‘Star Trek’ at Comic-Con: ‘Discovery’s Time Jump, Setting Up ‘Strange New Worlds’ & More
Comic-Con
Star Trek: Discovery boldly went where no one else in the franchise had gone before by kicking off the universe’s panels for the virtual Comic-Con@Home.
Following a virtual table read of Act One of the Season 2 finale (with original storyboards and visual effects renderings), executive producer and co-showrunner Michelle Paradise led a cast Q&A looking back and ahead to Season 3. Plus, the stars of the new spinoff Strange New Worlds teased what’s to come for them after their experiences with this crew.
Read on for the most important reveals.
Burnham’s Salvation
Season 2 ended with the leap ahead a thousand years into the future, and Commander Michael Burnham is hoping to find “salvation of sorts,” Sonequa Martin-Green says. “We the crew are deciding to sacrifice everything we have for the future,” and so in addition to the “obvious hope” that they do “defeat Control, that we save the world and universe,” it’s personal for her character.
There’s “a hope of continuing to discover myself as Burnham,” she says. “That’ll always be there, that hope of continual unveiling and finding that perfect sweet, sweet balance between all the forces that wage within me.” “Maybe you’ll explore that in Season 3,” Paradise teased.
Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou and Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham (Michael Gibson/CBS)
Georgiou’s Not Happy
Philippa Georgiou has been ripped away from the world she knows twice, and now in the future, “she’s really pissed off,” Michelle Yeoh says of her character in Season 3. “It’s like, ‘Michael Burnham, don’t get in my way.'”
However, she’ll find a way to adapt, she promises. “She is a survivor with many skills and a formidable ally or an enemy,” she teases. “I’m sure very quickly, she’ll find a way around and power is something that inherently she has. She doesn’t even seek it. She just has it.”
“Equal Footing” for Stamets and Culber
Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) have reunited, and there’s good news for them in Season 3, which Rapp says “really blends the personal/family nature of the show.”
Because of Culber’s choice and the risk he took at the end of Season 2, “without knowing what’s going to happen, he chooses to stay on the Discovery, and … gets to save Paul’s life,” Cruz notes. “In that moment, he realizes that everything he has ever wanted and everything he needs is right here between these two people.” (“Took him long enough,” Rapp interjects. “You didn’t necessarily make it easy,” Cruz replies.)
After that, Culber “knows that he’s different, he’s looking at his work different, he feels different about his place in the world, and so the relationship is different in that way too,” Cruz continues. “It’s more on an equal footing. I’m excited about the new responsibility that I take on in terms of my work and mental health. I love the new Culber. He’s more three-dimensional in my head.”
One Goal Won’t Change
Despite speed bumps, Ensign Sylvia Tilly still has her eye on the captain’s chair, Mary Wiseman confirms. “That’s always her pie in the sky, is reaching the zenith of leadership in Starfleet, and you’ll get to see more about that journey in Season 3.” That being said, they are now “on the edge of the unknown,” so some ideas about who they are and want to be will be “transformed.”
Ethan Peck as Spock, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, and Anson Mount as Captain Pike in Star Trek: Short Treks (Michael Gibson/CBS)
Setting up Strange New Worlds
Executive producer Alex Kurtzman notes as the Star Trek panels begin that he’d wanted to talk about the new show last year at Comic-Con because they were already having “active conversations.” The writers have already broken 10 stories.
According to stars Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Rebecca Romijn (Number One), and Ethan Peck (Science Officer Spock), the effects of their experiences on Discovery will carry over.
Peck calls Spock’s interaction with Michael Burnham “essential” in his character’s transformation. “I think Michael Burnham gives him the permission to be human and teaches him what it is to be human,” he says. “That’s essential to the development of Spock as we follow along the conflict between his emotions and logic going forward into when we first see Leonard Nimoy in the original series. It’s a huge character point and will dictate a lot of behavior for Spock because of his interaction with Michael.”
Meanwhile, Mount pointed to Pike seeing his future. “When you see how it’s all going to end and that it’s not so pretty, what do you do with that? I think the reason we can only see our past is we’re a very neurotic species and we wouldn’t know how to comport ourselves,” he says. “Ultimately the question becomes, how do you move forward? I think he’s probably going to wrestle with how he can best utilize the rest of his life for the good of the world, the universe.”
While Romijn thinks it’s also about “surrendering to the unknown together, working as a team,” Mount notes that Pike is busy wrestling with this himself right now. He hopes that changes and he learns to let other people help him.
Star Trek: Discovery, Season 3, 2020, CBS All Access
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, TBA, CBS All Access
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services