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The story of Star Trek has recently been unfortunately more defined by cancellations and unrealized pitches than it has by concrete updates and the announcement of new projects. 2026, the year of the franchise’s 60th anniversary, has seen Starfleet Academy canceled after its first season (with another set to follow before the curtain falls), and Strange New Worlds is on its way out with the penultimate season about to arrive this summer. And though we know there’s a new movie coming from Paramount, there’s nothing other than hope and speculation on the TV front. So fans are left raking through news of what could have been.
Even before the new era of Paramount really got going, fan-favorite show Star Trek: Lower Decks was the first casualty of the new regime, canceled after 5 seasons on Paramount+. Though we saw a new comic from IDW arrive just as the final season was about to end, a revival of the show has failed to materialize. And frustratingly, creator Mike McMahan has this week revealed that he had at least enough great ideas to make another two seasons that fans will never get to see. On Bluesky, McMahan responded to a fan question about the show, saying not only that he “couldn’t be prouder” but that “I had at least two seasons more in me.”
Couldn't be prouder of the five we made, but I had at least two seasons more in me. Wanted to hit up the Delta and Gamma quadrants. One more Vindicta holodeck movie. Meet a weirdly nice leftover Weyoun, more stories with the whales and Kayshon, T'Lyn and Ensign Olly. Lots of stuff.
— Mike McMahan (@mikemcmahan.bsky.social) 2026-07-01T22:27:42.536Z
The Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 6 & 7 We’ll Never See
There is, of course, a chance that Star Trek could release some of McMahon’s lost Lower Decks ideas on the publishing side, but a true revival as part of Paramount’s new era for the franchise feels like a dead end. And McMahon has revealed some of the ideas that Lower Decks would have explored if it hadn’t been cancelled. He says he “Wanted to hit up the Delta and Gamma quadrants. One more Vindicta holodeck movie. Meet a weirdly nice leftover Weyoun, more stories with the whales and Kayshon, T’Lyn and Ensign Olly. Lots of stuff.” One Bluesky user replied, suggesting this could all make a great graphic novel, and it’s hard to argue.
Lower Decks‘ cancellation feels more unfair than some of the other, more modern canceled Star Trek shows. Enterprise may have gotten significantly better in its final season (and ended up canceled before its time), but it had lost its audience; Discovery had run out of steam; Prodigy never really found its audience (despite being great); and Starfleet Academy rather felt doomed from the outset, partly because of Paramount’s inner workings changing so dramatically. But Lower Decks had an engaged audience, had built goodwill steadily, and still sits on 94% on RottenTomatoes, with all but the first season rated at 100%. Animation is always a more challenging sell (especially for older franchise fans), but Lower Decks painstakingly established how well it knew where it came from. It was a love letter to Star Trek, as well as something that still felt fresh. Sadly, the gut-punch that there were so many more ideas that will now remain unexplored is a perversely fitting end to the injustice.
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