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Season 3 – Star Trek: Discovery

Where to watch, star trek: discovery — season 3.

Watch Star Trek: Discovery — Season 3 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

With less canonical baggage and a welcome dose of character development, Discovery continues to forge its own path and is narratively all the better for it.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Sonequa Martin-Green

Michael Burnham

Anthony Rapp

Paul Stamets

Mary Wiseman

Sylvia Tilly

Wilson Cruz

Dr. Hugh Culber

Michelle Yeoh

Philippa Georgiou

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Tv news & guides, this show is featured in the following articles., critics reviews, season info.

Star Trek Discovery Season 3 release date, trailer, cast, and timeline

The Disco crew heads to a new era, but what's the state of the Federation in this far-flung future? Here’s everything to know about Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery .

This article about Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery was originally published on February 25, 2020 and updated on December 26, 2021 following the release of the season on Paramount+. Read on for the original article, with some new changes to reflect the latest updates on this topic.

It was a long wait for fans of Star Trek: Discovery since the Season 2 finale aired in April 2019. But over the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021, Paramount+ (then CBS All Access) rolled out Season 3 of the sci-fi series. And it was a big one!

After a season spent hob-nobbing with Spock, Captain Pike, and Number One, Discovery’s did something completely unprecedented for Trek, leaping nearly 1,000 years into the future. The crew said their farewells to everyone they know and love, but what awaits them at the other side of that wormhole? Here’s everything to know about Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery .

What happened in the finale of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2?

In a desperate bid to thwart the malicious AI behind Section 31 , known as Control, the crew of Discovery enter a wormhole that will take them 950 years into the future. In order to prevent anything like this from happening again, Spock suggests that Starfleet erase any reference to Discovery in its databases. The black-ops research vessel was already off the books – remember all that secret tardigrade and space fungus business in Season 1? But now, it’s extra, extra off the books. Which is why no one in the Original Series era ever bothers to mention it.

Spock , bless his heart, never discussed his secret kinda-sister in three television seasons and seven feature films. (Did she meet Sybok? I guess we’ll never know.) Truly, he’s a Federation man through and through.

The Discovery crew also left Pike, Spock, and Number One in the 23rd century. However, this won’t be the last we see of these characters. The popularity of Anson Mount’s Pike, in particular, inspired an upcoming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , which focuses on the adventure of the Pike-era U.S.S. Enterprise .

Burnham explores a shimmering cavern in Season 3.

When was the release date for Discovery Season 3?

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 premiered on October 15, 2020 . The season consisted of 13 episodes, the shortest one so far. The show aired through the holiday season and concluded on January 7, 2021.

Is there a trailer for Discovery Season 3?

Yep! The official trailer for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 aired on September 8, 2020, a little over a month before the season premiered. You can watch it below.

What was the plot of Discovery Season 3?

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 sent the titular ship ahead almost 1000 years to the year 3188. The latest series in Star Trek history, the crew finds that the universe is torn asunder. A cataclysmic event known as “The Burn” caused dilithium supplies to explode everywhere, destroying ships and galactic travel. Afraid of what could come next, planets everywhere lost faith in the Federation, leaving Starfleet just a shell of what it was.

Naturally, Discovery is there to fix it. The season revolves around the crew getting their bearings in the new time period. Simultaneously, they try to ingratiate themselves into the new version of the Federation in the hopes of making it what it once was. Then there’s the little matter of figuring out the origin of “The Burn.”

Book and Burnham search a desolate environment.

Who is in the cast of Discovery Season 3?

The majority of the Discovery crew returned for Season 3, including:

• Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham
• Doug Jones as Saru
• Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets
• Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly
• Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber
• Rachael Ancheril as Nhan
• Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou
• Tig Notaro as Jett Reno

But a new time period brings in a slew of new characters. David Ajala joined the main cast as Cleveland “Book” Booker, a smuggler with empathetic abilities to connect to creatures. He joined up with Burnham after her arrival in the 32nd century. Blu del Barrio plays Adira Tal, a member of the Earth Defense Force. Ian Alexander plays Gray, their Trill boyfriend. Del Barrio and Alexander are the first non-binary and trans performers to play major characters in a Star Trek series, respectively.

Book and Burnham observe a changed version of the Federation banner, with far fewer stars.

