Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Is Almost Here, Watch The First Scene
The set up for Star Trek: Discovery season 3 is that they're blowing 930 years past any time period we've ever seen before.
This article is more than 2 years old
When we last saw Star Trek: Discovery in season 2, they were boldly going where no Star Trek has gone before. Not only were they going where no Star Trek has gone before but they were blowing way past that. The set up for Star Trek: Discovery season 3 is that they’re blowing 930 years past any time period we’ve ever seen before.
The first two minutes of Star Trek: Discovery season 3 have been dropped online by CBS to get people ready for the show’s return on October 15th. Here they are…
DISCO PROMOTION
Star Trek: Discovery season 3 just got a new poster and it’s as noteworthy for who it omits as it is for who is in it…
You may have noticed that missing from the poster is all of the Discovery bridge crew who have been basically ignored so far. There had been some though that characters like Detmer might actually get some development this season, but if this poster is any indication then it seems likely that they’re going to spend more time introducing new characters instead.
Star Trek: Discovery unleashed this short, season 3 teaser in front of the Star Trek: Picard finale. Watch…
Star Trek: Discovery season 3 has released two full trailers so far, and they’re filled with as many questions as it is answers. Take a look…
Full Trailer…
Teaser Trailer…
PROGRESSIVE CASTING
CBS has announced that they’ve hired the first ever transgender and non-binary actors in the history of the Star Trek franchise, for Discovery season 3.
Ian Alexander will play a Trill named Gray. Gray is a prospective Trill host, eager to get a symbiote, but forced to adapt to changes when things take a left turn.. Ian Alexander came out as transgender in 2014 and was last seen on The OA as Buck Vu.
Blu del Barrio is an actor who identifies as non-binary and will make their acting debut on Star Trek: Discovery. Blu is playing a character named Adira, described as “self-assured” and highly intelligent. Adira will bond with Hugh and Stamets in particular, according to the character info released so far.
STAR TREK DISCOVERY’S SEASON 3 PREMIERE DATE
Star Trek: Discovery season 3 has an official premiere date. It arrives on CBS All-Access October 15, 2020.
The goal for CBS had been to have something Star Trek related up and running at all times.
Showrunner Alex Kurtzman says, “The intention is to have something Star Trek on the air all the time, but not necessarily on top of each other. These shows take a minimum of a year to develop, make, produce and post. We want to make sure we’re never compromising our loyalty with both our aesthetic and storytelling. We’re never going to rush anything out that isn’t ready.”
At the moment the Star Trek universe has Discovery, Short Treks, and Star Trek: Picard running. In pre-production or production are a few more: Star Trek: Lower Decks, Section 31 and an animated series from Nickelodeon.
WHAT IN THE FEDERATION?
The Vulcan Science Directorate has deemed that time travel to be a concept they find illogical. So then what gives? What gives is a direction showrunner Alex Kurtzman wanted to take in an effort to tie up loose ends.
Alex Kurtzman told the Hollywood Reporter, “There was so much debate about how to tie up the loose ends with canon. We felt pretty strongly that replaying the Red Angel signals and revealing ultimately that Burnham had sent them would be particularly satisfying. Especially when they go full-circle to the premiere, where she sees the Red Angel and it’s revealed that she’s been looking at herself the whole time. That’s the type of story that time travel stories do best if you get the math right. That finale was the sum total of months of work between writing it and conceptualizing it production-wise. It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever done.”
Not only has Kurtzman jumped to the future for Star Trek: Discovery season 3, but he has also brought along with him Michelle Paradise as his co-showrunner with whom he speaks highly of. “Michelle joined us midway through season two and energized the room with her ferocious knowledge of ‘Trek.’ Her grasp of character and story detail, her drive and her focus have already become essential in ensuring the ‘Trek’ legacy, and her fresh perspective always keeps us looking forward. I’m proud to say Michelle and I are officially running Star Trek: Discovery together.”
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY SEASON 3 CAST
Back to that 930-year time jump. Season two was as much about Michael Burnham’s (Sonequa Martin-Green) character finding her purpose in the universe and where she fits as it was about Spock doing the same. So this time jump is a definite split of the USS Enterprise and the USS Discovery. Who is making the jump to Star Trek: Discovery season 3?
