It’s finally 2024 which will see the release of the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery in April. We now have a little bit of insight into the season thanks to the revelation of the episode titles which may have some spoilers.
Season 5 episode titles
The titles for the 10 season 5 episodes were revealed on the official site for the Writer’s Guild, which registers each script. Production for 5 of Discovery was wrapped up in late 2022 with writing completed earlier that year. The WGA site has titles for all 10 scripts along with the credited writers. It should be noted that the final episode title may change by the time the season debuts in April.
Here is the full list (with writer credits) …
- Episode 1: “Red Directive” (Michelle Paradise)
- Episode 2: “Under the Twin Moons” (Alan McElroy)
- Episode 3: “Jinaal” (Kyle Jarrow & Lauren Wilkinson
- Episode 4: “Face the Strange” (Sean Cochran)
- Episode 5: “Mirrors” (Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco)
- Episode 6: “Whistlespeak” (Kenneth Lin & Brandon A. Schultz)
- Episode 7 “Erigah” (M. Raven Metzner)
- Episode 8: “Labyrinths” (Lauren Wilkinson & Eric J. Robbins)
- Episode 9: “Lagrange Point” (Sean Cochran & Ari Friedman)
- Episode 10: “Life, Itself” (Kyle Jarrow & Michelle Paradise)
As she has for the previous 2 seasons, executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise is credited as writer or co-writer for both the season premiere and finale. The writers’ room for season 5 is mostly the same, with a few members getting title upgrades including Kenneth Lin moving up to full executive producer status. New writers joining Discovery for season 5 including Johanna Lee (Altered Carbon) as co-executive producer and co-writer of episode 5. Also joining as a consulting producer and writer of episode 7 is Raven Metzner (Iron Fist, Sleepy Hollow). Co-executive producers Anne Cofell and Terri Hughes Burton did not return for season 5.
Clues?
There are no big spoilers in the episode title mix although some are certainly open to speculation. The season premiere “Red Directive” likely refers to some 32nd Starfleet General Order (like the Prime Directive, or General Order 1). The “red directive” may be akin to a “red notice” a kind of warrant issued by Interpol for wanted criminals, which could be linked to the criminal protagonists of the season L’ak (Elias Toufexis) Moll (Eve Harlow).
Of course “Mirrors” could involve the Mirror Universe, which has been part of a number of Discovery episodes in seasons 1 and 3. This could even be tied into Michelle Yeoh’s Mirror Universe character Emperor Georgiou, who had joined the crew in the 32nd century before returning via the Guardian of Forever in season 3. Yeoh’s Georgiou is now the lead character in the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 movie which goes into production later this month.
Episode 9’s title “Lagrange Point” refers to Lagrange points in celestial mechanics which are the various points of equilibrium between large mass objects. In this case, it could be literal or possibly some kind of metaphor. Jonathan Frakes has revealed he directed episode 9 and it is the first part of a 2-part season (and now series) finale, which was directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. That finale is titled “Life, Itself” which could be a reference to a quote (from Satan) from Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger: “Life itself is only a vision. A dream..” It’s part of a famously creepy moment from the 1985 claymation movie The Adventures of Mark Twain.Paramount+ announced the final season will debut in April around the world, but they have not yet set a specific date. A clip was released at CCXP last month.
Discovery seasons one through four are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons two and three are also available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel.
