Star Trek: Lower Decks is more than halfway through its third season and made a pitstop at , but the show’s staff has long been hard at work on Season 4. Paramount renewed , months ahead of the show’s third season premiere. Given how long animation takes, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve with animated series renewals. But as for right now, creator Mike McMahan and the rest of the team behind Star Trek: Lower Decks are focusing on getting to work animating Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4. He provided an update while speaking to TrekMovie.
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“In season 4, the writing is pretty much done,” McMahan said. “We’re seeing animatics come in, which is the black-and-white version of the episodes before they’re animated. And it’s awesome. We’re recording the actors. They’re getting to see how the season arcs are going. It’s really cool.”
McMahan did touch on how early renewals affect the process for Lower Decks. “Well, there’s always overlap,” he said. “So, the sooner we get to pick up the better because then we can start hiring the directors we like and the writers that we like, and make sure that people can carve the schedule out. The best thing for us is to get a pickup by the end of this year to start writing at the beginning of next year. But I’ll take a pickup right now if CBS is handing them out. But we’ve got all [season] 4 to work on, we are hoping for [season] 5.”
But how long can Star Trek: Lower Decks, a show specifically about the ensigns of the Starfleet, continue before stretching its premise? McMahan says he could keep writing these characters forever.
“I know, seven is always such a magic number,” he said. “Although I did write at TNG season 8 for a little while on Twitter. I think for me, there’s a part of me that’s like I could go forever. I can make movies. I could explore how the show changes and always keep the thematic Lower Decks-ishness to it. But at the same time, if we had to have seven or eight perfect seasons, I can imagine that too. Either which way, I just want to keep writing Mariner and Boimler and Tendi and Rutherford and the crew. I just love spending time with those characters and however we can get to do it.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks debuts new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.
