Entertainment News

Everything You Need to Know About 'Star Trek: Discovery'

New aliens, new ships, and a new story in the Final Frontier.

By Tiffany Kelly

The Star Trek franchise has taken fans to fantastic new worlds over the last 50 years, with 13 films, five live-action television shows, and one animated series. Finally CBS is creating something new for Trek fans to chew on—Star Trek: Discovery.

Set to launch on CBS All Access service later this year, Discovery is the first Star Trek show in more than a decade. But how will Discovery fit into the universal canon? Can we expect some familiar friends and foes? What about the Enterprise, the Federation, the Tribbles?!

This is all the news, rumors, and theories about Discovery so far, and what we can expect when we finally return to the final frontier.

THE PLOT

As the first TV show in the franchise since Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005, Discovery will be chock-full of new characters, ships, and likely some fresh intergalactic confrontation between the Federation and some familiar foes. Set a decade before the events in James T. Kirk's original five-year mission, this new show will focus on the crew of the USS Discovery, and in some way we don't know yet, another ship called the Shenzhou will also play a role.

With the introduction of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films, the franchise's canon fractured in two. There is the Prime Universe of the original series, The Next Generation, and so on, and the alternative universe of the new films, known as the "Kelvin Timeline." Discovery will exist exclusively in the Prime Universe, so no, we won't be seeing any Chris Pine cameos.

The main character will be human First Officer Michael Burnham, and she will be referred throughout the first season primarily as "Number One," a name that's used by many but most notably by Jean-Luc Picard in reference to his first officer William Riker in The Next Generation.

In August last year, Bryan Fuller (who was then the showrunner but has since left the project) said the character would be an homage to the original first officer, played by Majel Barrett in the original series pilot "The Cage." In that episode, Barrett, whose character never receives a name, is Captain Pike's cool-headed and decisive first officer. Although her character was eventually removed from the show, Roddenberry grafted her personality onto the Vulcan first officer Spock.

With some Klingon casting already announced, it's likely the familiar alien warrior race from Kronos will be the main bad guys—or at the very least, a major one. In Star Trek canon, hostilities would've broken out decades before Discovery but would still be ongoing, it's possible that Discovery will be tossed into the middle of it.

However, when asked about the focus of Discovery this is what Fuller had to say:

"There's an incident and event in Star Trek history, that's been talked about but never been explored. To do this series, we're telling a much more serialized story, to dig deep into a very tantalizing [storyline]. And we have a character who's on a journey, and in order to understand something that is alien she first has to understand herself."

To further complicate things, Fuller also tweeted that the classic Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror," an episode all about Romulans, is a "touchstone" for Star Trek: Discovery. Fans have speculated that this could mean the Earth-Romulan War. However, it would've taken place a full century before the reported timeline of Discovery. It's also possible that this Romulan-heavy episode is just a thematic touchstone, not a literal connection to the new series.

The majority of the show's finer plot points remain a mystery, and one you'll likely have to watch unfold—episode after episode.

WHAT DOES THE USS DISCOVERY LOOK LIKE?

Whether the round dish of the Enterprise or spiked towers of Deep Space 9, the starship or base at the heart of any Star Trek show is as important as the characters who occupy its corridors, nacelles, and atriums. When CBS gave fans a peek at the USS Discovery, it was met with mix reactions with some saying the ship design closely resembled a Klingon ship and more generally that the overall effects weren't very good.

But we've also seen a few other glimpses of the new vessel in Star Trek: Discovery. At last year's San Diego Comic-Con, Bryan Fuller said the Discovery was based on 1970s USS Enterprise designs by Ralph McQuarrie, the lead visual architect of the first Star Wars films. But his reimagined Enterprise ship was and never saw the light of day—until now.



It looks like McQaurrie might have had a hand in that asteroid spacedock shown in the trailer as well.



From these images it looks like Discovery is adopting the design pretty liberally, cementing the artist's sci-fi legacy even five years after his death.

