As divisive as some elements of the show may have been, ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is nothing if not a tightly plotted show. More so than perhaps any ‘Trek’ not called ‘Deep Space Nine’, the first season of ‘Discovery’ told a character driven story over fifteen interconnected episodes. But while that story is largely self-contained, it may also have given us a glimpse of things to come.
Speaking on a panel at Vulture Fest, co-showrunner Gretchen Berg eventually turned the discussion – albeit briefly – toward the elephant in the room. I’m referring of course, to the show’s upcoming second season, which is currently filming. Though she offered virtually nothing in the way of specific information, Berg did nonetheless share (per TrekMovie) some tantalizing hints of what to expect, including where best to look for clues as to what the new season may hold:
“I don’t want to spoil, but I think there are clues. It takes too many months to figure out how to do this. Their beautiful performances are crafter, then they are in post, so I am not going to tell you everything right now. We leave clues. Watch the final episode at the end of the [first] season as to where we are going.”
“I can promise you that the characters that you fall in love with, you are going to get to know them better. We get much deeper into character exploration this year and we will meet some new folks. We love our group and you are going to learn more about them.”
The first season finale was certainly a busy hour for ‘Discovery’. In addition to Tyler/Voq leaving to help maintain the uneasy truce between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, the Discovery was met by the Enterprise while en route to Vulcan, and a deleted scene (released at a convention) showed Captain Georgiou’s Mirror Universe counterpart recruited by a shadowy arm of Starfleet Intelligence dubbed Section 31. Suffice to say, there’s plenty of ground they could cover just by picking up these and other loose plot threads.
Further, given that the Discovery lost several crew members in the course of the first season (not the least of which was her captain), it was always something of a given that we would meet at least a few new faces this season. We even have some sense of who a few of them are. Berg’s remarks certainly seem to indicate that the show will be working to flesh out and integrate the new crewmembers into the cast, even as it continues to develop old favorites like Stamets and Saru.
Be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more on the second season of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ and other upcoming ‘Star Trek’ projects as it becomes available.
‘Star Trek: Discovery’ begins production of its second season in April. The new season will feature returning stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, and Anthony Rapp alongside newcomers Anson Mount and Tig Notaro. Though no premiere date for the second season has been announced yet, it is expected to begin airing on CBS All Access in late 2018 or early 2019.