Which cast members didn’t return for Discovery Season 3?

The whole “950 years into the future” thing meant that a few familiar faces from previous seasons wouldn’t come along for Season 3. Characters who we know have a future ahead in the 23rd century, like Pike, Number One, and Spock, obviously didn’t make the trip to the distant future.

Mary Chieffo , who played the Klingon L’Rell, shared her farewells via Twitter, as did Jayne Brook , who played Admiral Katrina Cornwell. Someone who received less fanfare in departure was Shazad Latif’s Ash Tyler. As he stayed behind to run Section 31, he was also sunset from the series.

Which Discovery cast members left during Season 3?

Interestingly, Discovery Season 3 also saw some cast members leave over the course of the season. With the brand-new environment of the 3100s, naturally, some characters found new paths to travel outside of Starfleet. Security officer Nhan was the first to depart, deciding to reconnect with her species.

But the larger spotlight went to Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou. The two-part episode “Terra Firma” had a mysterious anomaly allowing her to relive one of her days in the Mirror Universe. Due to medical issues from being part of another universe, she left the ship and the show. Initially, it was assumed she would be doing so for an upcoming Section 31 spinoff. But it has since been announced that the series has been put on ice until other Trek series have been sunset.

Has Star Trek: Discovery been renewed for Season 4?

Yes! Shortly after Season 3 premiered, in October 2021 , CBS announced that Star Trek: Discovery would be coming back for a fourth season. Season 4 premiered on November 18, 2021.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are available now on Paramount+.

This article was originally published on Feb. 25, 2020

Everything You Need To Know About Star Trek: Discovery Season 3

The Disco crew has traveled 930 years into the future.

The first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery introduced us to a brand new crew in a time set before Captain Kirk ever boarded the original Enterprise. Setting up a new Trek show as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series was something some fans questioned back when it was announced, but now Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery is going where no Star Trek show has gone before: almost 1,000 years into the future.

So far, Discovery has been quite a wild Star Trek ride. Season 1 introduced the show's lead, Commander Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, along with a diverse cast of women and a mirror-universe storyline that was a feminist long con . Season 2 brought Discovery into Star Trek canon , with some visits from old characters from the Enterprise like Captain Pike and Spock, as well as a mystery that ended with Commander Burnham and the Discovery opening a wormhole and traveling hundreds of years forward in time in order to save humanity.

Season 3 of Discovery will hit CBS All Access on Oct. 15, and a refresher is in order just to keep track of all of the timelines and exactly where, and when, we find our fave Disco crew. Here's what to expect.

Into The Future

At the end of Season 2, Burnham and the crew took Discovery through a wormhole into the future to escape "Control," a dangerous, sentient artificial intelligence program created by Starfleet's secretive Section 31. Discovery's computer had inherited an incredible amount of data from their encounter with The Sphere, a lifeform hundreds of thousands of years old that had amassed a massive amount of information on planets, civilizations, and technology from all over the universe.

In its dying breath, The Sphere gifted Discovery with all of its data. But Control wanted to use it to basically well, control the universe. Jumping into the future was the only way to get Discovery away from Control. With Burnham leading the way in her mother's time-jumping Red Angel suit, she and Discovery travel 930 years into the future. The new year is 3188 and the galaxy is quite different from when we last saw it.

The Federation Is Gone... Sort Of

The new season opens with a strange scene. A lone Starfleet officer wakes up every day, searches the skies, and listens for contact from other Starfleet ships, yet gets no messages. He repeats this day over and over, waiting for some sign that other members of the Federation are still out there.

When Burnham first arrives in 3188, she's told that The United Federation of Planets no longer exists, and that all starships capable of warp drive were destroyed in something called "The Burn," an incident about 100 or 120 years prior which led to millions of lives lost and the end of The Federation as Burnham knew it. But as she says, "The Federation isn't about ships and warp drive. It's about a vision and those that believe in that vision."

Who Are The New Guys?

The first person that Burnham encounters in 3188 is a swarthy pirate type named Cleveland "Book" Booker (David Ajala), a courier with a love of animals and a fat cat named Grudge. Book helps Burnham acclimate to her new life in the future before she can reunite with the rest of the Discovery crew, which includes the returning Commander Saru (Doug Jones), Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and the mirror universe's Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh).

