Star Trek: Discovery’s debut season concluded with a shocking blast from the franchise’s past: The original series’ Enterprise, face-to-face with Burnham and the crew of the Discovery. And now, we get to re-meet Captain Pike and Starfleet’s most iconic vessel.
As well as our first great look at the Enterprise and her crew — those TOS-inspired costumes! — as well as Inhumans’ Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, our first look at Discovery’s second season also delves into Burnham’s own tumultuous past.
And not just her recent problems with the betrayal of her ex-Captain, Lorca, but her complicated family history with Sarek and particularly her relationship with her Vulcan half-brother, Spock, who was re-confirmed as appearing in the season.
Apparently, Spock — who has conveniently taken a leave of absence from the Enterprise so neither we nor Burnham can see him — is connected to a major new cosmic threat, with strange anomalies popping up throughout Federation space, necessitating an urgent response from the Enterprise and now the Discovery, which Captain Pike wants to take command of.
Poor Burnham just can’t catch a break from all this drama, can she? At least she didn’t start an interstellar war this time!
Before Discovery returns for its second season, CBS will also release four “Short Treks” minisodes, which will be approximately 10-15 minutes long and cover important characters such as Tilly, Harry Mudd, Saru, and a mysterious new addition to Discovery.
Other notable announcements from the panel include confirmation of several members of the Enterprise crew appearing in the season — including Rebecca Romijn as Number One, a character played by Majel Barrett in the original pilot episode for Star Trek, “The Cage” — and the return of actor Wilson Cruz, who will reprise his role as the Discovery’s Chief Medical Officer Hugh Culber despite the fact that the character (one half of Star Trek’s first ever LGBTQ couple) was controversially killed off in the first season.
Also revealed was that the second season will visit Saru’s homeworld, as well as that the show will continue to explore the Klingon storyline established in season one surrounding L’Rell’s ascendancy to the position of Chancellor on the Klingon Homeworld.
Just call me “Number One!” Honored to play such an iconic character in #StarTrek Canon originally played by the First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett-Roddeberry! #StarTrekDiscovery pic.twitter.com/rdpWOxBYAk
— Rebecca Romijn (@RebeccaRomijn) July 20, 2018
Star Trek: Discovery goes where at least its first season had gone before — to Netflix — in early 2019.