Anthony Rapp Says ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Cast Expected Season 6; Could See Stamets Teaching For ‘Academy’
Around this time in 2017, _Star Trek: Discovery_ launched as the flagship show for a new streaming service, CBS All Access (now Paramount+.) In 2023 it was announced that the fifth season (which had already finished filming) was to be its last. At Creation’s STNJ – Trek To New Jersey convention last month, _Discovery_ actor Anthony Rapp talked about the cancellation, his hopes to return to the role of Paul Stamets in _Starfleet Academy_ , how he feels that _Strange New Worlds_ (and not _Discovery_) got to do a musical episode, and more.
## Cast planned for season 6 (at least)
At STNJ, TrekMovie’s Laurie Ulster asked Anthony Rapp about how things went down around the time of cancellation and the actor revealed why it was a big surprise to the cast:
> “When we were filming season 5, we did not know that was going to be on our last season. We thought there was at least one more. We were even given the probable dates of coming back to season 6, and then, I don’t remember exactly how many months later is when we got the very, very sad news that we were no longer going to be coming back.”
However, Rapp did talk about he he appreciated that Paramount+ did give the cast a chance to get together one more time to film the “coda” that was added to make the season 5 finale into a series finale:
> “That whole sequence that includes the flash forward, that was really a gift that Paramount+ and CBS Studios and all the powers that be gave us to be able to at least do some kind of thing for this is what happens to the people that you’ve been following for these five years.”
Earlier this year, series star Sonequa Martin-Green revealed how the producers of the series requested a 2-hour streaming movie to wrap up the series but Paramount denied the request, offering instead the short coda.
L-R Mary Wiseman as Tilly, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, Blu del Barrio as Adira and Anthony Rapp as Stamets in Star Trek: Discovery episode 10, season 5 steaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+.
Rapp made it clear he didn’t know what was planned for Stamets in season 6, but he had some thoughts:
> “I think that the enormously challenging question that he’s facing in all of season 5 is, what’s next after his life’s work was culminated in the mycelial network and spore drive and all of that made possible? ‘Now what?’ is a really, incredibly meaningful question that we as human beings have asked ourselves sometimes. And that was to be very fertile and potent ground, and I thought that the way that that was navigated in season 5 was very interesting, and it was the most satisfying material I was given in season 5 was how what I was working on was interacting with this larger question of, what is my life’s work going to be from here on out?… I’m very interested to know what Paul would dream up. This blend of biology and physics, I think is a really potent and interesting blend to always investigate.”
The actor remains hopeful that he could possibly explore these things with the character saying, “We’ll see if we discover more down the road.” And he made it clear he is ready to return to space:
> “People say to me that there’s interest in seeing myself and the other characters from our show have more life in Star Trek Universe. I would love to do that, if that’s possible. Since they like to bring people back, we’ll see. I would absolutely say yes. I would love to inhabit the skin and soul and heart of this incredible scientist, Paul Stamets, again.”
Anthony Rapp as Stamets in _Star Trek: Discovery_ , season 5, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+
## Ready for singing Stamets at _Academy_
The new series _Star Trek: Starfleet Academy_ is set after the events of _Discovery_ and it has already been announced that some members of the Disco cast will be appearing in regular or guest roles. The second season is currently in production and there has been no official announcement that Rapp will be returning as Stamets, but when asked by a fan about the idea of a “Professor Stamets” teaching cadets, Rapp loved the idea saying:
> “Yeah, I would love that. I’d be very curious to see how–like he was able to show that he could be a loving and kind mentor to Adira, but that was also such a personal relationship that I think would be a challenge for Paul to put up with nonsense from young people. [laughs]… One of the things that I love about Paul is he suffers no fools. But also that’s one of his greatest challenges at times, because sometimes you’re surrounded by fools, to some degree. But he works at such a high level, and expects everybody around to work at a high level all the time. There’s something to be said for having high expectations of people; at same time, you got to soften a little bit sometimes, which I think he did do through the course of the show, especially with Adira. But I think it would be certainly very fun to have him in a teaching career.”