Season 3 of Discovery will also introduce the franchise's first trans and nonbinary actors to the Star Trek universe. In Episode 3, Blu del Barrio plays Adira, a nonbinary character who first hides their identity but then shares it after bonding with Stamets and Culber. In Episode 4, the audience will meet Gray (trans actor Ian Alexander), who is eager to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a Trill host.

What Can We Expect?

Earlier this year, Star Trek: Picard went the farthest into the future that the Star Trek audience had ever been. But Picard no longer holds that record. With Discovery now several hundred years beyond even the most advanced Star Trek series, the show has a lot of options. But as the Discovery Season 3 premiere shows, some of our favorites are always going to be around. There are appearances from Andorians and Orions, staple species from early TOS . And even if the Federation is on its last legs, humanity is still going strong.

There are also some Easter eggs that reference other Trek series to look out for. For example, many of the characters in the future seem unfazed by the fact that Burnham and Discovery are from thousands of years in the past. Book even mentions that time travel technology has been outlawed ever since the Temporal Wars. For any fan of Star Trek: Enterprise , the very mention of a temporal war should jog your memory.

Adira and Gray's connection to the Trill species may also hint at the return of some beloved Trill symbiont characters. Could Deep Space 9 fan favorite Dax still be alive in a new host? Trill symbionts do live hundreds of years. Dax was already pretty old, but hey, what's another 900 years?

Either way, Star Trek: Discovery is about to begin an exciting new chapter in the Star Trek universe, so buckle up.

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Star Trek: Discovery

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Season four of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery facing a threat unlike any they’ve ever encountered. With Federation and non-Federation worlds alike feeling the impact, they must confront the unknown and work together to ensure a hopeful future for all.

Follow the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and lifeforms, and one Starfleet officer, Michael Burnham, who learns that to truly understand all things alien, she must first understand herself.

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Star Trek: Discovery season three review – its most thoughtful series yet

Opening on a broken world where hope seems to be the only thing left, the latest chapter in Trek lore is likely to strike a chord with viewers in 2020

A fter three seasons, Star Trek: Discovery has got around to boldly going where no one had gone before – namely 900 years into the future, far beyond the time periods charted out with extensive lore by other Trek shows.

This decision, and the accompanying hypnotic space worms, disreputable space bazaars and alluring space rogues, comes as a great relief. Discovery has been hemmed in since its inception by everything else bearing the Star Trek name. The show was originally set 10 years before the original series, in a parallel universe populated by the characters of the current Trek movie franchise, also named Kirk and Spock, rather than the versions played by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy – though not played by the actors in the recent films, either – and if that all sounds confusing, and possibly not worth spelunking through Wikipedia to work out, then good.

Season two had some behind-the-scenes drama: the showrunners left the series after complaints by staff that they were mistreated; now the show is run by Alex Kurtzman and Discovery writers’ room veteran Michelle Paradise, who both wrote this first episode with Jenny Lumet, the author of, among other things, the screenplay to Jonathan Demme’s masterly Rachel Getting Married. So there are reasons to hope, which, incidentally, is also now the theme of the series.

Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) crash-lands on an unfamiliar world after leaping through a temporal wormhole at the end of Discovery’s second season, to defeat an evil artificial intelligence. The friction of the planet’s atmosphere seems to have burned away all the optimism that has always been the most basic atomic unit of Star Trek – when Michael arrives, she immediately stumbles across a piratical “courier” of contraband goods named Book (David Ajala in an enjoyable Han Solo mode) and learns that a huge cataclysm has essentially ended the peace enforced for so many centuries by the omnipresent Federation.

Somehow, this isn’t gloomy. Martin-Green is very funny, and she is, finally, our guide to the secrets of an unknown world. Her boring love interest is gone, her crewmates are awol (though some of them will turn up), and the future is filled with the sort of double-crosses, shootouts and ramshackle spaceships you associate with a Star War, rather than a Trek. The possibility of the network high-fiving itself over references to shows that have been over for decades seems blessedly remote. The result is a far weirder and more eccentric show than Discovery has ever been – one character has a digital alarm parrot in lieu of a clock. There are even signs that it may begin affording its characters the kind of quiet everyday business that will allow the audience to know them as people, rather than as entries in branching wikis of lore.

