With Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale just weeks away, Sonequa Martin-Green and Michelle Paradis confirm it will be a longer final episode.

Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale will be a longer episode, which is confirmed by series lead and producer Sonequa Martin-Green and executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. Star Trek: Discovery‘s final episode, which is the season 5 finale, is scheduled to premiere May 30th on Paramount+.Discovery‘s series finale, titled “Life, Itself,” is written by Paradise and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi.

In an interview with Collider,Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise verified that the series finale will be an extended episode to accommodate the epilogue that was filmed in spring 2023 after Paramount+ allowed Discovery‘s cast and crew three more days of production to create a coda to wrap up the series. While it’s unclear how long Star Trek: Discovery‘s series finale will be, Paradise joked it will be “under seven hours.” Check out her quote below:

Michelle Paradise: It might be… It’s a longer episode, yes. We’re not spoiling anything… It’s under seven hours.

Michelle Paradise also answered a question about how important the final few minutes of Star Trek: Discovery‘s series finale will be in terms of closing out the series. Read her response below:

Michelle Paradise: Absolutely. That was huge. Alex [Kurtzman] and I talked about it a lot in terms of what those final moments would be, what it would look like, and what did we want to do there? You always want to wrap a season in a really wonderful way. Wrapping a series , especially when we didn’t know going into the season that it would be the final season, we thought a lot about it, and we put a lot into it. I do think that people will really enjoy it and that it will feel “of a piece,” and feel complete in a really good, even if it’s bittersweet, way.

Star Trek: Discovery‘s series lead, Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Captain Michael Burnham, also described how emotional it was to come back months after the initial wrap of season 5 to film Discovery‘s final scenes. Read her quote below:

Sonequa Martin-Green: Oh my goodness, emotional is like an understatement, right? Like Michelle was saying, we didn’t know going in, so when we were able to come back to do these additional shoots, or really it was one additional shoot, but we had to pack a ton into a short period of time So, we bonded even more there on the tail end. It was like, “Let’s go big because we’re about to go home,” kind of thing. So there were so many tears, but also so much celebration. I’m so thankful to God that I was able to be here, able to be with her, with Alex, with Tunde [Osunsanmi], with the cast and crew, and to build this. It’s like, “We’ve done it. We did it. We have our contribution. Here it is. And we’ll always have it. We’ll always have each other.” So, it was all of that going through your mind, swirling through your mind and your heart. I can specifically remember the last moments, the last take.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Is Going Out On A High Note

Season 5’s more adventurous tone is praised by fans

Star Trek: Discovery‘s reception from fans hasn’t always been positive, but Discovery season 5 has come out swinging with more fun, adventure, and crowd-pleasing connections to Star Trek lore. As such, Star Trek: Discovery season 5 has generally been more warmly received by audiences. Discovery season 5’s treasure hunt for the ancient, life-creating power of the Progenitors positions it as a direct sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “The Chase”, and increasing callbacks to TNG and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have left long-time fans more excited by Discovery‘s final season.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 has ‘cut to “The Chase”‘ from the get-go, and the introduction of intriguing new characters like Moll (Eve Harlow), L’ak (Elias Toufexis), and Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) have added fascinating new dynamics to the series. Discovery’s treasure hunt has allowed the serialized series to also weave-in more stand-alone stories that illuminate the stories of the USS Discovery’s crew in different ways. In season 5, Star Trek: Discovery feels fresh and unpredictable, which bodes well for the conclusion of the treasure hunt and the ultimate denouement of the show in the series finale.