As Star Trek: Discovery begins production on its sophomore season, we’re beginning to see news coming off the set as announcements of casting and directorial have been made public over the last few weeks.

We learned in late March that Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman would be directing the Season 2 premiere, and at that time we made note of Trek alum Jonathan Frakes’ presumed participation in the second year of the series — and today, we’ve learned more about how much Frakes will be behind the camera next season.

Speaking to TrekFM host Justin Oser at El Paso Comic Con today, Frakes revealed that he will be directing two episodes of Season 2, and is heading to the production stages in Toronto soon to join the cast and crew on set. (We reached out to Oser, who confirmed the comment to us.)

Frakes has a habit of sharing info about Star Trek: Discovery‘s upcoming stories, as he did last year when he let slip that the series was going to the Mirror Universe months ahead of the events occurring on-screen — but it turned out that his Season 1 episode, “Despite Yourself,” was one of the highlights of the season, introducing viewers to the Discovery-era Mirror Universe for the dominant storyline of 2018’s episodes.

Reporting from Frakes’ panel at the convention (which also featured his TNG costars Brent Spiner and Marina Sirtis,) Oser also learned that Frakes’ first episode will be Episode 202, which will feature Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, and that it will feature a young Spock, in flashback, as part of the story — and young Michael Burnham will also be seen.

(We don’t yet know if this will be a return of actress Arista Arhin, who played young Burnham in “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle at the Binary Stars.”)

Directors Akiva Goldsman and Olatunde Osunsanmi each took on two episodes last year, one each in the two halves of the season. Based on the lengthy pre- and post-production timelines required to complete a single Discovery episode, Frakes’ episodes will be spaced apart similarly for Season 2 — his second episode of the season will be Episode 210 towards the end of the thirteen-episode season.

In other Season 2 insights, the cast is continuing to coalesce for filming, as several Discovery actors have noted on social media, with James Frain (Sarek) returning to the set, Mary Wiseman tweeting about Toronto weather, and Anson Mount (Pike) commenting that he’s already rehearsing with Doug Jones (Saru).

The cast and crew also got a special surprise for the kickoff of Season 2 production, as baker Arlene Lott prepared this space-themed cake for their new venture.

Keep coming back to TrekCore for the latest in Star Trek: Discovery news!