Undeveloped Star Trek: Discovery episodes
A number of undeveloped Star Trek episodes were written for . These stories were submitted or developed for production, but for various reasons never aired.

"Desperate Hours"-like story 
At least one member of the DIS writing staff thought up a story idea which he subsequently realized was unfortunately too similar to the David Mack tie-in  Desperate Hours. "I can't name names, but I know there was at least one member of the [DIS writers'] room who was extremely frustrated by it because it means I took the idea he wanted to do for an episode," Mack laughed.

Tardigrade scripts 
Several scripts with scenes featuring the tardigrade as a member of the USS Discoverys crew, named Ephraim, were written and either discarded altogether or drastically altered. "There were full-on scenes," recalled Executive Producer Aaron Harberts. "We have the scripts with scenes between Ephraim and Burnham where he's talking to her about the meaning of life, and spores and the beauty of mushrooms." Because the cost of depicting the tardigrade in this way would have been too expensive, the idea was abandoned. ()

Return to Pahvo 
Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer, who created the planet Pahvo in , devised a further story idea involving the planet; however, there was not time to develop it further. Beyer instead handed the story to the developers of Star Trek Online, who turned it into a mission in the expansion Age of Discovery, set during the events of the series. 

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