Star Trek: Discovery may only have five seasons by the time it ends, but the show still managed to match a record first set by Star Trek: TNG.

Despite running only five seasons, Star Trek: Discovery has still managed to match a record set by Star Trek: The Next Generation. Discovery was the first modern live-action Star Trek series to premiere in 2017, over a decade after Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005. The show kicked up the new franchise renaissance, inspiring spin-offs like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and paving the way for others like Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard. In March 2023, Paramount+ canceled Discovery, announcing that the upcoming season 5 would be the show’s last.

While five seasons is a fairly impressive run for a TV show, especially in the era of streaming, Discovery is actually on the shorter side when compared to legacy Star Trek shows. Many classic Star Trek series ran for seven seasons, a trend that was started by Star Trek: TNG and continued throughout the 1990s era of the franchise. Like most of the recent Star Trek TV shows, Discovery will not be getting seven seasons, but unlike its sister shows, the series did manage to have one thing in common with TNG in terms of length.

Discovery Still Matched Star Trek: TNG’s Record With Only 5 Seasons

Production on both TNG and Discovery lasted 7 years

With the premiere of Discovery season 5 in April 2024, the show will have officially been in production for seven years, just like TNG was in the late 80s/early 90s. This means that Discovery has matched TNG and other legacy Star Trek series in production time, if not in the number of seasons. Although Discovery season 5 officially finished filming in 2023, the season premiering in 2024 adds the right amount of length to the official production timeline to clinch the seven-year record.

Despite Discovery getting canceled, it seems fitting that the show should match the seven-year production precedent set by TNG. Additionally, Discovery‘s longevity will hopefully pave the way for other Star Trek series that are still in production to continue longer than it did. Some series, like Picard, have already come to an end, but Strange New World and Lower Decks show no signs of stopping and could potentially reach the seven-season mark in the same or less time it took Discovery to run five seasons.

Why Discovery Only Had 5 Seasons In 7 Years

Real-world issues got in Discovery’s way

It may seem surprising that Discovery only had five seasons in seven years given its popularity, but two huge outside forces combined to cause some significant delays in production for seasons 4 and 5. The writing and filming of Discovery season 4 was delayed due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. COVID protocols caused filming to take longer than usual and even ended up partially inspiring season 4’s storyline, exploring real-world issues caused by the pandemic through the lens of the season’s “villain,” a non-sentient spatial anomaly.

Discovery season 5’s delay was caused by the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023, which set the release date announcement and promotional plan back while the show’s actors and writers were unable to participate in production or promotional events. Although filming for Discovery season 5 concluded in 2022, the show’s cancelation in early 2023 necessitated reshoots, which in turn meant that the strikes interrupted season 5’s post-production and promotional process. The delays were a blessing and a curse for Star Trek: Discovery, causing it to take longer but also enabling it to reach TNG‘s seven-year production record.