Star Trek: Discovery season 5 will be the show's last, and it will bow out in 2024 having contributed so many good things to the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek: Discovery season 5 promises to launch Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery on a quest to find "the greatest treasure in the known galaxy." Discovery's climactic voyages are bound to continue to positively add to Star Trek's canon.
Discovery is the only Star Trek series to completely shift its setting in the Prime timeline. Originally a prequel set in the 23rd century, Discovery reset itself 930 years in the future in season 3. Discovery is also the first serialized Star Trek series made in the streaming era of prestige television. Controversial since its inception, Discovery nonetheless re-ignited the dormant Star Trek franchise, launching an entire universe of new series on Paramount+. When Discovery ultimately warps into the final frontier, it will leave Star Trek better than it found it. Disco's legacy will be one of progressive values and positive changes to Star Trek, as well as the following good things.
20 The USS Discovery's Spore Drive
Perhaps Star Trek: Discovery's greatest innovation is the displacement-activated spore hub drive, which allows for instantaneous travel along the mycelial network. A technological leap forward from standard warp travel, the spore drive was anachronistic in the 23rd century, but it is aspirational technology nonetheless, with the 32nd century United Federation of Planets attempting to duplicate it. Discovery issuing a Black Alert and jumping via the spore drive gave Star Trek a brand-new way to fly.
19 Species 10-C
The USS Discovery journeyed to a new galaxy in season 4 to meet Species 10-C, the creators of the Dark Matter Anomaly. Breaking away from Star Trek's trope of humanoids with bumpy foreheads, Discovery's 10-C was truly alien and communicated via an emotion-based language Burnham and Discovery's crew had to learn. Species 10-C was a blend of hard science and pure imagination that showed Discovery is still pushing Star Trek's boundaries.
18 Chancellor L'Rell & Voq/Ash Tyler
Star Trek: Discovery's reimagining of the Klingons was unpopular, but two breakthrough characters emerged: L'Rell (Mary Chieffo), who rose to become the first female Klingon Chancellor, and her lover Voq (Shazad Latif), the albino Klingon who was surgically transformed into the human Ash Tyler. They also had a son, Tenavik (Kenneth Mitchell), who was the gateway to Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) learning his dark future. L'Rell and Voq/Ash Tyler emerged as the most important Klingons in Star Trek since Worf (Michael Dorn), Gowron (Robert O'Reilly), and General Martok (J.G. Hertzler).
17 Star Trek's 32nd Century
Discovery's one-way trip to the 32nd century gave Star Trek its farthest known canonical future. The 32nd century saw the Federation broken by The Burn but restored by Burnham and the USS Discovery. Filled with new technology like programmable matter, new starships, and new aliens, Discovery's 32nd century also allowed the series to homage legacy characters via the USS Janeway, the USS Voyager-J, the USS Nog, and the Archer Space Dock. Discovery's 32nd century also boasts the mysterious and compelling Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) and the noble Lt. Aditya Sahil (Adil Hussain). Star Trek: Discovery's 32nd century is a boundless future of renewed optimism that season 5 will hopefully explore more fully.
16 Kelpiens
Star Trek: Discovery's first new species introduced remains one of its most visually distinctive and compelling. The Kelpiens, which count Captain Saru (Doug Jones) among them, were a species ruled by fear of a dominant race, the Ba'ul. In Discovery season 2, Saru evolved and helped his people do the same so that the Kelpiens overthrew the Ba'ul and embraced a destiny in the stars. By the 32nd century, the Kelpiens and Ba'ul share their homeworld of Kaminar, while another Kelpien (Bill Irwin) was discovered to be the unwitting cause of The Burn.
15 Vulcans & Romulans Unified
The unification of the Vulcan and Romulan people was a cause Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) fought for in his twilight years in Star Trek: Picard's Romulan warrior nuns, the Qowat Milat, also reside on Ni'Var. The unified Vulcans and Romulans are reminder of the progress possible in Star Trek's universe.
14 Zora
Introduced in the Short Trek "Calypso," Zora (Annabelle Wallis) is the USS Discovery's computer that evolved into sentient artificial intelligence. Zora gave Star Trek: Discovery a new window into a machine searching for what it means to understand and be human, furthering what Star Trek: The Next Generation began with Data (Brent Spiner). Zora's affection and devotion for the USS Discovery's crew is a new perspective on A.I. as the first time a starship itself is protective of the Starfleet Officers within it.
13 Star Trek's Multiverse
Since the introduction of the Mirror Universe in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek has always been a Multiverse. But Star Trek: Discovery truly leaned into the idea, revealing that the 32nd century Federation is fully aware of divergent timelines and alternate realities like J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie Kelvin timeline. Discovery season 4's Dr. Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle) risked destroying the galaxy to return to his own universe. Discovery season 3 also brought back the Guardian of Forever (Paul Guilfoyle) from TOS as a literal gateway into both time and alternate realities.
12 President Rillak & iral Vance
Star Trek has no shortage of evil Starfleet irals and ineffectual Federation Presidents, but Star Trek: Discovery has a great one of each. iral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) is no 'biral,' but a fair-minded and comionate leader who held the broken Federation together and gave the USS Discovery its shot at saving the galaxy. President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal), a hybrid human/Cardassian/Bajoran, is a seasoned politician who doesn't lack patience and wisdom. While neither began as fans of Michael Burnham, they all work together to build a better Federation.
11 United Earth President Stacey Abrams
Star Trek: Discovery season 4 ended with the surprise reveal of the United Earth President, who was played by Stacey Abrams. The Georgia politician served in the House of Representatives and ran for Governor. A lifelong Star Trek fan, Abrams' cameo was a jaw-dropper as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Captain Burnham, which opened the door for the isolated Earth to take its rightful place in the Federation once more.