Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: discovery, Jonathan Frakes, paramount, preview, star trek, star trek: discovery

Star Trek: Discovery "Back on Track": Jonathan Frakes Praises Season 5

Director Jonathan Frakes had exciting things to say about the fifth & final season of Star Trek: Discovery, comparing it to "First Contact."

It's hard to believe that in the middle of Paramount+'s Star Trek renaissance, we are seeing the end of two series. Fans already experienced the third and final season of Picard, which acts as a direct spinoff of the legacy shows during the syndicated era that reunites the cast of Next Generation and explores the fallout of Deep Space Nine's Dominion War that saw the revenge from a rogue group of Changelings as they teamed up with TNG & Voyager's greatest adversary in The Borg. The first series of the Paramount+ era Discovery is facing its fifth and final season as a one-of-a-kind experience in the franchise starting off as a The Original Series prequel and now wrapping as an unexpected sequel with the U.S.S. Discovery emerging in the distant future of the timeline in an the 32nd century. Trek veteran actor and director Jonathan Frakes, who played William Riker since TNG and reprised the role for Picard, teased to Star Trek Explorer (via TrekMovie) what to expect for the final season of Discovery and why he compares it to his most successful TNG film in 1996's First Contact.

"'Discovery,' by the way, is Indiana Jones this year instead of the heavy emo of season four," Frakes said. "'Discovery' is back on track as an action-adventure show, and I guess they got their marching orders to maintain that. Everybody has embraced it, from [co-showrunners] Michelle Paradise and Alex [Kurtzman], down through the cast. There's a new energy and a new mandate." The actor-director broke down the comparison. "It was a thrill for me to try to find some levity in some of those [Discovery] scenes. That's why 'First Contact' was successful, because you build and then add just a little levity to let the steam out, so you can restart. That's why 'Deadpool' is such a fabulous franchise because it doesn't hurt. Audiences can handle levity. The Indiana Jones reference is a perfect example. Nobody does that better than [Steven] Spielberg."

As far as how the season five finale of Discovery was reshot to become its series finale calling it a "stunning plan for a very satisfying ending." For more, including how Paradise explained the crew's journey, and more, you can check out the interview here. Star Trek: Discovery season five is set to premiere in early 2024.

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