I reviewed the programme when it began in 2017; I wasn’t a fan of the elongated story arcs or the heavy-handed politics. The sadder-but-wiser show it has become mirrors the toll the past three years have taken on so many of us. It’s a Star Trek that takes place, for the first time, in a broken world where there is no benign bureaucracy that must be saved from space invaders, brightly coloured disasters or a few bad apples. Now, Discovery promises to explore the idea of salvage – how to make the most of what we have, especially when we don’t have enough. In this, as in a few other ways, it seems to take its cues not from the voyages of Captain Cook (who inspired Gene Roddenberry to create the original Trek), but from modern sci-fi writers such as NK Jemisin, who are concerned with how societies can – or can’t – be built to survive hostile worlds.

That requires vigilance, something this opening episode shows us in moving closeup. At the outset, we see a man who is waiting to fulfil his duties as an officer of an institution so thoroughly destroyed that it has been reduced to a mere idea. At the end of the episode, he finally gets to do so, giving meaning to his years of waiting. In our own world, so many public institutions seem to have become only slightly less fictional than Starfleet, and this humble resurrection seems a bit miraculous. Discovery is a show given to histrionics, but stripped of its familiar setting, it now reaches for profundity with a little more assurance.

“Hope is a powerful thing,” muses one character. “Sometimes it’s the only thing,” Michael replies.

Star Trek: Discovery is available on Netflix in the UK and CBS in the US

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Star Trek: Discovery – Season 3 episode guide

Season 3, it can be argued, is where Star Trek: Discovery probably should have begun: After all, both Deep Space Nine  and  Voyager  wasted little time to explore whoe new quadrants of the galaxy – in Voyager's case, about 20 minutes – so why take so long to get to treading truly new ground for the Star Trek franchise? On the other hand, without Discovery, why'd never have gotten Strange New Worlds nor the introduction of Captain/Emperor Philippa Georgiou and thus the upcoming Section 31…

Discovery season 3 is set an exciting 900 years beyond The Original Series in the wild 32 nd century. Sure, Star Trek has given us glimpses into the furthest temporal reaches of its universe before: The Enterprise-J was seen by Captain Archer in Enterprise season 3 , Voyager’s EMH benefitted from 29 th -century holographic emitter technology and Lower Decks showed us a historical perspective on a certain TNG/DS9 Starfleet member.

But not for decades (in real-time) has Star Trek presented us with such a fascinating array of new technologies, starships and the like: The programmable matter and personal transporters are as interesting to 20s audiences as were holodecks and badge communicators in the 80s. Beyond this, we get nearly a millennium’s worth of sociopolitical change, from Vulcans and Romulans living together to the return of rampant capitalism (and not the cute, vice-based sort favored by the Ferengi, either).

Best of all, in a bleak future with the Federation on its knees, the Discovery crew ultimately comes to represent the optimism of the past, in a meta sense that of The Original Series (as well as, to some extent, The Next Generation and Voyager), as a force for good in a galaxy gone mad. For the first time, a Discovery season has Trek fans wanting more of a new vision…

