Star Trek: Discovery season four has now aired all of its episodes.
Here’s everything you need to know about Discovery season four, including how to watch it, as well as all the trailers to get you prepared.
Where can I watch Star Trek: Discovery season 4?
The show is exclusive to the Paramount+ streaming service (formally CBS All Access), for viewers in the US and UK. Subscriptions start from £6.99/$4.99. However, new users get a seven-day free trial, and in the UK, Sky customers can sign up for free.
If that doesn’t work for you, then in the UK, Germany, France, Russia, South Korea and “additional select countries,” episodes are available to buy from “participating digital platforms,”. In the UK, you can get them from the following places:
Costs start from £1.99 per episode in SD, and £2.50 in HD. Some retailers also offer deals on the full box set in advance.
How to watch Discovery in other countries
The good news for international Discovery fans is that there are ways to watch Paramount Plus from outside the US. If you’re not in one of the countries getting the show through Paramount+ or digital storefronts, this will be the best legal way to watch the show as it airs Stateside, rather than waiting for months to find out what happens next.
Click through above for our full guide, but the long and short of it is that you’ll need a VPN (NordVPN and Surfshark are our favourites, but check out our full ranking of the best VPN providers) and to purchase a digital gift card to get around the hurdle of not having an American credit card.
Watch the Discovery season 4 trailers
A first trailer for the season was unveiled at 2021’s Star Trek First Contact Day, back on 5 April:
A second trailer with plenty of new footage was then released at New York Comic-Con in October, giving us a better sense of the season’s story:
What is the plot of Star Trek: Discovery season 4?
The official blurb for the season doesn’t give much away:
“Season four of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery facing a threat unlike any they’ve ever encountered. With Federation and non-Federation worlds alike feeling the impact, they must confront the unknown and work together to ensure a hopeful future for all.”
From the trailers above we can see that a gravitational anomaly, measuring five light-years across, is threatening catastrophic damage to life in the galaxy. It will take Burnham and crew, plus the alliances they can forge with the Vulcans and other species, to fight this phenomenon and save the universe once more.
Obviously, the idea of coming together to fight an invisible force that can devastate lives feels quite apt for the Covid-ravaged times in which we find ourselves. So, maybe season four will bring a little cheer and help us all see that working to put aside our differences and helping each other is the best way to avoid being wiped out by enormous gravitational anomalies.
At the end of season 3, Michael Burnham had taken her place in the Captain’s chair on the bridge of Discovery, so season 4 will no doubt see her new status tested in the far-future where they find themselves.
In a panel hosted by Variety, co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman discussed how Burnham earned her command in the last scene of season three and what that means for the upcoming episodes.
“In some sense, it’s an ending, but it’s very much a new beginning because season four for Michelle and I has been largely defined by this question. Every time we broke story, the question is: ‘How is this affecting Burnham as a captain?’ And I don’t mean affecting, I mean challenging her. Just because she has the chair doesn’t mean that she’s necessarily ready for certain things. And there are choices that she now has to make as a captain that she wouldn’t have to make as just an officer on the ship.
“So every story was calibrated to what new door does this open to her experience of being a captain and what new challenge does she have to face the ship to face and what new thing does she have to learn about herself and to discovery.”
Who are the cast and crew for Star Trek: Discovery season 4?
The crew from season three all looks set to return, with the following already confirmed:
- Sonequa Martin-Green – Captain Michael Burnham
- Doug Jones – Saru
- Anthony Rapp – Paul Stamets
- Mary Wiseman – Sylvia Tilly
- Wilson Cruz – Dr Hugh Culber
- David Ajala – Cleveland ‘Book’ Booker
- Blu Del Barrio – Adira
- Ian Alexander – Gray
- Emily Coutts – Keyla Detmer
- Oyin Oladejo – Joann Owosekun
- Tig Notaro – Jett Reno
The director for season 4 is Olatunde Osunsanmi, who has also overseen episodes for Star Trek: Short Treks, Bates Motel, Gotham, Legends of Tomorrow, Falling Skies and Timeless.
Writing duties are spread among several authors, with Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller, Sean Cochran, Anthony Maranville, Brandon Shultz, Chris Silvestri, and Michelle Paradise all returning.
