Discovery Finally Ackowledged the Progenitors in Season 5

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 kicked off in a big way. After a two-year hiatus after Season 4 concluded in 2022, Star Trek: Discovery is finally back on Paramount+ for its final season. The series debuted back in 2017 as the flagship series for the streaming network, then known as CBS All Access. Star Trek: Discovery originally was a prequel series to Star Trek: The Original Series set in the year 2256, but the Season 2 finale saw the crew of the USS Discovery jump forward in time to the year 3188, the furthest point in the Star Trek timeline on screen and has explored a new era for the franchise.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 debuted on Apr. 4, 2024, with a two-part episode. The premiere date was timed one day before First Contact Day, an informal but fan celebration of the Star Trek franchise, which in the universe of the series marks the day that humans make first contact with an alien species, the Vulcans. While the premiere date being close to First Contact Day was a nice way to celebrate, the final moments show that the date might have been a deliberate choice as it ties in with Star Trek: Discovery‘s shocking twist as the first episode of the season “The Red Directive” ends with the revelation that is following up a storyline from The Next Generation that no other entry in the franchise has.

What Was the Twist in Star Trek: Discovery?

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 1, “The Red Directive,” featured Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of Discovery being tasked with securing an unknown artifact that is important to the Federation. By the end of the episode, it is revealed that the secret treasure they have been chasing this whole time is, in fact, the diary of a Romulan scientist named Vellek. Vellek is retconned to be a background character from the iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Chase” and reveals that the major plot of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 will be about following up on that storyline.

Burnham learns about The Progenitors, a previously unnamed race from The Next Generation episode “The Chase,” and discovers that they were the creators of sentient life in the universe and an explanation for why the various aliens in the Star Trek franchise all have humanoid features. This sets up the storyline for Season 5, as the crew is now tasked with locating the Progenitors’ ancient technology, which could be the key to creating life.

This sets up the final season. Unlike previous seasons with a season-long mystery, Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 has revealed the major revelation up front to set up an adventure described as an “Indiana Jones season” by star Sonequa Martin-Green. Just like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan picks up from a storyline in the original television series, Star Trek: Discovery‘s new storyline was set up years ago in a separate Star Trek series from over three decades ago.

The Chase and How It Changed Star Trek

As mentioned before, the seeds for the final storyline in Star Trek: Discovery were planted all the way back in 1993. In Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Chase,” the 20th episode of Season 6, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Enterprise discover an ancient puzzle that is compatible with DNA strands that have been recovered from different worlds all over the galaxy. They, along with the Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians, all get on the same page and realize that an embedded genetic pattern is constant throughout many different species.

Later in the episode, the various cultures come across a hologram from one of the ancient aliens who reveals that when their species first explored the galaxy, there was no humanoid life in the universe, so they spread their DNA around, making various species as a way to continue on their legacy. Aside from the revelation that multiple species in Star Trek, like humans, Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, Kelpien, Orion, and Cardassians, are all descended from the same source, the episode ending hints at an optimistic future for these species. The Progenitors revealed they left clues of their existence so that when the various species they created took to the stars, they would find out the truth together and realize their shared common origin.

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This provides an in-universe explanation of why so many aliens in the Star Trek franchise are humanoid beings, covering up the fact that the original series had a very small budget and had to work with human actors in alien costumes instead of elaborate costumes with otherworldly designs. It also was a major revelation for the franchise, confirming an intelligent creator behind life in the universe and falling into the ancient alien’s theory. Despite this major revelation, Star Trek has largely ignored it. This is a major revelation that the franchise has not touched in over 30 years, but Star Trek: Discovery looks to be building on it in a major way and might be the perfect show to pick up this thread.

Why Bring It Up Now in Star Trek: Discovery

Despite the significant universe ramifications from “The Chase,” no entry in the franchise has picked up on it further. Star Trek: Discovery seems almost perfectly made to pick up this plot more than any past Star Trek programs. Seasons 3 through 5 have been about the recreation of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. The Progentator’s dream was that the various species they created would someday unite, which is the goal of the Federation. Yet, in the 31st century, it is clear that the idea of unity between planets is further than it was in The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Disocvery‘s third and fourth seasons served as a reflection of the real world as the franchise has in the past. Much like how Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was an allegory for the end of the Cold War, Star Trek: Discovery used the time jump and fractured Federation to comment on the growing trend in isolation and nationalism that has been sweeping the globe in the past 10 years. The world seems further away from the united utopia that Star Trek showed audiences in the 1960s.

Now, for the series’ fifth and final season, the Discovery crew is tasked with facing down the ultimate question: Where do we come from? Now that they know their creators, what comes next? In the 24th century, the information was not enough to unite the world, but maybe in the 31st century, the knowledge of a common shared history will unite various species to make for an even stronger Starfleet than ever before.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 looks to be wanting to try and redo Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. That film was intended to be the final Star Trek adventure for the crew of the Starship Enterprise by having the crew confront the concept of God. Yet, that film was a box office and critical disaster, which resulted in one final attempt to give the original crew a more fitting farewell.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 now finds the crew of Discovery on a mission to find the keys to life’s existence and what their purpose is, which will tie into the various characters finding out what their own purpose in life is in their final adventure together. Hopefully, this Star Trek entry which tackles the themes of creation fairs better than the previous one. Star Trek: Discovery is streaming now on Paramount+. Check out our interview with Star Trek: Discovery stars Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman, and Blu del Barrio below.