Star Trek: Discovery episode guide – Season 3

• That Hope Is You, part 1 . Michael Burnham emerges from the season 2-concluding wormhole into the year 3188 (approximate stardate 864711), collides with a courier ship piloted by one Cleveland “Book” Booker, crash lands on an alien planet, gets dosed with some serious ecstasy-like truth-telling drugs, kciks butt in a number of firefights, helps save a member of an endangered interplanetary species and finally finds at least one representative of the Federation. Needless to say, this is perhaps the single most action-packed episode in all of ST lore. ****
• Far From Home . The Discovery emerges from the season 2-concluding wormhole and lands in generally intact condition on the surface of a mostly uninhabited planet. The crew gets to work on repairing bodily injuries and damage to the ship while racing against the onslaught of parasitic ice which is slowly encasing the ship as the external temperature drops with night’s approach. Saru and Ensign Tilly venture out to a nearby mining settlement wherein they attempt to exchange dilithium for spare parts. Zareh, an exploitative courier, seeks to steal Discovery’s dilithium but Georgiou comes to the rescue, kicking ass and taking names. Burnham and Book show up to free Discovery from the gnarly ice. ****
• People of Earth . Discovery’s precious dilithium is stashed aboard Book’s ship, which in turn is stasthed aboard Discovery. After picking up a signal from one Admiral Senna Tal from Earth, Discovery sets course for the familiar planet. Upon arrival, the crew learns that the now very paranoid and militant Earth is no longer home to Starfleet HQ and that Admiral Tal was a Trill whose implant survived in not exactly ideal circumstances within the Earthling Adira. ***
• Forget Me Not . In an effort to communicate with and/or access the memories of the Tal symbiote, Discovery travels to the Trill homeworld. There, Adira is shunned by most but eventually wins over one “guardian” to assist in the process. ***
• Die Trying . Tal’s memories get Discovery to the hidden Starfleet HQ. Starfleet Commander-in-Chief Adm. Charles Vance is quite skeptical about the crew’s story or abilities to function 900 years into their future. Saru and the Discovery crew earns trust when they help solve a blight by retrieving resources from a seed archive that only their ship’s spore drive can reach. ***
• Scavengers . Discovery gets an upgrade to 32 nd -century technology but is nevertheless stuck in spacedock. Burnham, meanwhile, receives a 3-week-old message saying that he’d retrieved a black box from a Starfleet ship annihilated in The Burn. Burnham and Georgiou take Book’s ship to rescue him, much to Vance’s dismay. ***
• Unification III . A titular and spiritual sequel to the TNG season 5 episodes guest-starring Spock (We even get a Nimoy sample from part II!) that also nicely ties in events key to Star Trek (2009) and Picard. This particular reunification may refer to either internal politics of the planet Ni’Var (née Vulcan), to whom Burnham et al appeal in hopes of solving the mystery of The Burn, or the possibility of Ni’Var rejoining the Federation. In either case, this episode has some great alien-cultural stuff as well as some courtroom drama. ****
• The Sanctuary . Discovery travels to Book’s home planet of Kwejian, which is under biological attak perpetuated by the Emerald Chain, a capitalistic power headed up by Orions and Andorians. Under orders not to engage the Federation enemy, Discovery cannot help but interfere to save a civilization. ***
• Terra Firma, part 1 . Georgiou is slowly being torn apart due to her travels across universes and through time. Discovery’s computer advises she travel to Dannus V, an apparently uninhabited planet, for assistance. Once on the surface, Michael and Georgiou have a Beckettesque experience with a guy named Carl, who entreats Georgiou to enter his freestanding doorway, which leads into her own familiar Mirror Universe. ***
• Terra Firma, part 2 . As did Kirk back in the day and Burnham a couple seasons ago, Georgiou finds herself attempting to change the mindlessly bloodthirsty ways of the Terran Empire. She gets limited results, but does manage to escape with her life back into the Prime Universe and, soon thereafter, to a spacetime in which she can safely exist, i.e. the series Star Trek: Section 31…. ***
• Su’Kal . Discovery finds a derelict Kelpian starship within a radioactive nebula which may also have been the original source of The Burn. Indeed, an entire planet is hidden within, housing the ship which is home to the titular character, a Kelpian whose entire education has been supplied by holograms. Book goes in for a rescue mission but Saru and Dr. Culber refuse to leave Su’Kal; Adira, who has stowed away on Book’s ship, joins them on the surface while Burnham is beamed aboard. Unfortunately, Book arrives back at Discovery just in time to see it disappear, now in command of Emerald Syndicate leader Osyraa and her new lackey Zareh.  ***
• There Is a Tide . Using Discovery as cover, Osyraa gains entrance to Federation HQ, where she … proposes a peace treaty to Vance. Meanwhile, the Discovery crew gets to work at overthrowing the pirate takeover of the ship. ****
• That Hope Is You, part 2 . Silly title aside, this episode puts Discovery viewers at the edge of their seat from the go and keeps them there until the new captain takes over. The on-board crew manages to halt the Discovery while in warp and Burnahm takes out Osyraa. With Book’s emphatic assistance, Discovery returns to the nebula, where Saru, Culber and Adira manage to convince Su’Kal to overcome his fear and leave the ship he’s always called home. Saru returns to Kaminar, but the rest of the Discovery is tasked with the mission of reassembling the Federation through dilithium supply. And they get neat new uniforms, too…

Now, as the woman said, let’s fly!

