Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

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Star Trek: Discovery
Season 4
Star Trek Discovery season 4 poster.jpg
Promotional poster
Starring
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes6
Release
Original networkParamount+
Original releaseNovember 18, 2021 (2021-11-18) –
present
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 3
List of episodes

The fourth season of the American television series Star Trek: Discovery follows the crew of the USS Discovery as they face an invisible anomaly, over 900 years after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. The season is being produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Michelle Paradise serving as showrunner.

Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, along with the returning Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, David Ajala, and Blu del Barrio. Active development on the season began by January 2020, with more time spent writing than previous seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was officially announced in October 2020, and filming took place in Toronto, Ontario, from November 2020 to August 2021. New filming processes were implemented to ensure safety during the pandemic.

The season premiered on the streaming service Paramount+ on November 18, 2021.

Episodes[]

Main article: List of Star Trek: Discovery episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date [1]
431"Kobayashi Maru"Olatunde OsunsanmiMichelle Paradise & Jenny Lumet & Alex KurtzmanNovember 18, 2021 (2021-11-18)
442"Anomaly"Olatunde OsunsanmiAnne Cofell Saunders & Glenise MullinsNovember 25, 2021 (2021-11-25)
453"Choose to Live"Christopher J. ByrneTerri Hughes BurtonDecember 2, 2021 (2021-12-02)
464"All Is Possible"John OttmanAlan McElroy & Eric J. RobbinsDecember 9, 2021 (2021-12-09)
475"The Examples"Lee RoseKyle JarrowDecember 16, 2021 (2021-12-16)
486"Stormy Weather"Jonathan FrakesAnne Cofell Saunders & Brandon SchultzDecember 23, 2021 (2021-12-23)
497"...But to Connect"[2]Lee RoseTerri Hughes Burton & Carlos CiscoDecember 30, 2021 (2021-12-30)

Cast and characters[]

Main article: List of Star Trek: Discovery characters

Main[]

Recurring[]

Notable guests[]

Production[]

Development[]

Active development on a fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery began by January 2020, during production on the series' third season.[12] By March, a fifth season was also in development with the intention of production on the fourth and fifth seasons taking place back-to-back.[13] On August 12, co-creator and executive producer Alex Kurtzman confirmed that plans for the season had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, though the series' writers room had been working remotely by that time. He added, "We have actually been able to get quite ahead in scripts" for the season.[14] Pre-production on the season began in Toronto, Canada, on August 17.[15] Kurtzman and showrunner Michelle Paradise officially announced the season on October 16, the day after the third season premiered, with production set to begin on November 2.[3]

Writing[]

"Representation matters. It matters to see a version of yourself on screen. It matters there are non-binary and transgender characters. It matters that there is a Black woman in the captain's chair. It matters that there is a gay couple on our show. We will continue to do that for the show, and the world we live in, but also, to honor the Star Trek legacy. "

—Co-showrunner Michelle Paradise on the importance of representation to the series[16]

Kurtzman stated in October 2020 that all seasons after the third would continue to be set in the 32nd century.[17] The third season ends with series protagonist Michael Burnham becoming the captain of Discovery, which star Sonequa Martin-Green said was a new beginning for the series.[18] Paradise said the character had "grown in many ways" over the series' first three seasons, and the question for the fourth season was "how can she continue to grow moving forward, even as she's a captain?"[9] The third season also ends with the previous captain, Saru, leaving the Discovery and returning to his homeworld of Kaminar. Paradise confirmed that he would return in the fourth season.[19]

Paradise said the writers always intended to form a "really lovely" family unit in the third season with Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber, a gay couple, and the non-binary Adira, and they said this would extend to include Adira's transgender boyfriend Gray moving forward.[20] As part of this, Paradise confirmed that the promise from the end of the third season to make the character Gray Tal be "seen" would be paid off in the fourth season. This refers to Gray only being visible to Adira following his death, and is a metaphor in the series for representation.[16] Actor Ian Alexander said he had a lot more "hands-on involvement" with Gray's storyline in the fourth season.[21] Writing for the season ended in mid-May 2021.[4]

Casting[]

Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, who is the captain of Discovery in the season.

