CBS isn’t letting Paramount take all the Star Trek news spotlight this week, after the studio announced two more Trek films are in active development last night — today we get our first look at Star Trek: Discovery‘s second season as well!
Thrusters on full! Production has begun on season 2 of #StarTrekDiscovery! Season 1 now streaming: https://t.co/yrMuoDTRl9 pic.twitter.com/mIRSQljvyy
— Star Trek: Discovery (@startrekcbs) April 26, 2018
(Note: a region-free version of this video is available here.)
In this brief teaser video from the sets up in Toronto, we get to see the familiar Discovery cast back in costume as filming on Episode 201 takes place under the lead of director Alex Kurtzman… but we also get our first peek at what the arrival of the USS Enterprise will bring to the series as new uniforms and set plans are featured.
Most notably, we get to see the long-awaited Discovery adaptation of Starfleet’s period-familiar gold, red, and blue uniforms (with some Discovery-era texture from costume designer Gersha Phillips included), on the series for the first time — including what appears to be the back of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) in bright Starfleet gold… and next to Pike, an actor in similar Starfleet blue.
Whether this is intended to be Spock or not is undetermined, but the teaser features myriad of voiceovers from both Jeffrey Hunter and Leonard Nimoy (extracted from the classic Trek series) which makes us think that the series is leaning hard into the Enterprise–Discovery meetup for this premiere storyline.
The Enterprise uniform looks to have the Discovery-era shoulder piping and ‘flap’ color, though the collar is colored black to emulate the TOS-style black shirt collar.
Looking closely at this Enterprise delta badge, we can also see that the Discovery “split delta” design has been replaced with the more familiar TOS-era solid delta — with rank moved to the sleeves — another sign of evolving towards the classic Trek look.
Like as described in David Mack’s Discovery novel Desperate Hours, it seems that the series has decided that the Enterprise crew is among the first in the fleet to wear the traditional TOS-era coloring, a topic which is likely to be addressed directly in the season’s premiere episode.
In addition to the flashy new Enterprise uniforms, there is also some set reveals which makes it clear that Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) will be boarding the Constitution-class ship in the opener… and enters the quarters of one Commander Spock.
Here’s a few actors being turned into 23rd Century aliens, with help from Discovery makeup effects lead James MacKinnon:
Finally, we also get a look at some set construction blueprints, which includes both a large-scale design for L’Rell (Mary Chieffo), presumably on Qo’noS, as well as several pages of prints labeled for Section 31 use — following last month’s reveal that the clandestine organization would be a big part of the Season 2 storyline.
It’s exciting to see the crew of the Discovery back on set and ready for action… now all we need is a date to expect them back on our televisions.
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest in Star Trek: Discovery news!