Before appearing in _Discovery_ Rapp may have been best known for his Broadway career, including starring in the hit show _Rent_. When it was suggested that he could sing to his class, he jumped in on that idea, and he even gave the crowd a taste of what that would be like:
> “Yeah, absolutely! Sure I could sing. I could teach astromycology through song! [singing] ‘ _Mushrooms, mushrooms, where are you mushrooms_ …'”
Anthony Rapp singing on the _Discovery_ set on Carpool Karaoke
## About SNW getting that musical episode
Speaking of singing, the idea of a musical episode of Star Trek often came up with regards to _Discovery_ , with Rapp not being the only accomplished singer in the cast. However, the powers that be decided that _Star Trek: Strange New Worlds_ would have the honor of breaking the musical barrier with the season 2 episode “Subspace Rhapsody.” At a panel at STLV in August Wilson Cruz (appearing with Rapp) made some news when he (mockingly) talked about how he was “enraged” _Discovery_ didn’t get a musical episode. At STNJ Rapp picked up on this, with his own bit of (friendly) indignation:
> “I mean, what were they thinking? Why? Why didn’t we get to do it? If you had a hidden camera on the set, we were singing every day. We would just sing–Sometimes in a silly way. Sometimes in a beautiful way. We were singing so much, including people in our cast who couldn’t really sing that well, but that’s okay. So yeah, when [_Strange New Worlds_] got to do and we didn’t, we were like, ‘What is happening?’ I don’t know… Maybe down the road, we could do ‘A Very Special _Discovery R_ eunion’ where we sing.”
Anthony Rapp at STNJ 2025 (Photo: TrekMovie)
## A scientist, not an engineer
During season 2 Tig Notaro joined the cast as Commander Jett Reno, who eventually became chief engineer of the USS Discovery. Often Stamets and Reno were paired up, seen in the same Spore Drive set where Stamets reigned supreme starting in season 1. Another question asked by TrekMovie’s Laurie Ulster was if he could clarify exactly who was the boss between Stamets and Reno. The actor took this as a chance to clarify his role on the show:
> “So it’s never been made, really–as sticklerish as I can be, I don’t tend to correct fans when they come up to say, ‘You’re my favorite engineer,’ because Stamets isn’t really the engineer. He’s the designer of the spore drive, which is in engineering, but he’s not the engineer. Reno is the chief engineer, but Stamets has his own domain, so he’s his own boss. But then they do have to work together. So they’re not each other’s bosses. And if you’ll notice, Stamets is a science officer, not an engineering officer, a science officer. But he is in engineering because of the spore drive. He could also be designing things, but he’s really a biologist, a mycologist at heart. And then also physics and all the other stuff that touches on it.”
“Die Trying” — Ep#305 — Pictured: Tig Notaro as engineer Jett Reno and Anthony Rapp as Lt. Paul Stamets of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/CBS ©2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rapp, who his an avowed Trek fan, wrapped up his time on stage to talk directly to the fans about what being on Star Trek meant to him:
> “I do want to say that I am very grateful to have been a part of this family of Star Trek. It was something I grew up watching, and loving as a kid. I _never_ imagined myself to be a part of it… It’s not that I didn’t think I could be in this, I just thought I’ll be a fan of this, so when it came my way, it changed my life utterly. And I’m very, very grateful it has afforded me the opportunity to travel around the world, and not just New Jersey, but the world, to meet people from around the world who have been touched by the work that was created almost 60 years ago, now. To be a part of that legacy is incredible.”
## More from STNJ
We have other wrap-ups from Creation’s The STNJ: Trek to New Jersey 2025 event, including more from Kate Mulgrew, Gates McFadden, Celia Rose Gooding, and Tim Russ so check out our STNJ tag for more.
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