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s 4 number ones explained.

Star Trek: Discovery has had four different Number Ones over the course of its five seasons, including Captain Michael Burnham.

• Star Trek: Discovery features a rotating cast of Captains and Number Ones, showcasing dynamic leadership changes throughout the series.
• Characters like Saru, Burnham, Tilly, and new addition Rayner bring diverse personalities and skills to the USS Discovery crew.
• The evolution of these key roles, from First Officer to Captain, demonstrates the growth and adaptability of each character over the seasons.

Just as Star Trek: Discovery has featured several different Captains of the USS Discovery throughout its five-season run, the show has also introduced four different Number Ones. Since its beginning, Discovery has been less of an ensemble show than previous Star Trek series, and the crew of the USS Discovery has been constantly shifting. Discovery tells the story of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), who has gone from being an accomplished First Officer to a notorious criminal to the Captain of Discovery. Burnham has filled the position of Number One more than once, and two of her best friends have also taken on that role.

Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones) and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) have both served as First Officers of the USS Discovery, although their careers have since taken them in different directions. In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, the show found a dynamic that worked well, with Burnham as Captain and Saru as her First Officer. But Discovery can never go too long without shaking things up, and Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner did just that when he joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . As Captain Burnham's newest Number One, Rayner has proven to be a great addition to Discovery's crew, despite (and also because of) his gruff, no-nonsense command style.

Every Star Trek Discovery Captain In All 5 Seasons

4 commander/captain saru, under the command of captain gabriel lorca & captain michael burnham.

During the two-part premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, Saru was serving as the Chief Science Officer on the USS Shenzhou, under the command of Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). After Commander Burnham committed mutiny and Captain Georgiou was killed, Saru was promoted Commander and became First Officer on the USS Discovery, under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) . Although Saru had not yet gained the confidence he would in later seasons of Star Trek: Discovery , he proved to be a capable and compassionate First Officer.

Saru took over command of the USS Discovery after Lorca was revealed to be from the Mirror Universe, and he shared "joint custody" of the ship with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) for most of Star Trek: Discovery season 2.

Saru commanded the USS Discovery for its journey to the 32nd century, and he was promoted to Captain. Saru later took time away from Starfleet to become a member of the village council on his homeworld of Kaminar. After the Dark Matter Anomaly destroyed Kwejian, Saru returned to Discovery as Captain Burnham's First Officer, retaining the rank of Captain but choosing to go by the designation Mr. Saru. As the first Kelpien in Starfleet, Saru had already made history , but in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Saru accepted a position as a Federation Ambassador, adding another achievement to his impressive resume.

3 Commander Michael Burnham

Under the command of captain philippa georgiou & captain saru.

When Star Trek: Discovery began, Commander Burnham was serving as the First Officer on the USS Shenzhou, under the command of Captain Georgiou. After her subsequent mutiny, Burnham served six months in prison before transferring to the USS Discovery, where Captain Lorca assigned her as a Specialist in the science division. After Michael helped end the Federation/Klingon War, she was fully reinstated as a Commander and became Chief Science Officer on Discovery. At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Burnham wore the Red Angel suit to lead the USS Discovery into the 32nd century.

Michael Burnham was a fine First Officer (aside from the whole mutiny thing), but she truly excels at being a Starfleet Captain.

Captain Burnham arrived in the future a year before Discovery, but she later reconnected with her former crew and reluctantly accepted the role of Captain Saru's Number One. Michael served as First Officer throughout Star Trek: Discovery season 3, until she helped take the ship back from Osyraa (Janet Kidder), the leader of the Emerald Chain. Saru then suggested that Burnham take over as Captain , and Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) assigned Michael as Captain of the USS Discovery. Michael Burnham was a fine First Officer (aside from the whole mutiny thing), but she truly excels at being a Starfleet Captain.

With its time travel plot that saw Captain Burnham run into her past self, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange," illustrates just how far Michael has come since Discovery season 1.

2 Lt. Sylvia Tilly

Under the command of captain saru & captain michael burnham.

