Star Trek Discovery season 4 is coming, and it’s coming very soon. The show that helped restart the franchise for television is still going strong, and is making itself at home on Paramount Plus.
This new season continues the adventures of the Discovery after a 900 plus year trip into the future, where they discovered the Federation in ruins and Starfleet only a shadow of its former self after a galaxy-wide cataclysm known as "The Burn."
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Nobody could have expected what the source of the Burn was, but the Discovery crew were instrumental in figuring it all out. What’s more, in the process they found a source of enough dilithium fuel to power the galaxy’s warp drives for years. Something that finally brought Michael Burnham into the Captain’s chair.
Here’s everything we know about Star Trek Discovery’s fouth season, including cast, plot, release date, and more.
Star Trek: Discovery season 4 release date
As part of the ‘Star Trek Day’ celebrations on September 8, Paramount announced that Discovery would be returning on November 18 in the United States. Since CBS All Access rebranded as Paramount Plus earlier this year, that’s where Discovery will make its home in the United States.
Internationally (except Canada), Netflix holds the rights to Discovery, and typically releases new episodes within 24 hours of their U.S. debut. Canadians can watch the new episodes on the CTV Sci-Fi channel, and in the past new episodes have aired on the same day as in the U.S.
In other words everyone, no matter their country, will get to watch new episodes almost as soon as they’re available.
Star Trek Discovery season 4 cast
- Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham
- Doug Jones as Saru
- Anthony Rapp as Lt Cmdr Paul Stamets
- Wilson Cruz as Dr Hugh Culber
- David Ajala as Book
- Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly
- Blu del Barrio as Adira
- Ian Alexander as Gray
- Oded Fehr as Admiral Charles Vance
- Oyin Oladejo as Lt Joann Owosekun
- Emily Coutts as Lt Keyla Detmer
- Patrick Kwok-Choo as Lt Gen Rhys
- Ronnie Rowe as Lt R.A. Bryce
- Sara Mitich as Lt Nilsson
- David Cronenberg as Kovich
Discovery has accumulated rather a large cast over the years, including a handful more after the crew jumped into the future. But we do know that all the major players from the previous seasons will have parts to play, including former Captain Saru who was seen leaving the ship during the third season’s finale.
Ian Alexander has also confirmed his character, the Trill Gray, will have a larger presence in the story going forward, despite officially being dead and visible only to his partner Adira — since Gray’s consciousness stored inside the Tal symbiont.
Finally Kenneth Mitchell, who played various different characters in the first three seasons of Discovery, has confirmed he will also be returning in a brand new role. However this role will be “unique” in his words, to account for the fact ALS has limited his ability to move and speak unaided. Since Mitchell’s character Aurellio, the Emerald Chain scientist working to uncover the secrets of Discovery's spore drive, survived season 3 in tact, it’s possible he may also return in some capacity.
Book’s cat Grudge is also returning, which is the most important piece of news of all.
Star Trek Discovery season 4 trailer
While Star Trek Day 2021 didn’t bring a new Discovery trailer along, we got our first look at the fourth season back in April.
The trailer reveals that there are some pretty high stakes this season (again), and shows off some of the familiar faces returning to the final frontier.
Star Trek season 4 plot
There’s a lot we still don’t know about Discovery’s fourth season, though the trailer revealed that the high-stakes antics of the crew never seem to end. This season is focussing on some sort of gravitational anomaly in space, which seems to have the ability to cause all kinds of havoc.
It’s also five light years wide, which is pretty darn big, possibly even planet-killing big, should it wind up in the wrong place.
Unfortunately that’s about all we know regarding the season’s plot, and there’s not much to speculate on either. That said it seems likely there’s going to be a lot of action, which Discovery has always been heavy on, and no doubt Burnham will clash with her superiors several times — like she always does.
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