As for the interiors of this new ship, it's hard to say what we'll be getting. Another teaser shows only partially constructed sets. Fans did get a good look this past January at a royal blue uniform (possibly a science officer?) with gold trim and the familiar delta shield insignia. We also caught a glimpse of some particularly spiky-looking space armor that screams "Klingon," but the video leaves the answer ambiguous.

When asked about the uniforms, Fuller said, "It's really something completely different, a 'Happy transporter accident.' 'It's a little bit of this, it's a little bit of that,' and you'll say, 'Oh, I see it.'" We don't know who will wear these uniform, but it's a hint that the main characters will likely be clad in something similar yet noticeably different than the crew aboard Kirk's Enterprise.

WHAT IS THE USS SHENZHOU ANYWAY?

The show seems like it will focus on the crew aboard the USS Discovery, based on the title. But some fans think the creators are intentionally trying to throw fans off. There are many theories surrounding the USS Shenzhou. Some believe that the Shenzhou might be the same ship as the Discovery but renamed. It wouldn't be the first time as Deep Space Nine renamed Empok Nor, the Cardassian space station, to the titular name and the USS Defiant was originally named the USS Sao Paulo.

Another more simple answer is that the USS Shenzhou is destroyed in an early episode, as ships blowing up tend to be the norm for Star Trek shows. However, seeing that several members are crew members on this ship hints that the ship is likely important beyond one episode.

Shenzhou is also name of a spacecraft for China's spaceflight program, and its name means "divine craft." The creators likely picked this name for this reason. It could even be a codename for the USS Discovery.

CAST AND CHARACTERS

Creative team

Star Trek: Discovery was created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman. Fuller created the TV show Pushing Daisies and also wrote for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, while Kurtzman has worked on several TV shows, including Xena: Warrior Princess, Alias, Fringe, and Sleepy Hollow.

Fuller acted as the showrunner until he left the show last fall to reportedly focus on other projects, namely the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods. He created the main story arc of the first season, but he is currently not involved with the show in post-production. This news is worrying for fans who were happy to have a longtime fan and Star Trek veteran at the helm, but CBS said that it was "committed to seeing [Fuller's] vision through."

Executive producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts are now running the show, who are relatively new of the franchise compared to Fuller. However, the series still includes Star Trek vets, including Joe Menosky (TNG, DS9, STV) and Star Trek novelist Kirsten Beyer. Rod Roddenberry, the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, is also listed as an executive producer.

Although Fuller and Kurtzman wrote the pilot episode. David Semel, who has directed pilots for several TV shows, including Person of Interest and Amazon's The Man in the High Castle, will direct Star Trek: Discovery's premiere.

The Federation



It's the stars of the show who will likely determine whether Discovery is another Next Generation or a Star Trek flop.

Although Jason Isaacs (known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films) will be leading the Discovery as Captain Lorca, the show will focus on the second in command—First Officer Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead). Rounding out the Federation will be Terry Serpico (Army Wives), playing a high-ranking officer named Admiral Anderson, who would obviously outrank Lorca, so the power dynamics on the Discovery are sure to be interesting.

A couple other USS Discovery crew members include Mary Wiseman as Cadet Tilly, who is in her final year at Starfleet Academy, and Anthony Rapp (Rent) plays a science officer and fungus expert named Lt. Stamets. His character will also be the first openly gay character in any Star Trek TV show.

As for the Shenzhou, Captain Georgiou will be played by Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) with other confirmed including Sam Vartholomeos as junior officer Ensign Connor and Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock) as chief medical officer Dr. Nambue.

Also, "there will be robots."



But perhaps the most intriguing character announced for Star Trek: Discovery is Lt. Saru, played by Doug Jones. Jones' is known best for his role in Hellboy as the water-dwelling Abe Sapien and that super-creepy eye guy from Pan's Labyrinth, meaning Jones has some experiencing acting with heavy makeup and prosthetics. He'll likely need to be as Jones will be an all-new (currently unnamed) alien species never before seen on Star Trek.

