TV - Star Trek: Discovery

San Diego Comic-con's Star Trek: Discovery panel provided a few announcements for fans yesterday (there may have been squealing in this office at the new trailer too)...

Star Trek fans were provided a sneak peek at the highly anticipated season two premiere episode of Star Trek: Discovery during the series’ Hall H panel with cast and executive producers. The second season is set to return to CBS All Access in early 2019 so it will probably be around the same time on Netflix for us "rest of the world"-ers.

Star Trek: Discovery co-creator and executive producer Alex Kurtzman, who directed the season two premiere, also announced the plan for Star Trek: Short Treks. The four Short Treks episodes will roll out monthly beginning this autumn, and will be stand-alone stories, each running approximately 10-15 minutes. Each short will be an opportunity for deeper storytelling and exploration of key characters and themes which fit into Star Trek: Discovery and the expanding Star Trek universe.

Rainn Wilson will return to play Harry Mudd in a short he will also direct, and Aldis Hodge will star in another as Craft, a man who finds himself the only human on board a deserted ship. Additional episodes include a deep dive into Saru’s (Doug Jones) backstory as the first Kelpien to join Starfleet, and Tilly’s (Mary Wiseman) journey aboard the U.S.S. Discovery and her friendship with an unlikely partner.

“There is no shortage of compelling stories to tell in the ‘Star Trek’ universe that inspire, entertain, and either challenge our preconceived ideas or affirm long held beliefs, and we are excited to broaden the universe already with Short Treks,” said Kurtzman. “Each episode will deliver closed-ended stories while revealing clues about what’s to come on in future Star Trek: Discovery episodes. They’ll also introduce audiences to new characters who may inhabit the larger world of Star Trek.”

There was also an "accidental" announcement as Anson Mount, who plays Captain Christopher Pike in the new season, let slip who his Number One would be. The casting was later confirmed on Twitter by Rebecca Romijn herself, so I guess we know what she's doing now that The Librarians has been cancelled.

Just call me “Number One!” Honored to play such an iconic character in #StarTrek Canon originally played by the First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett-Roddeberry! #StarTrekDiscovery pic.twitter.com/rdpWOxBYAk

— Rebecca Romijn (@RebeccaRomijn) July 20, 2018

As well as new characters, we can look forward to the return of a few old favourites with confirmation that Ash Tyler is returning, as is Stamets (although mystery remains as to how), we will get to SEE Spock and maybe, just maybe, Captain Lorca. It also sounds like there may be a few away missions planned as a visit to Saru's home planet of Kelpia was confirmed.

But the thing every fan had been waiting for was the trailer, and it doesn't disappoint...



The Star Trek: Discovery panel, moderated by season two guest star Tig Notaro (Chief Engineer Reno), featured a conversation with cast members, including Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Commander Saru), Shazad Latif (Lt. Ash Tyler), Mary Wiseman (Ensign Sylvia Tilly), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Commander Paul Stamets), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell) and Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike). They were joined by executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin.

Image - CBS