The season stars the returning Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Saru, Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber, and David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker,[3] as well as Blu del Barrio reprising their recurring guest role as Adira Tal from the third season.[22][5]

Several other guest stars reprise their roles from the third season, including Ian Alexander as Gray Tal,[6] David Cronenberg as Kovich,[8] Oded Fehr as Charles Vance,[9] and Tara Rosling as T'Rina.[10] Tig Notaro was asked to reprise her recurring guest role of Jett Reno in the season for two different filming blocks. She chose not to travel to Toronto for filming in November 2020 due to the pandemic, but hoped that conditions during the pandemic would be safer in May 2021 to allow her to travel for the second block;[23] Notaro confirmed in May 2021 that she was in Toronto to film all of her scenes for the season over two weeks.[4][24] Kenneth Mitchell, who made guest appearances as different characters in the previous seasons, said in August that he would have a unique role in the fourth season after the progression of his ALS diagnosis limited his ability to move and speak un-aided.[11] Chelah Horsdal is introduced as the Federation President.[7]

Design[]

The crew of the Discovery were given the primarily grey uniforms of other 32nd Century Starfleet officers at the end of the third season, but costume designer Gersha Phillips explained that new uniforms were designed for the fourth season when the production realized that the grey uniforms were too similar to the Discovery's hallway sets. The new uniforms use the same primary colors as Star Trek: The Next Generation, with red for command, gold for operations, and blue for sciences. Medical officers wear white uniforms as they did in previous Discovery seasons.[25]

Filming[]

Filming began at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Ontario, on November 2, 2020,[15][26] under the working title Mill Street.[27] Production was previously expected to take place from July 2020 to January 2021,[28] filming back-to-back with a potential fifth season,[13] but these plans were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] Kurtzman stated in October 2020 that filming would be a "systematised, militarised operation" due to the pandemic, with the season's crew working in "pods" to minimize the potential spread of the virus.[29] The cast traveled to Toronto early to quarantine for 14 days before filming, per the Canadian government's requirements,[17][30] and during film the cast and crew were tested for COVID-19 three times a week.[30] Jones said filming the season was slower than previous seasons due to the precautions taken on set, but he felt it was safe.[31]

Kurtzman revealed in October 2020 that Paramount+ was constructing a video wall to allow for virtual production on the season as well as the series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,[17][32] utilizing technology similar to the StageCraft system used on the Disney+ series The Mandalorian.[33] The new virtual set was built in Toronto by visual effects company Pixomondo, and features a 270-degree, 70 feet (21 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m) horseshoe-shaped LED volume with additional LED panels in the ceiling to aid with lighting. The technology uses the game engine software Unreal Engine to display computer-generated backgrounds on the LED screens in real-time during filming, which visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman noted was especially useful for creating the planets that are visited in the series;[32] due to the pandemic, the production was unable to film on location outside of North America as they did for the third season.[17] The virtual stage was still being installed by the time production took a break for Christmas in late December. The majority of filming for the first two episodes had been completed by then, but scenes requiring the video wall were set to be filmed after the break once the technology was ready,[31] with Zimmerman overseeing the installation and use of the volume remotely from Los Angeles. He noted that the production design and art departments were more involved with the development of the season's visual effects early on in the process compared to previous seasons since those effects needed to be filmed in the volume during production.[32]

On April 22, 2021, production on the season was paused after a "Zone A" individual, referring to key cast members and crew who are in contact with them, came in "close proximity" away from set with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. This was detected through Ontario's contact tracing system. The Zone A individual began 14 days of quarantine, with the rest of the season's almost 80-person production not required to quarantine but subject to a lockdown in the Toronto area. Filming on the season was set to start again on May 6, with film and television productions allowed to continue during the lockdown.[34] Production for the season was originally set to end on June 10,[15] but pandemic delays meant this end date was extended to August or September.[27] In mid-July, Martin-Green said they had "a little bit more [filming] to do" for the season.[35] Much of the main cast wrapped by early August. Paradise returned to Toronto on August 9 for the final weeks of pickups and location shooting,[10] and announced that filming had wrapped on August 23.[36]

Music[]

Composer Jeff Russo confirmed in December 2020 that he would begin work on the fourth season once the third season was completed.[37] By April 2021, he was considering using musical themes in the season that he had composed for Noah Hawley's planned Star Trek film before that project was put on pause in August 2020.[38]

Release[]

The season premiered on Paramount+ in the United States on November 18, 2021.[39] Bell Media broadcasts the series in Canada on the specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) on the same day as the U.S., before streaming episodes on Crave. On November 16, 2021, it was announced that ViacomCBS bought back the international distribution rights for the series from Netflix, this includes the first three seasons of the show as well as the fourth season. This was due to the planned launch of Paramount+ across Europe in early 2022. Before this buyback, 188 countries outside of the United States and Canada carried Star Trek: Discovery with Netflix Original branding. The announcement resulted in much anger amongst fans outside North America, as even in the week of the announcement, Netflix was advertising the upcoming release. On November 24, 2021, revised plans were announced to make the fourth season available on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi[40] channel in a selected number of territories without Paramount+, and the first two episodes releasing in international markets where Paramount+ is available, both beginning from November 24, 2021. Also available from that date, is the option to purchase the season on digital platforms in certain international markets.[41]

References[]

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  40. ^ "On Pluto TV".
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External links[]

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