I think the show runners decided not to push it and end it the way they wanted to.
Yeah, no way that Paramount doesn’t go with the five year mission, given the Pike backstory. Fans want that.
There is also the chance that Paramount will say “fuck it” and Strange New Worlds will do it’s five years and then smoothly segue into a “new” series with the start of Kirk, Uhura, Nurse Chapel, Spock, Scotty, etc. All we are missing is Chekhov, Sulu, Rand, and Bones, and it would be easy to cast and intro those characters over the next two years of SNW, and Paramount wouldn’t have to build new sets.
Hell, I think that’s why we have Kirk and Scotty already. I bet they do it.
I never thought I’d say this, but if they give us SNW up to Pike’s disfigurement and then segue into Kirk’s Enterprise, I will watch the shit out of it. I have no idea where that thought came from, because I fucking loathe the Abrams movies, but I’m perfectly fine with them giving us a season or two of Kirk’s Enterprise.
I can’t believe I just said that.