It is safe to assume, all those on board the Discovery when it jumped will be returning. Obviously Martin-Green’s Cmdr. Burnham will be back. Also on board were Cmdr. Saru (Doug Jones), Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), Cmdr. Nhan (Rachael Ancheril), Lt. Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts), Lt. Gen Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon), Lt. Nilsson (Sara Mitich), Lt. R.A. Bryce (Ronnie Rowe), Lt. Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo), Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), and Jett Reno (Tig Notaro).
New to Star Trek: Discovery season 3 will be David Ajala as a character named Cleveland Booker. Booker looks to be the trouble-stirring type as he’s described as capable and smart but possessing a devil-may-care attitude that tends to find him more trouble than it helps him get out of. Ajala agrees with his character’s description. “Book is gonna be a character that’s gonna break the rules, just a little bit,” he told the San Diego Comic-Con.
The Enterprise Crew
What about the season 2 cast on the Enterprise? When last we saw them they were answering questions from Starfleet back home in the past, with the Discovery crew missing in action, never to return. That should mean that Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijin) won’t even be in Discovery season 3 since this next season is supposed to follow the Discovery into the future. Except maybe not.
Talking to Fashion Weekly in February of 2020, Rebecca Romijin revealed that she’s still working on Star Trek. She says, “I’ve also been working on Star Trek here and there, but I can’t really talk about that.”
What Romijin was hinting at is a new show focused on Captain Pike and the Enterprise. We were the first site to break the news that CBS is working on a Captain Pike lead spinoff show. That scoop has now been confirmed.
Get all the details on Captain Pike and The Enterprise here.
THE RETURN OF LORCA?
Jason Isaac’s played Captain Lorca in season one of Star Trek: Discovery and his version of Lorca was killed off. But there might be another. The Lorca he played was from a mirror universe and there is another version which exists in the prime universe. We never found out the fate of Prime universe’s Captain Lorca, which means they can totally bring Jason Isaacs back.
When Isaacs was asked about the possibility of returning for Star Trek: Discovery season 3 on the Empire Film Podcast he had this to say…
“Where is Prime Lorca? Well, I admit that we talk. It’s not like when Mirror Lorca bit the bullet there wasn’t a clamouring for Prime Lorca, but the thing is, it has got to be a great story. Pike is already there! We know what he is like. We have seen him and he’s great. We don’t know who Prime Lorca is. If he is Mirror Lorca’s Frank Spencer-like cousin, then nobody wants to spend time with him.
He is going to have to be as interesting, as ballsy, and you have to find him a ship and find him a context to bring him into a story. So, we talk. And when and if we come up with something we think is fabulous I will happily go on a starvation diet required to slip into the snakeskin uniform again.”
– -Jason Isaacs
It’s interesting to hear him admit openly that they’ve talked about bringing him back. Unless he’s just being evasive though, it doesn’t sound like there is an actual plan in place for Lorca’s return. At least not yet. Good to know, however, the door is still open.
THE PLOT OF SEASON 3
Questions abound. What is the Federation like 930 years into the future? What are people like?
Series star Michelle Yeoh offered this update on what’s in store for her character in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Georgiou. She says, “I think she’s really pissed off. It’s like ‘Michael Burnham, don’t get in my way.’ I think Emperor/Captain Georgiou is one that always finds a way into adapting because she is a survivor with many skills and a formidable ally or enemy. So she goes in there being very pissed off, but then I’m sure very quickly she’ll find a way around. Power is something that she has. She doesn’t even seek it, she just has it. Scary huh? [laughs]“
Star Trek: Discovery season 3 director Jonathan Frakes was interviewed about what he’s planning for season 3 and he had this to say about the upcoming plot: “Discovery has primarily to do with Sonequa’s character, as you’ll see. At the end of season two, we flash-forwarded I think 930 years. Michael Burnham has found a new core, not to mention a new partner in crime. So again, there’s a big tonal shift on that show, less driven by the pain and guilt of her past and more about the magical reunification of the Discovery crew and wherever she went off to. God knows where she went as the Red Angel. So those two things coming back together is very much the theme, and how grateful everyone is and what’s next. It’s got a lot of action-adventure and not so much pain.”