Sylvia Tilly began her Star Trek: Discovery career as a cadet aboard the USS Discovery under the command of Captain Lorca. After the end of the Klingons' War with the Federation , Tilly was promoted to Ensign and was placed on the command track. She continued on this trajectory until Discovery traveled into the future. When Captain Saru demoted Burnham for insubordination, he asked Tilly to be his First Officer. Although she was initially reluctant to take the job, fearing others on the ship were better qualified, Tilly's fellow crew members assured her she was the right choice as Number One.

After Commander Burnham helped take the USS Discovery back from Osyraa and became Captain, Tilly remained First Officer and was promoted to Lt. junior grade. Tilly then began to question whether she wanted to remain on the command track, and spoke with Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) about ways she could step out of her comfort zone. Culber recommended Tilly for a mission that involved leading a group of young Starfleet cadets. Although the mission quickly turned dangerous, Tilly successfully coached the cadets through it, and she later accepted a teaching position at the recently reopened Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Discovery Proves Starfleet Academy Show Doesn’t Make Sense Without Tilly

1 commander rayner, under the command of captain michael burnham.

Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery for its fifth and final season, and the gruff former Captain has proven to be a breath of fresh air. In Discovery's season 5 premiere, Rayner held the rank of Captain and commanded the USS Antares, but was asked to accept early retirement after making a questionable call during a Red Directive mission. Captain Burnham, however, asked Rayner to be her new First Officer after Saru accepted a position as a Federation Ambassador.

Commander Rayner has proven invaluable to Discovery's mission and remains a highlight of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

As a Kellerun, Commander Rayner's personality contrasts sharply with the more optimistic crew of the USS Discovery, and his command style is very different from Burnham's. Rayner has struggled to relate to Discovery's crew members and adapt to Michael's command style , but his advice and knowledge have helped save the day on multiple occasions. As Discovery races against couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) to find the Progenitors' treasure, Commander Rayner has proven invaluable to the mission and remains a highlight of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Legendary “Star Trek” Episode Revived in Recent “Discovery” Installment

F ans of “Star Trek: Discovery” witnessed a nostalgic throwback to a notable episode from “The Original Series” titled “Mirror, Mirror.” In the absence of malevolent counterparts featuring signature goatees or revealing uniforms, the newest “Discovery” episode still carries echoes of “Mirror, Mirror.” Characters Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) encounter a wormhole that pulls Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) into a multidimensional space. Here, they encounter a damaged Starfleet vessel with “ISS Enterprise” emblazoned across its hull, a clear nod to the legendary starship commanded by James T. Kirk.

However, this is not Kirk’s Enterprise but a ship from the Mirror Universe, an intriguing detail Captain Burnham clarifies for the audience. Despite not elaborating on how the ship arrived from the Mirror Universe and became marooned, “Discovery” leverages this setup to delve further into the lore established in “Mirror, Mirror.”

The exploration of the ISS Enterprise by Burnham and Book reveals that a Mirror Universe version of the character Saru (Doug Jones) emerged from slavery to become a significant figure on the ship, which ties back to his character development seen in “Discovery” Season 3. This narrative choice reinforces the concept that the Mirror Universe’s inherent evil cannot overshadow the persistent idealism that is fundamental to “Star Trek.”

Viewers can catch new episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” streaming on Paramount+ every Thursday.

FAQ about “Star Trek: Discovery” and the “Mirror, Mirror” Episode

• What is the significance of the “Mirror, Mirror” episode? “Mirror, Mirror” is an iconic episode from “Star Trek: The Original Series” where some characters encounter their evil counterparts in an alternate “Mirror Universe.” It introduced a significant and often revisited concept in the Star Trek franchise.
• How does “Star Trek: Discovery” tie into the “Mirror, Mirror” episode? In “Star Trek: Discovery,” there are multiple references and connections to the “Mirror Universe,” and the latest episode revives this connection by featuring the ISS Enterprise.
• Who is Saru in “Star Trek: Discovery”? Saru, played by Doug Jones, is a Kelpian Starfleet officer in “Discovery.” The latest episode touches upon the storyline of Saru’s counterpart in the “Mirror Universe.”
• Where can I watch new episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery”? New episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” are available for streaming on Paramount+ every Thursday.

