Star Trek: Discovery season 4 officially confirmed that the Multiverse exists, but with Discovery coming to a close, the Star Trek franchise cannot forget about the Multiverse. Star Trek: Discovery premiered in 2017, and the show's popularity facilitated the largest expansion of the franchise since the end of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. Discovery allowed for the creation of several other Star Trek projects, including its spin-off series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In March 2023, however, it was announced that Discovery's fifth season would be its last.
During its time on the air, Star Trek: Discovery added to and expanded upon the franchise in some significant ways. One of these was the official confirmation of the Star Trek (2009), but it wasn't until Discovery season 4 that Star Trek confirmed that the Multiverse did indeed exist. The Multiverse was verified by Dr. Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle), who told Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) that there were an infinite number of parallel universes, each with a unique quantum signature, when discussing his plan to reach one of these in Discovery season 4, episode 7, "...But to Connect."
Why Star Trek's Multiverse Can't End With Discovery Season 5
Due to the current popularity of the concept, as well as the potential for great storylines, the Star Trek franchise must continue to explore the Multiverse after Star Trek: Discovery ends. While it's still unclear whether Discovery season 5 will include any Multiverse storylines, the season could potentially set up any number of interesting plots for other Star Trek projects to continue going forward. Star Trek has had previous success with Multiverse-type storylines, so starting to create something more cohesive out of what's already been established would be a fascinating direction for the franchise to go in.
Star Trek would also be missing out on taking advantage of a hugely popular concept if it didn't continue to incorporate the Multiverse after Everything Everywhere All At Once, have used it to their advantage. Failing to capitalize on this popularity would be a missed opportunity for Star Trek, which already has what it needs to set up an overarching Multiverse plot throughout all its projects.
How Star Trek Can Keep Exploring Its Multiverse
While Star Trek: Discovery may be coming to an end, other shows in the Star Trek franchise can continue to explore the Multiverse. Star Trek: Prodigy, for example, would be well-equipped to tackle the storyline in season 2. Given that the overarching plot of season 1 included elements of time travel centered on The Diviner (John Noble) and Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), Prodigy has already primed its audience for more time travel stories, something that could easily lead to alternate timelines and in turn explore the Multiverse. The fact that Prodigy is an animated show also gives it the ability to tackle concepts that live-action cannot, which would only help make any storylines exploring the Multiverse bigger and more interesting.
Beyond Star Trek: Prodigy, the franchise has left the doors wide open to incorporate the Multiverse into any of its projects. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks are both set to premiere new seasons in 2023, and either one has the potential to incorporate references to the Multiverse into their season arcs. The long-gestating Section 31 spinoff centering on Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) could also potentally explore different eras and timelines in the Multiverse. Star Trek: Discovery may be ending, but Star Trek's Multiverse certainly doesn't have to.