This article contains spoilers for the most recent episode of ‘Star Trek: Discovery.’ If you’re not caught up, bookmark this and come back after watching ‘What’s Past Is Prologue’.
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Last chance… Okay, let’s go!
Fans of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ have been hit with something of a one-two punch over the last couple weeks. First, they learned that Captain Lorca was not who he seemed. Rather than the veteran Starfleet officer he appeared to be, he was in fact that officer’s counterpart from the Mirror Universe, a parallel reality in which the benevolent Federation is instead an empire as ruthless as it is barbaric. Then, in the following episode, Lorca was killed in the midst of a coup attempt that would have seen him seize the throne.
With his time on the show now seemingly behind him, Jason Isaacs is now free to speak with a good deal more candor than he could previously have gotten away with. And so he’s doing just that. In conversation with Entertainment Weekly, the now former captain took the opportunity to clarify a few things about his character, confirming that there is a Lorca in the Prime reality and sharing a previously undisclosed bit of backstory:
“There was a Prime Lorca, he was captain of the Buran in the Prime world. He (Mirror Lorca) swapped with him and found himself captain of the Buran. This never came out, this backstory detail we never put in the dialogue: Although Lorca spins this story having had to sacrifice the men on Buran and had to blow them up to save them from Klingon torture. Actually, if I remember correctly, there was some kind of DNA identification that would have exposed Lorca as not being Prime Lorca, and so he blew up the ship and killed everyone on it.”
So that’s a particularly grim elaboration on the fate of the Buran and her crew. But what of the Prime Lorca? His counterpart described the crossover as the result of a transporter accident involving an ion storm – much like the original crossover way back in ‘Mirror Mirror’. In that incident, Kirk and the rest of his landing party swapped places with their Mirror Universe counterparts, who happened to be transporting at the same time. Though it’s far from confirmed, it stands to reason that something similar may well have happened with the two Lorcas. Of course, if that is the case, he would likely be stranded in the Mirror Universe at the moment, assuming he’s even alive.
But nonetheless, the possibility remains. Asked about the possibility of returning as the Prime Lorca, perhaps in the second season, Isaacs was nothing if not coy:
“If I did, you’d have to stand behind my wife, friends and professional collaborators to find out the answer. I’ve kept this one big secret for six months. I am certainly going to keep any others.”
Well, it’s not a “no.” Would you like to see ‘Discovery’ reveal the fate of the Prime Lorca, or does it just make more sense to assume that he’s either dead or stranded in the Mirror Universe? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check back for more on ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ as it becomes available!
‘Star Trek: Discovery’ stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Shazad Latif, Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp, and Doug Jones. New episodes air Sundays at 8:30 pm Eastern on CBS All Access.
