Discovery Season 5 & Series Finale

Warning: This Interview Contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery's Series Finale - "Life, Itself"

Summary Star Trek: Discovery's showrunner Michelle Paradise wraps up the series with an emotional denouement and a proper ending.

Season 5 faced a new challenge with Paramount+ announcing it as the final season but allowed additional filming for a coda to give closure.

Michelle Paradise reveals the true identity of Kovich as Daniels from Star Trek: Enterprise, a plan that has been in the works since season 4, bringing a surprising twist to the finale.

Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise sticks the landing with the season 5 and series finale, "Life, Itself", which she co-wrote with Kyle Jarrow. Paradise joined Star Trek: Discovery season 2 and became co-showrunner with executive producer Alex Kurtzman, masterminding the journey of Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 has been praised for its more adventurous tone, but the final episode of season 5 unexpectedly faced a new challenge when Paramount+ announced it would be the final season. Discovery's cast and crew were allowed to do additional filming to create a coda to give the series a proper ending. Star Trek: Discovery's ending becomes an emotional denouement that brings Burnham even further in the future and answers questions that audiences have long wondered about.

Related Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

Screen Rant had the pleasure to interview Michelle Paradise, who answered all of our burning questions about Star Trek: Discovery season 5's finale, the true identity of Doctor Kovich (David Cronenberg), synching the saga with Star Trek: Short Treks "Calypso", and many other facets of "Life, Itself."

Michelle Paradise On Star Trek: Discovery's Finale Coda Setting Up Star Trek: Short Treks "Calypso"

Screen Rant: Michelle, congratulations! What an amazing season. We have so much to talk about. So I'd like to start by asking you one word: Craft. Please tell me about finally resolving "Calypso". And why was that the perfect way to end Discovery?

Michelle Paradise: When I joined the show, "Calypso" had already been done. And we always knew that at some point, we needed to tie that thread. So when we found out that this was going to be our last season, and that we had the opportunity to do a coda piece, that was one of the important things that we knew we needed to do. We wanted to tell the story of what happens to Burnham and Book. We wanted to be able to see all of our heroes one last time, because that is so emotional. And we wanted to wrap up that ["Calypso"] story piece, which also tells the story of what happens to a huge main character in the show, which is the ship herself, Zora. So it felt very important that we wrap that up and send her off to go do that.

Yeah, it was beautiful. The whole coda was magical. I have a couple of quick hit questions about the ending. Saru's wedding and the beach scene with Burnham and Book -- Was that always the ending of season 5?

Michelle Paradise: Yes. Season 5 originally ended when Burnham and Book are walking off the beach and the camera pans up. And that was the ending. And then, when we found out that we would get to shoot some additional material to wrap up the series, everything after that in the coda was all the new stuff we shot. And the only thing we adjusted was, we pulled just one or two lines of dialogue from the Burnham and Book scene where they talked about the Progenitor, and then that now becomes part of the scene with Burnham and her son in the show.

It was just a beautiful transition. Like Return of the King, but also Titanic when everybody was on the bridge. How many decades ahead did we jump in the coda? It looked like about 40 years to me.

Michelle Paradise: It was about 30 years. 30-ish.

I was trying to gauge how old Booker and Burnham's son was. And they were living on Sanctuary Four, right? The planet from season 3.

Michelle Paradise: Yeah, where they had taken the Mollys - the trance worms - back in season 3. Because they had to rescue them all and take them somewhere. That was one of the places that they took them. So they made their home there.

And then that's where Book planted the world root. So it's basically New Kwejian.

Michelle Paradise: Yes. New Kwejian.

Michelle Paradise Explains Kovich's True Identity & Big Star Trek: Enterprise Reveal

Okay, a big one. Kovich is Daniels! My jaw dropped. I did not expect that at all. I thought he was gonna be a Lanthanite like on Strange New Worlds. And I love Star Trek: Enterprise so I was thrilled. Please tell me: how long was that in the works?

Michelle Paradise: I think we had the pitch for it back in season four. Honestly, I don't remember if it was in season four or so early in season five, but I think it was season four. Because in season five, we started planting the breadcrumbs of it, where you see him writing with pen and paper, which is just such a weird thing for someoneone when we [have] holograms or holopads and stuff like that. But yeah, it was from the moment David joined us… The way he plays Kovich is utterly fascinating to me. We always lean in the minute he's on screen. And from the moment he started playing that character, we found ourselves wondering, ‘What's the story with this guy?’ And knowing that eventually, we're going to have to answer that. So we planned from the start of season five at least to answer that by the end of the season.

