Saturday afternoon marked the final cast convention for the year, as the headlining stars of Star Trek: Discovery arrived at Madison Square Garden for 2018’s panel at New York Comic Con — where we heard from actors and producers, learned some new hints about the upcoming season, and got an extended look at year two of Star Trek: Discovery!
This year, SyFy Wire streamed the whole panel for remote viewers, which you can watch below (starting at the 4:55:00 mark):
Hosted and moderated by Season 2 guest star Rebecca Romijn (Number One), the panel featured Discovery executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin, along with virtually the entire series cast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Mary Wiseman (Tilly), Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou), Anson Mount (Pike), Anthony Rapp (Stamets), Wilson Cruz (Culber), Shazad Latif (Tyler), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell) — and the debut appearance of new Spock actor Ethan Peck.
After kicking off the panel with the reveal of the newest Discovery Season 2 trailer, Romijn proceeded to give Kurtzman, Kadin, and each member of the cast panel their time to shine in front of the large NYCC crowd. While some of the discussion repeated information first shared at San Diego Comic Con and Star Trek Las Vegas over the summer, there was still some great new info shared with fans on Saturday.
Kurtzman started off discussing the status of Discovery production, noting that Season 2 is nearly finished with its 13-episode filming schedule (the show is currently in production on Episode 210 up in Toronto), and he finally confirmed the show’s official return date: Thursday, January 17 on CBS All Access.
Regarding the new footage in the trailer, the producer noted that the red flashes — what he calls the “seven signals” — are the focus of the new year:
The ‘seven signals’ – where they came from, who or what sent them – is really the drive of Season 2. The Discovery crew is trying to figure out what they mean: are they some kind of path? Are they a message? We don’t know.
There’s a lot of interesting conversation about science versus faith, what does faith mean… even Starfleet can’t really understand what they are or where they came from.
Emperor Georgiou, now a refugee in the Prime universe and recruited to the secretive Section 31 as we saw in the Wondercon 2018 ‘secret scene’ earlier this year, will have a major role in the new year. Michelle Yeoh features heavily in the Season 2 trailer, and told the crowd about the fun she has in her character’s new position.
[The Prime universe is a] lame universe as far as Emperor Georgiou was concerned, and she was ready to kill herself in that establishment on Qo’noS – so when Leland came to her with this black badge, she was very intrigued.
When she later found out what Section 31 meant – officially, we’re non-existent; an autonomous, clandestine organization supposed to protect and defend the Federation – basically, what [Starfleet] doesn’t like to do, [Section 31] gets to do really, really well.
For Georgiou, now, it’s a really interesting role because not everybody knows that she’s from the Mirror Universe. So sometimes, I get to play the good Captain [Georgiou], which is always very nice, compassionate, kind… (Mimes yawning)
And then, with Georgiou of Section 31, she is manipulative, devious… I want to say SEXY thanks to [costume designer] Gersha [Phillips] because we’re all in leather the whole time – and it’s hot! (Laughs)
[…]
It’s a lot more fun playing Section 31 Georgiou because this man [Pike] has NO idea who I am!
Newly-minted Ensign Sylvia Tilly will have to “figure out what it means to be an officer,” said actor Mary Wiseman, who described the young crewmember as someone who will have to be very self-reliant to make her way through some of Season 2’s events.
[Tilly is] going to face a lot of challenges, a lot of which she’s going to have to rely on herself to find her way through — which should be interesting!
The New York Comic Con panel marked the first public appearance of Ethan Peck, who was cast as Discovery‘s version of Mr. Spock back in August — the series newcomer still wears the surprising, thick beard seen on the Vulcan in the final moments of the new trailer — who described his path towards landing the role.
It was a long audition process – in the beginning, I didn’t know what I was reading for. I knew it was for ‘Star Trek,’ and this guy was struggling with emotion and logic, and towards the very end of it I found out [it was Spock] and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe…”
I had a panic attack during the last meeting with [Alex] Kurtzman. About two days later, I was like, “You know what? Even if it doesn’t go my way, what an incredible experience to brush arms with this character and this world.”
…and I got a text message from the casting director Orly Sitowitz: ‘Welcome aboard, Mr. Spock.’
On the topic of casting Spock, executive producer Heather Kadin spoke about the challenges of finding the right person to take on such an iconic role.
It’s definitely [difficult] because you owe so much to the characters that people have loved for so many years. I mean, obviously, we didn’t take the casting of Spock or Pike lightly — but you also want the actor to be able to bring their own self to it as well.
I think that’s both what Anson [Mount] and Ethan [Peck] have done, and we’re so excited for everyone to see.
Doug Jones, of course, will be continuing in the role of Kelpien first officer Saru for Discovery’s second year, and we heard a bit of a preview about what new challenges his character will face this season — and what surprises will come along the way.
In Season 2, [Saru] finds out something about himself, and what it means to be a Kelpien, that he did not know — and that [the audience doesn’t] know. This will be altering and challenging for him, he’s on a path of evolution.
