Star Trek: Discovery ended its third season this week — so SPOILER WARNING if you’re not yet caught up — and showrunner Michelle Paradise hit the interview circuit to share some insight into the events of the finale, as well as confirming some of this year’s new characters will be back for Season 4.

The big finish to the season — the ascension of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) to Discovery captain’s chair — was the centerpoint of her conversation with TV Insider, along with both Saru’s (Doug Jones) and Tilly’s (Mary Wiseman) time in the main seat.

On Burnham landing her captaincy, and the trade-off with Saru’s time in command:

“We knew we wanted to get Burnham to the captain’s chair at the end of the season, so a big question was, if that’s where we want to get her to at the end, where should she begin and how far away from that can we take her?

We wanted to give her the best arc possible, so in that moment, in Episode 3, where they’re having that conversation, she declines the chair, and even she, in that moment, recognizes that Saru is the right individual to have the chair because of the way he leads, because he has already led them there and it’s not something that Burnham is ready for.

As we see over the first half of the season, she’s even questioning whether or not she can reconcile her year of living there with coming back into Discovery and ultimately, of course, that culminates in the big questions for her in Episode 7, where she turns and recommits and that sends her on the journey to ultimately taking the chair herself.

They just felt the natural places for both of them to begin and end the season.”

She also shared some thoughts about how Tilly’s time as acting first officer — and leading the crew during the final confrontation with the Emerald Chain — will impact the young officer headed into next season.

“I can’t really say anything about that without spoiling stuff, but I will say it was a really interesting journey for Tilly in Season 3 and taking her from the place in Episode 2 where she’s asking Saru, ‘Why are you taking me on this mission?’

He sees strength in her she doesn’t quite see in herself necessarily and then watching her over the course of the season become more confident in herself to the place where she’s ultimately able to serve as Number One and then no one sees it coming but having to essentially be acting captain in this crisis situation and she handles herself beautifully.

What does that mean to come is I’m sure a question she’ll be asking herself and we’ll be exploring in Season 4.”

When it comes to the new characters introduced this season, while we already know that Adira (Blu del Barrio) and Gray (Ian Alexander) will be back for Season 4 — along with the mysterious Kovich (David Cronenberg) — Paradise also confirms that Book (David Ajala) will of course be returning next year, after finding his place aboard Discovery in the latter half of the season.

“It was really fun to watch [Burnham and Book] come together and grow together and I expect we’ll be seeing more of them in Season 4. I just can’t say what we’ll be seeing.”

On the nature of Season 4 itself, Paradise kept things vague:

“I can say the places we were really focused in Season 3 — trying to make sure our characters can grow, exploring new relationships, exploring how people can change, finding new layers for each of our characters — are also a really strong focus for Season 4 and I expect we’ll continue to see our characters grow in new and hopefully exciting ways.

[In terms of returning to the past,] all of them know going into that at the end of Season 2, this is a one-way trip. Now that they are here, we’re not looking to go back.”

Fan-favorite Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) also has a future with the series, Paradise notes in interview with ComicBook.com, sharing a great deal if insight into his role for Season 3 — and that there’s more story ahead for the Starfleet Commander in Chief next year.

“[With] the character of Vance, who is our introduction into what is Starfleet 930 years later, it felt important that for someone who was born into a world post-Burn, has grown up in that world, and is now trying to lead when every day is a new fire, that he be a character who is strong and dedicated and empathetic, and yes, also a little bit tired, because it’s a slog for him. And yet he believes, and he’s doing his best.

And you need someone like Oded [Fehr] to play a character like that. You need someone like that who can deliver all of those layers. And Oded is just phenomenal as Vance. And so yeah, we wanted Vance to be all of those things. Who would an admiral be in this world post-Burn where people are disconnected and he’s trying to reconnect, but in this new world, it’s just very, very difficult.

There aren’t ways to reach one another. And he hasn’t grown up in a world in which reaching one another is possible, which fuels partly his response to our heroes when they land in episode five because their idea of hope and connection is in some ways a bit foreign because he’s never experienced it.

And so being able to watch him grow over the course of the season, due to his connection with Burnham and our heroes on Discovery, was really fun for us to explore and to write. And I really love where he gets to and yes, he’s absolutely still a presence moving forward.

So I’m excited to see what’s to come for him too.”

…and lest you fear that his side trip to Kaminar will be the last time we see Saru, don’t worry: the Discovery showrunner is quick to shoot down that idea.

“No, no, no, no, no. Doug Jones is not going anywhere. Saru will be back, a hundred percent in season four. So rest easy, sleep well. We’re not letting Doug go anywhere. We’re holding onto him.”

Paradise also spoke about the nature of “Calypso,” the Short Trek tale which debuted in 2018, and how that far-future story may still one day tie into the series, with the Sphere Data’s migration into DOT-23 drones as an early step down that path.

“Well, first of all, ‘Calypso’ is incredible. I mean, it’s just, we love it. And it is now a part of Trek canon, but specifically our show’s canon.

It takes place many, many years beyond where our heroes are right now, and at some point, we will absolutely have to match up with that so that Discovery as a whole, including ‘Calypso,’ all fits together as a piece.

So certainly bringing in that voice in episode four and having — we’ll call her Zora, she doesn’t have a name at this point — but having her hide in the DOTs and be part of the story in 12 and 13 is the beginning of driving toward that.

And eventually — who knows when? — we will absolutely have to make sure that we sync up with that.”

Finally, she explained how the Discovery team ended up concluding the season with a quote about connection from franchise creator Gene Roddenberry, which served as the last moment in Discovery’s long-delayed third season.

“It emerged closer to the end of the post process as we were finishing post for the season and just recognizing that this was going to be airing at this particular time. And we just felt like it would be appropriate to have something from him.

I mean, Gene Roddenberry, we’re only here because of what he did and because of the show that he created and there’s the baseline, the template that he established, nd so it felt appropriate to have something from him, a quote from him at the end of our season.

And that was one that resonated with us.”

The fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery is in production now; the second season of Star Trek: Picard and the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are expected to begin filming in early 2021 — no air dates for these three shows have been determined.

The second season of animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks and first season of animated series Star Trek: Prodigy are expected to debut sometime later in 2021, though exact dates have not yet been announced.

Star Trek: Section 31, starring Michelle Yeoh, continues in development. Neither a production start date nor a broadcast date have been announced.