Members of the cast and producers of Star Trek: Discovery descended on a packed house at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden for the first half of a 90 minute panel presentation at this year’s New York Comic Con for both Discovery and for Star Trek: Picard.
We got the release of a new trailer for next year’s Season 3, and the assembled fans were also surprised with the news that the first of this fall’s Short Treks, “Q & A,” was made live in the US for viewers on CBS All Access before the panel concluded. “It’s available right now!” Star Trek franchise showrunner Alex Kurtzman told the surprised crowd.
Representing Discovery were co-executive producers Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, and Michelle Paradise, along with series actors Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, and newcomer to the show David Ajala.
Speaking of the decision to move Star Trek: Discovery some 930 years into the future at the end of last season — the new setting for the show — Kurtzman said, “[i]f we don’t deliver you something that is completely surprising and unexpected then we will have failed.”
Regarding the ever-present Star Trek canon, he elaborated that it is “wildly important” to him and the Discovery writing team. “It’s not like we’re tossing canon out the window,” he continued. “We’re saying: canon existed, we’re not rewriting it. We’re not changing it. There are no timeline adjustments, and the events of canon have absolutely informed everything that happens in the future.”
Panelists kept coming back to the idea that, as Kurtzman said, the future the Discovery crew arrives to is “not at all what they expected when they get to the other side [of the wormhole].”
He went on to say that with the relocation to the far future, the Discovery writers get to “take everything you assume about Trek — the species, the planets, the Federation — and you put it in a blender… It’s almost 1000 years in the future. It couldn’t possibly look like what it looks like when they jump.”
Kurtzman also talked about how Discovery Season 3 would take on more of an allegorical tone as the show looked to draw more connections with the modern world:
“We often talk about how ‘Star Trek’ is a mirror that holds itself up to the world as it is. And we look around and we see a lot of disillusionment, a lot of confusion, and a lot of disconnection. Many of the things that we long for–hope, understanding, compassion, empathy… those things seem to be waning more and more.
‘Star Trek’ is the ultimate beacon of hope, so if you go into the future that doesn’t quite look like what you imagined it to be ‘Trek’ is always the anchor to bring you back to what’s possible and who we are at our best. And ‘Discovery,’ as they enter into that future, becomes this beacon that reminds people what’s possible and what hope means…
We’re looking to have something to say about the world as it is now presented on screen.”
Series newcomer David Ajala, who will be joining the cast of Discovery as a series regular for Season 3, said about his character “Cleveland ‘Book’ Booker:
“You will meet [him] in the first episode…
It’s exciting being able to dabble and explore new territory… as you guys can be watching and exploring the new world, you’ll be seeing it through Book’s eyes and Burnham’s eyes.”
The actors also had the opportunity to reflect, without giving away too much, on what the show moving into the future was likely to mean for their characters.
Anthony Rapp remarked that he thinks it’s “cool” that Discovery jumped to the future. “They’re allowing everyone to reckon with… what it’s like to leave everything behind, and what it might do to people to make that enormous strange leap,” he said. “They haven’t shied away from that, and it’s really special.”
On young Ensign Tilly’s growth as a character, and continued growth in Season 3, Mary Wiseman said:
“We jumped to the future, it’s a leap of faith, and it’s those moments… where you have to make big decisions…. in this season you’ll see more of her stepping into her power in the way that she can.
It’s not a time to wilt or step back…but a time to step forward. I think you’re going to see why she has gravitated to these people and they have gravitated to her.”
But the question many people want answered for Discovery? Who is going to finally end up as the ship’s captain, Burnham or Saru? We did not get an answer at NYCC, but Doug Jones explained why the question is just one of many facing the pair.
“Many variables exist that we don’t know about. We jump to the future to find: is there a Federation still, and what condition is it in? Would they respect either one of us captain, or would be able to self-govern?
All of those questions remain unanswered right now… for you.”
Speaking of the surprise release of the first Short Trek, “Q & A,” and the decision to focus three of the Short Treks on the Pike-era Enterprise characters, Kurtzman acknowledged the fan demand for more Captain Pike tales.
“[We] heard you loud and clear how beloved those characters were” he said, “so we did a bunch of Short Treks with them.” Responding to fans shouting out requesting a whole show centered on Captain Pike, Kurtzman would only say, jokingly, “I love that idea!”
Kurtzman also said that he did not think Discovery would return to the 23rd century, but he did tease that the time period was in play for future Star Trek productions.
“I don’t know that we have plans on Discovery to return to the 23rd century.
There are many shows in the works now and they are in different timelines… so anything is possible.”
And will we find out what happened with the last year’s far-future Short Trek “Calypso,” or how that story ties into Discovery‘s new time period? “Maybe,” the producer said with a smile.
Responding to a fan question about what to expect from Discovery Season 3 when it comes to balancing standalone and season-long serialized storytelling, co-showrunner Michelle Paradise implied that this upcoming year will feel similar to Season 2, which had episodic elements among the overall Red Angel arc.
“We have a serialized story that will take us from the beginning to the end. Within that we will have some episodes that focus more fully on one or other of the characters, but we’ll always be teasing that larger story through.”
The panel wrapped with Alex Kurtzman taking a moment to celebrate the fans. “Star Trek fans are the living best,” he said, praising the thoughtfulness of the audience questions, along with the comments that the cast and producers receive about Discovery. “[Fans are] the living fuel that keeps us going.”
We don’t yet know exactly when we’ll get to join the Star Trek: Discovery crew 930 years in the future — as production on Season 3 isn’t even halfway done filming yet — but we expect the series to return sometime in mid-2020.
In the meantime, we’ll have five Star Trek: Discovery “Short Treks” to hold us over, with the three Pike-crew tales arriving in October and November, and two animated Discovery stories debuting in December 2019.
There’s still more to come from our time at New York Comic Con this weekend, to keep your sensors trained on TrekCore for all the latest Star Trek and Star Trek: Discovery news!