Star Trek: Discovery successfully launched a new phase in the franchise and brought Star Trek to a whole new generation. The Paramount+ original has boldly gone where no franchise property has gone before in terms of representation and diversity.
The series began as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, before making a leap (quite literally) in Season 3, which allowed the show the opportunity to break away from Star Trek canon. The crew aboard the USS Discovery faced new and unexpected challenges in Season 3—ones that no Starfleet manual could have prepared them for.
With Season 4 upon us, let’s recap what happened to the crew and what the new world order looks like.
Previously on Star Trek: Discovery
In an effort to protect the universe from the evil AI, Control, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) led the crew of Discovery to the future. The crew refused to let their friend leave alone, so they joined her. Or so they thought. Michael crash-landed in the year 3188, with her crew nowhere to be found. Michael’s goal had been to reach Terralysium, the future home of her mother, Gabrielle (Sonja Sohn), but the wormhole sent her elsewhere. She quickly befriended Cleveland ‘Book’ Booker (David Ajala), a courier (mercenary) with a secret agenda—protecting endangered species and finding them a safe haven.
The 32nd century is bleak. Around 100 years prior, there was an incident called The Burn, where all the dilithium in the galaxy exploded, taking with it the majority of Starfleet’s ships and the United Federation of Planet’s resources. Space travel became scarce, ecological disasters were common and the Federation became virtually non-existent. In the power vacuum, a vicious syndicate called the Emerald Chain rose to power and previously warring species, like the Andorians and the Orions, became frenemies.
And somewhere in between all this, a Temporal Accord was forged, prohibiting any interdimensional and time travel. Michael and the crew definitely chose the wrong time to travel to!
After Michael learned all this, she found a new mission. She met the seemingly last Starfleet officer left in the galaxy, Aditya Sahil (Adil Hussain), and promised to seek out the Federation and bring hope back to this time.
Far From Home
The Discovery crew arrived in the future a year after Michael, by which time she’d become a courier and begun a relationship with Book. Michael and Book’s cat, Grudge, did not get along, though he insisted on pampering the cat since ‘she’s a queen’.
After sacrificing their old lives and abandoning their families in the past, the crew of Discovery faced the reality of their new present—anarchy and resource scarcity. The one upside though was programmable matter which could be used to literally make anything and everything. Aditya Sahil’s entire ‘office’ was made of programmable matter. The crewman struggling the most was Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) who felt betrayed by a distracted Michael. Tilly and Michael had been best friends. They finally made up once they came to terms with how much the year-long gap in their reunion changed them.
The search for the Federation led the crew to Earth, which was nothing like the utopia that it used to be. The United Earth Defense Force was very unwelcoming, which is understandable since they’re constantly battling to protect Earth. However, the mission had one positive outcome. A Defense Force inspector, Adira (Blu del Barrio), joined Discovery and quickly became the adopted child of Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and his partner Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz).
The crew eventually found the last remnants of the Federation. Under the leadership of Starfleet Commander-in-Chief Charles Vance (Oded Fehr), the Federation headquarters are sequestered inside a distortion field in the Alpha Quadrant, thereby protecting the last Starfleet ships from enemies like the Emerald Chain. Vance begrudgingly accepted Discovery as part of the Federation, which was only partially a bad call.
The Emerald Chain, headed by Orion leader Osyraa (Janet Kidder), set her sights on Discovery because of the ship's spore drive that gives it space travel capabilities. A battle ensued between Osyraa and the Federation but she was unceremoniously defeated by programmable matter (told you it was handy) and hope returned to the galaxy.
Character Updates
- Michael’s mother Gabrielle joined the Qowat Milat, an order of Romulan warrior nuns, and now resides on Ni’Var, formerly known as the planet Vulcan.
- Adira is a human, but they become a host to the Tal symbiont after their Trill boyfriend, Gray (Ian Alexander), died. The Trill are less than pleased that a human is a host but accepted Adira as one of their own.
- Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) began suffering the effects of being displaced from the mirror universe and her time period. She was tested by the Guardian of Forever and sent back to a time when the prime universe and her universe aligned.
- The Burn was discovered to have been caused by a scared Kelpian, Su’Kal (Bill Irwin). Su’Kal’s mother was a scientist who became trapped in a radiated nebula full of dilithium. While Su’Kal was born immune to the radiation, his mother died of it. Seeing her dead, Su’Kal inadvertently set off the dilithium.
- When Saru left for an away mission, he chose Tilly to serve as Acting Captain of Discovery. Unfortunately, the ship was commandeered by Osyraa during her tenure.
- In the season finale, Aditya Sahil was officially inducted into Starfleet as a Lieutenant, continuing his family tradition.
- Michael Burnham took over as Captain after Saru left the position. Her catchphrase is ‘let’s fly’.
And Now, the Conclusion
Time jumps can be controversial, but it worked in Star Trek: Discovery’s favor. Because the show was made in the 21st century but set before The Original Series, its efforts to expand representation and update the franchise’s sensibilities often felt at odds with what had come before.
After introducing the first gay couple with leading roles in the franchise, Star Trek: Discovery went further in Season 3. Del Barrio is the first actor who identifies as non-binary to play a character who also identifies the same way in Star Trek. Ian Alexander is the first out transgender actor to prominently feature in a Star Trek property. Kenneth Mitchell, who has appeared in every season of Star Trek: Discovery so far, revealed his ALS diagnosis before the third season aired. In Season 3, he appeared as Aurellio, a scientist working with Osyraa who has a change of heart—Aurellio uses a hoverchair due to a disability, bringing representation for a community that’s long been ignored by Star Trek’s utopian outlook.
Season 3 was packed with plotlines and subplots while setting up the dynamics of the future. In the fourth season, the crew will "face a threat like they’ve never seen before," but hopefully that will mean the writers can scale it back and concentrate more on the characters.