Screen Rant: And did you have to explain to David Cronenberg who Daniels is?

Michelle Paradise: Yeah, because he wasn't familiar. But once we walked him through it, he thought it was really, really cool.

Screen Rant: Oh, if you had gotten David Cronenberg to watch Star Trek: Enterprise, that would have been a victory.

Michelle Paradise: (laughs) That would have been funny. He's got other things happening as well. So yeah.

Michelle Paradise On The USS Discovery's Saucer Separation And Burnham Meeting The Progenitor

Discovery does a saucer separation. That was awesome. How long have you wanted to do that?

Michelle Paradise: Oh gosh, a while. I can't remember who told me. It was a while ago that someone told me it was possible to do that. And I didn't know that it was possible. And when we are looking at those kinds of fight sequences, and we're looking at big sequences, particularly in premieres and finales, we're always looking with an eye toward, 'What haven't we done yet? What would be really cool that we haven't seen or done or experienced?' And that was one that was always in the back pocket, and we thought, 'Okay, this is the time to do it.' And yeah, I love how it turned out. It was really cool.

When Burnham met the Progenitor, did you guys try to get Salome Jens back to play her? Was that ever a conversation?

Michelle Paradise: You mean the original actor? Um, no. We didn't want it to only be that one person who was representing [the Progenitors]. And also, it felt important to us [that] we're saying that these are the beings who created life as we know it. And in TNG, she's a white woman. And it felt important to also acknowledge the infinite diversity, infinite combinations. And so, we wanted to go a different way with the casting as well and really underline that. Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama, who plays that character, is just phenomenal. She actually came in for a different role and we cast her and then something happened with scheduling. And when we were then looking to do the Progenitor, we had always remembered her because she was just so phenomenal. And we thought, 'Oh, my gosh, she has to play the Progenitor.' And she just brought so much. There's just so much weight and there's a peacefulness that comes from her in those scenes with Burnham. Again, you just lean in. And so anyway, no, we didn't talk about going back to the original actress. We always knew that we wanted to cast a new person in that role.

I looked her up and Salome Jens is 89, so...

Michelle Paradise: Of course, in 501. we got permission to use those scenes from that original TNG episode. But yeah, coming into this, we knew that we wanted to cast a new person in it.

Michelle Paradise's Feelings On Star Trek: Discovery Ending

Callum Keith Rennie, Eve Harlow, and Elias Toufexis were all phenomenal this season. Obviously, you intended to do Discovery season 6. If you'd gotten to keep going, can you say what the plans were for Rayner and Moll?

Michelle Paradise: Yeah, they're fantastic. We could not have been more fortunate to find those three actors, who are just incredible. You know, to be honest, we hadn't gotten that far into thinking through a season six. Though the thing that we knew we were probably going to do, because we knew that we would need to do it eventually, is tie the "Calypso" piece up, which we ended up doing in the coda. But we hadn't gotten far enough down the road to know what would happen with any of those characters. So, the mystery remains.

Can I give you a stat that I realized watching the finale? Saru and Burnam are the first-ever Star Trek characters who rose from Commander to Captain to Admiral, all in the span of their own series.

Michelle Paradise: Oh! Oh, that's cool.

Yeah, that's a pretty cool stat you achieved. No one's ever done that before. We got to see their entire growth from Commander to flag officer.

Michelle Paradise: I just want to say it feels fitting also for a show like Discovery, which is about discovery. And it's been so much about the character arcs and the way they grow and what they discovered about themselves. That's a cool stat. I didn't know it and it fits.

My last question: Now that it's over, how do you feel? How do you feel about it all?

Michelle Paradise: I think it'll probably hit me after Thursday when the episode actually airs. It's really bittersweet. I've loved being part of this show, specifically. Getting to work on a Star Trek show is a dream come true. You know, I loved The Original Series growing up, and I love science and space. And so, getting to combine all of those loves has really just been a storyteller's dream. And the people I've gotten to work with have been so wonderful. And everything ends, you know, everything comes to an end. So there was always going to be an end to it. And it's sad, but it's also, in a way, exciting because it opens the door for new things. And there are other Star Trek iterations that are coming out and that are already out and that are on the horizon that I'm excited to watch as a fan.

About Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

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The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Check out our other Star Trek: Discovery season 5 interviews here:

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is streaming on Paramount+