It's currently unclear if he'll also be on the USS Discovery, the Shenzhou, or another ship, but Saru continues a Star Trek tradition of outsider species aboard starships, like Spock, Data (an android), and Seven of Nine (a post-assimilated Borg).

The Foes


Kronos, Klingon homeworld.

Star Trek history is filled with amazing Klingons. Although Worf is the most memorable, the shows and films love their blood-boiling Klingons spoiling for battle by Bat'leth. Only matched in ruthlessness by the Romulans, they're a fearsome, but most importantly, deeply complex villain for the Federation, and Discovery is going to be full of them.

Actors Chris Obi, Shazad Latif, and Mary Chieffo are all confirmed as Klingons. Obi, who starred in 2017's Ghost in the Shell film, plays Klingon leader T'Kuvma who's trying to unite the Klingon houses (which are infamous for infighting). Latif, who played Dr. Henry Jekyll in Penny Dreadful, stars as commanding officer Kol, and Chieffo plays L'Rell, a Klingon battle deck commander.

The most exciting aspect of T'Kumva and his crew is that it might give a good glimpse into Klingon society, something fans only caught brief glimpses of through Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation. But a leaked photo from set in February reportedly showed what the new Klingons might look like. Apart from the armor, they look quite different.


Klingons, I guess?

The original onset leaker has gone on record saying he has no idea if these creatures are Klingons or just some other race, but with rumors that Star Trek: Discovery would be making a somewhat noticeable stylistic departure from its forebears, this could be the Klingons new look. After all, it wouldn't be the first time.

And as we said earlier, Romulans might make an appearance but that leaves no news of dozens of other races—but the Star Trek universe is a very big place.

The Familiar Faces

Although Discovery is an all-new story, that doesn't mean there won't be a few hat tips to its past. In April it was announced that Rainn Wilson (The Office) would be casted as a younger version of Harry Mudd, a conman Captain Kirk encountered a few times on the original show. It's unclear how big a role Mudd will play in Discovery, but it will likely give some much-appreciated context for Mudd's villainy.

The other familiar face (announced so far anyway) will be none other than Spock's father—Sarek. James Frain (Orphan Black) will portray of the legendary Vulcan diplomat who famously opposed Spock's decision to attend Starfleet Academy. It's unclear if we'll see a younger Spock on the show (probably not), but we may find out more about Sarek's early involvement in the Federation and why he so adamantly resisted his son's enlistment.

Finally, the character with a surprising amount of fan support is Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan from The Next Generation. A long-lived alien known as an El-Aurian, Guinan ran the bar on the USS Enterprise-D. Because of her longevity, Guinan making an appearance in Discovery, which would take place nearly a full century before, isn't impossible. In fact, Bryan Fuller responded to the Twitter hastag #BringBackGuinan and Goldberg said she'd love to reprise the role. So far, though, it's just Star Trek fan fiction.

WHERE CAN YOU WATCH IT?

Despite all these details and teasers building up to its release, Star Trek: Discovery has been plagued with delays and was even delayed indefinitely though it thankfully resumed production a few weeks later. With no exact date announced, Star Trek: Discovery is still expected to air sometime this year.

Despite the hope that Star Trek will be arriving soon, some sites are reporting that not everything is well within the Federation. CBS execs have said that sci-fi has no place on television (probably one reason why its streaming only), and delays have been caused by creative differences and worries that Discovery is straying too from its source material. There's also a tremendous amount of pressure to get a show with such a strong legacy and huge fanbase exactly right.

The first season will consist of 13 episodes and air in the U.S. on CBS All Access, the network's subscription streaming service. Outside the U.S., the show will arrive on Netflix.

Now, if only we could warp factor 9 to this premiere date.