We get to go to [his] home planet in an episode where this all culminates, basically. You get to meet my sister, the lovely Sirannah [ed: spelling still unconfirmed] played by the beautiful Hannah Spear.
I’m in one of the short films coming up before the season starts that gives you more of that backstory; you’ll see more family and what my home planet of Kaminar looks like.
Jones also spoke about how Saru’s relationship with Burnham develops in the new season.
With everything I mentioned before… [Saru] needs to call on a family member, really, to help me through this moment. And [Burnham] is who I choose, my sister on the ship — and that brother/sister relationship goes to an entirely new level this season that is heartwarming.
Everybody who thought we had too much angst with each other are going to be totally calmed. [Burnham] has been separated from her brother [Spock] for a number of years; I have been, too, with my sister on Kaminar, been separated from her for a number of years.
So we parallel that; we have each other in the absence of our ‘true’ siblings.
L’Rell ended the first season taking over the Klingon Empire, and Mary Chieffo expounded upon where the new Chancellor finds herself going into the second year — and why she’s now got that glorious warrior mane after seeing a year of bald-headed warriors.
Well, she’s now officially the Chancellor of the Empire, and there are a lot of struggles that come with that… and also, as you might have noted in the trailer, there’s a bit of a new aesthetic going on! (Flips her hair around)
[The hair] is a really exciting addition that’s been made. Glenn Hetrick, our designer, is a huge ‘Trek’ fan himself; he was inspired by [TNG’s] “Rightful Heir.” There is a reference, when Kahless is brought back as a clone… he tells the story of how he cut off a lock of his hair and dipped it into a volcano and made the first bat’leth — which he used to kill Molor, the terrible tyrant that was running Qo’noS at the time.
So, in the spirit of discovery, we took that one little beautiful seed that was planted from the earlier iteration and kind of expanded upon that, and we see that in a time of war, the Klingons would shave their heads — and in a time of peace, we start to grow it back out.
I really love the symbolism of that; I think there’s also a theme for L’Rell in the second season of embracing her femininity as she embraces her power — I think the two can coexist, so I really enjoyed that.
[…]
I think there’s something beautiful in the metaphor of ‘letting your hair down,’ and I think that’s very much L’Rell’s journey in the second season. Opening herself up to Tyler in a way that she didn’t have the opportunity to do in the first season. Now they’re in very close proximity, and they need each other.
In addition to the hair, the Chancellor aesthetic, when it comes to clothes, Gersha Phillips has outdone herself…. I’ve got these epic heeled boots and these gorgeous dresses – and a little more of your classic Klingon cleavage that you all love so very much!
Incoming captain Christopher Pike, actor Anson Mount, discussed the structure of the season — noting that the ongoing ‘seven signals’ storyline will help bridge a season-long arc with a number of episodic stories along the way.
We start out by chasing these occurrences, these red signals, that we’ve determined the energy behind them are beyond anything we’ve ever encountered. This initially brings us to an asteroid that’s hurtling toward a pulsar, and we find that there’s a downed ship — the USS Hiawatha — and we find one survivor played by Tig Notaro.
That character comes aboard for a little while… and each step, each time we chase down this signal, what I really like about what the writers are doing with this — they’re maintaining this decision to do this serialized version of ‘Star Trek,’ this choice, chasing the signals, is bringing in sort of a classic episodic feel to the second season.
So each show does have its own character, its own question… while maintaining this really strong throughline.
Finally, series lead Sonequa Martin-Green got her turn to preview Burnham’s journey in this coming year, starting with the mysterious ‘red angel’ creature which appears to the commander during a moment of crisis.
The red angel is such a mystery… as you saw in that fantastic trailer, the red angel appears to Burnham in a very, very critical moment. What I find out, I can tease, is that Spock has also seen this red angel, earlier in his life.
Martin-Green was also excited to share that her husband Kenric Green, who previously shared the screen with Sonequa in her previous role on The Walking Dead, will be appearing in the second year of the show, but his specific role on Discovery is still yet to be announced.
Moving to the audience for fan questions, Peck and addressed an inquiry about how the previous actors to inhabit his role — Leonard Nimoy — influenced their performances.
Peck discussed the evolution of Spock’s character, calling Nimoy’s performance in the Original Series “the light at the end of the tunnel.”
We have to start Spock at a place where he is becoming who we see on the Enterprise with Kirk. I’ve done a ton of research, I’m reading the [Nimoy] biography and watching the Original Series.
Executive producer Alex Kurtzman closed out the panel with final bit of surprising news, responding to a fan who asked if there will be appearances from any other Original Series characters — besides Spock — in the new season:
Yes! [crowd applauds] You guys like Talosians? We should see some!
We’ve got lots more to come from New York Comic Con over the next few days, including interviews with everyone from Alex Kurtzman and Sonequa Martin-Green to newcomers Anson Mount and Ethan Peck — so keep coming back to TrekCore for the latest in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 coverage!