Season three was confirmed to be the final one a while back. Also, it was supposed to be filmed back to back with season two, so I don't think the recent announcement about the old crew has much do with anything.
Still, they did feck the show up. Shame. Hope they at least have a good final season.
That's true, and frankly I wouldn't be offended if they go out in a blaze of nostalgic glory with the TNG cast in season three. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how season one was pretty good; leaving viewers hoping that they would build on that, only to disappoint in season 2.
There's a laundry list of problems with the show that have been exposed in 2.
- Stewart's quivering voice struggles to carry the show as its main protagonist. The audience is left somewhat baffled what has motivated him to leave Picard's retirement and do what he's doing.
- The writing has been horrendous, almost as bad as Discovery. You know Trek writers are running out of ideas when they default to "modern day Los Angeles" as their setting. Star Trek appears to be shot in the streets near where I live and that's not a good thing.
- The characters are completely flat and pointless. Examples include the tedious love interest among Rafi and Seven, & Agnes Jurari (who started out as a cerebral researcher at the beginning of season one only to turn into someone who delivers sassy quips. I wonder if the same writer is in charge of writing for the red head in Discovery because the characters seem very similar).
- Not nearly enough stuff going on in Space. Season one featured the likes of the Romulan reclamation site on a Borg cube, visits to various different planets etc. Season two features car chases on the streets of 21st century LA.
Ultimately, this is all down to terrible writing, which is down to bad hiring decisions by producers.