Whenever Star Trek directors start using words like “magical” to describe the plot I get a little worried. It’s also weird to be reminded that this is all about Michael Burnham. That could suggest that a lot of the issues with the rest of the crew are going to be sidelined in order to put even more of the focus on her. That’s an odd decision, given that focusing too much on her has been one of the chief fan complaints about the show.
The good news here is that it sounds like the show is actually going to get lighter and more hopeful. That’s a great shift towards the direction good Star Trek is supposed to move in. Whether they’ll be able to pull it off without resorting to anti-Star Trek “magic” remains to be seen.
Another important question: what about season 2’s big bad, the out of control A.I. Control? Because technically, Control went with the Discovery on its jaunt into the future. Well, Kurtzman told the Hollywood Reporter, “All I can tell you is that Control is officially neutralized, but there will be much bigger problems when they get to the other side of that wormhole.”
So no Control, no USS Enterprise, no Spock nor Pike. The slate is clean. A new universe opens up for Star Trek like never before.
One interesting battle is in store. Who owns the Captain’s chair? Is there going to be a power play? Doug Jones, who plays Cmdr Saru, told Collider of his concerns. “We jumped to the future at the end of season two. This is a big deal,” Jones said. “We’ve boldly gone where no Star Trek series has gone before… So we’re gonna see what happens in the future. What condition is the Federation in? We’re gonna find out when we land. What happens to me and my rank? I’m a Commander, but I’m also acting Captain of the ship because we lost all our captains now. I take the ship and so, do I get to keep the Captain’s chair? Do I have to give it away to another Federation/Starfleet captain in the future? We’re gonna find out all that when we get there.”
The possibilities are endless. New frontiers are opening up for Star Trek: Discovery in season 3. Kurtzman and Paradise can move Star Trek in any direction and not be held to previous tropes. Kurtzman understands the chance they’re taking in Discovery season 3 and told the audience at the New York Comic Con in October 2019, “The beauty of the promise of what we did at the end of last season is that, if we don’t deliver something completely surprising and unexpected, we will have failed.”
The Future Of Star Trek: Discovery On All Access
We know we’re getting Discovery season 3, but how many more seasons are we getting after that? The answer, it seems, is at least two.
Word is that CBS has five total seasons planned out for Star Trek: Discovery. This is the same number of seasons they’ve said they have planned for Star Trek: Picard, which is currently in its first season. It’s always possible the show could get more, but right now they’re only planning for five.
They’re so eager to get those seasons out there that not only do they have scripts for Star Trek: Discovery season 4 ready, they’ve already started filming it without waiting for Star Trek: Discovery season 3 to air. The following photo was captured in Toronto as proof…
Discovery will now get more seasons than its Star Trek predecessor Enterprise got on UPN. Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled by UPN at the end of season 4 in 2004.
Star Trek: Discovery The Movie
With the actual Star Trek 4 currently stuck in some kind of strange development hell it seems like Paramount is considering other alternatives. One is turning Star Trek: Discovery into a movie franchise, and it’s happening soon.
The GWW says the Star Trek: Discovery movie is now set to start filming as soon as the Coronavirus shutdown lifts. The movie is set to be be produced by John Weber, Frank Siracusa, and Thom Pretak; all of whom have worked on Star Trek: Discovery previously. Current Trek head-honcho Alex Kurtzman will exec produce along with Akiva Goldsman.
The same source which confirmed our scoop that Captain Pike is getting his own spinoff series, also says film would bring the cast of the TV show to the big screen and combine them with some of the Star Trek Kelvinverse-cast. Specifically word is that Paramount wants to at least involve Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. Maybe none of the others, or maybe only some of them, depending on negotiations.
The plot would play out the way a lot of Star Trek: Discovery’s plots have played out: With them jumping around different dimensions. After the completion of Discovery season 3 the plan is to have the Discovery jump into the Kelvin-verse. There they’d encounter Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Mr. Spock.
