Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Lower Decks' Season 5 Finale - "The New Next Generation"
Star Trek: Lower Decks' series finale creates a multiverse problem in Star Trek canon. Lower Decks came to a close with its fifth season, which sent the USS Cerritos on a mission to investigate quantum fissures to infinite Star Trek timelines. In Star Trek: Lower Decks' series ender, Starfleet Command informed the Cerritos that they were the only ship close enough to stabilize the massive wormhole before it destroyed the universe. Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) and her crew then beautifully came together to save the day, resulting in the creation of a stable and permanently open portal to various quantum realities.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 9, "Fissure Quest," introduced the starship Anaximander and its crew of Star Trek legacy characters commanded by Captain William Boimler (Jack Quaid). Consisting of T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), Curzon Dax (Fred Tatasciore), Garak (Andrew Robinson), Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and numerous Harry Kims (Garrett Wang), this crew illustrated how much fun multiverse stories could be. The new permanent rift established during the finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks should have massive repercussions for Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. This would seem to contradict with established Star Trek canon, considering no other show has mentioned such a portal.
Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Multiverse Gateway Doesn’t Match Star Trek Canon
Wouldn't Someone Have Mentioned Such An Important Discovery?
Star Trek: Lower Decks delivered an incredibly fun, action-packed finale that nevertheless raises several questions for the greater Star Trek franchise. Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Picard both take place after Star Trek: Lower Decks, but neither series makes any mention of a portal to infinite dimensions. Star Trek: Prodigy even dealt directly with the multiverse and brought back Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) as an interdimensional Traveler, but he did not reference a portal. The Federation's enemies, like the Romulans and the Borg, would likely go to great lengths to access a door to the multiverse, adding another wrinkle to canon.
Of course, the real-world reason the multiverse portal has not been mentioned is because Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 had not been written yet when Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Prodigy premiered. Still, this new development does raise questions about how Star Trek canon will address such a significant change. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes place long before the events of Lower Decks and the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy takes place long after, so it's unlikely either of those shows will address it.
Star Trek Has No Follow-Up For Lower Decks’ Multiverse Gateway Story
Lower Decks Introduces An Incredibly Cool Concept With Great Storytelling Potential
Although Star Trek: Lower Decks' finale has numerous storylines that could continue, Star Trek currently has no plans for Lower Decks season 6 or a follow-up. A permanent portal to the multiverse seems like something the franchise would address, but it remains to be seen how, or even if, Star Trek will revisit this storyline. Star Trek: Prodigy and Lower Decks season 5 have already shown how much fun Star Trek can have with the multiverse, and the potential for future stories is limitless. Introducing a gateway to the multiverse provides such an incredible setup for future Star Trek stories, and it would be a shame to waste it.
Several of the cast members of Star Trek: Lower Decks have expressed a desire for their characters' stories to continue in some way, and the USS Cerritos remains very much in active service, so anything is possible.
