of Tendi running a pirate raid with the rest of the Orions. I wondered how she'd adjust to the notably more violent methods of her people after spending so long in Starfleet. I'm not surprised to see she's managed to mellow out her team and prevent them from "only leaving one alive" to instill fear, and how she diplomatically allowed someone to rip out the decorative face jewelry. Sure, it's not perfect, but she's making it work! See the clip for yourself:
I'm thrilled to see Tendi with the Orions but, with Lower Decks ending with Season 5, I'm a little nervous that this isn't a scene confirming she'll have plenty of time with her friends back in Starfleet. That said, showrunner and creator Mike McMahan previously said this LD season will have a conclusive ending. So I'll remain hopeful that he knew what he was doing, and fans won't be on the other side of this season feeling disappointed.
Not that I'm too worried about that, as the clip above is loaded with the TNG-era references from Star Trek that so many franchise devotees love. I'm also hyped that the latest poster for this season clearly takes inspiration from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier:
As cool as it is to have new Star Trek to streaming soon, it's also an incredibly bittersweet moment. LD's conclusion means the end of the set of shows set in the TNG era, at least for now. Many are still crossing their fingers for more announcements about shows on the way, and Alex Kurtzman teased surprises are on the way as more projects see the light of day.
It's known that Lower Decks star Tawny Newsome will remain part of the franchise via a new live-action comedy series she's developing with Justin Simien, but it remains to be seen how involved the rest of the cast and showrunner Mike McMahan may be. I would love to see the Cerritos crew continue to work in the universe and make random appearances but, as mentioned, there apparently isn't a TNG-era series in active development at the moment. (Perhaps if we can get Netflix to pick up Prodigy for Season 3, that will change!)
But, all that aside, I'm still hyped that we still have one more set of episodes to look forward to before the animated series takes its final bow. With that, the clip of Tendi's pirating makes me excited for what's to come. Here's hoping that the series ends on a high note for her and her allies.
The two-episode premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks drops on Thursday, October 24th and will be streamable for Paramount+ subscription holders. Be sure to also check out other upcoming titles that are on the 2024 TV schedule.