The recent “Discovery” episode pays homage to the acclaimed “Mirror, Mirror” installment from “The Original Series,” blending the timeless themes of the Star Trek franchise with fresh narratives. By featuring the storied ISS Enterprise and revisiting the Mirror Universe, “Discovery” not only caters to long-time Trekkies who appreciate the deeper layers of the franchise’s lore but also keeps the Star Trek spirit of exploration and idealism alive in its ongoing storytelling.

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'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 6 goes old school and benefits because of it

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 6

Here we are then, the other side of the halfway mark of the very last season of " Star Trek: Discovery ." Will the plot actually advance any further? Or does the chase across the galaxy for the Progenitors MacGuffin continue, offering another chance to insert a stand-alone, episode-length adventure along the way? Interestingly, a look at the IMDb top 10 rated episodes of "Discovery" there isn't one single entry beyond the second season.

This week's curiously named installment is entitled "Whistlespeak" and it's almost a throwback to old school-style of sci-fi storytelling, more typically found in something like "Stargate SG1." And a 10 episode-long chase for an alien artifact would be just fine in that show, because each season was typically 22 episodes long. Sadly, that's one reason why "Discovery" has been deteriorating, rather than improving, because each season — and it's far more obvious in seasons 3, 4 and 5 — seems to follow a very cookie-cutter formulaic approach.

Related: Star Trek streaming guide: Where to watch the Star Trek movies and TV shows online

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There's always a threat facing all life in the universe (killer AI, exploding dilithium, gravity waves, Progenitor tech), there's always a series of clues-of-sorts that have to followed and that usually entails a set of standalone adventures before finally everything concludes in a disappointing payoff. Tragically, "Discovery" never really found its identity and it struggled from the outset when the original concept was not to focus on the captain of a particular starship, but rather the first officer.

That combined with the fact that big-budget TV sci-fi has shifted to shorter seasons with more expensive episodes over longer seasons and more expansive storylines. Just remind yourself what other sci-fi shows have managed to achieve in five seasons; "Stargate: Atlantis" and " Babylon 5 " both had five seasons, "Battlestar Galactica" only had four and "Stargate: SG1" had 10. (Although the less said about the whole Ori storyline, the better.)

All that aside, this particular episode was a quirky little number that was actually quite enjoyable. So, that's nice. Yes, there are one or two enormous small plot holes and the super-convenient tech has somewhat taken a turn for the ridiculous. This is not swallowing a pill to genetically alter you temporarily, these are easy-install "optical tricorders" — yes, indeed, you need never have the burden of having to actually carry a tricorder anymore, because now they can be worn like contact lenses.

This week, Capt. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) beam incognito down to the surface of a pre-warp, pre-industrial world much like the Planet Vancouver that we often saw in just about every incarnation of "Stargate." And why-oh-why do these primitive, unevolved civilizations always have traditions that seem harmless at first, but upon further examination almost certainly seem to involve decapitation, disembowelment or any one of a hundred different, excruciating ways of dying, all in the name of glorious sacrifice to some god or another. Was the human race ever like tha...oh wait, hang on. Damn .

In this particular instance it's simply suffocating. Of course if you blew the fires out that also happen to be burning in the room, you know, using up all the precious air that's left, you might last a teeny-tiny bit longer. But that's probably not covered in standard Starfleet training, rather undergraduates are instead taught how to rebuild an illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator using only a discarded toothbrush, a clothes peg, an empty washing up liquid bottle and sticky-back plastic.

You also have to wonder how the local population had such an in-depth knowledge of the sacrificial chamber if no one ever survived, but we'll look past that, just like the writers did. And boy-oh-boy, there's along time to kill before you get killed. On the up side, the dialogue is pretty sharp this week and despite all its flaws, this is a well-paced installment. Still, a cliffhanger might be nice at some point before the show wraps permanently. All things considered though, given the low bar "Discovery" has sadly set itself, this one isn't terrible.

In other, somewhat related news, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish has stepped down and it's rumored that the entertainment giant is going to create an "office of the CEO" and have a team making the important decisions rather than a rich, white man who doesn't seem to have much of a clue. Sounds like a plan, right? Well, wait for it... Instead, three rich, white men will be making all the important decisions. George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Paramount Media Networks and Brian Robbins, president and CEO of Paramount Pictures.

Needless to say, Paramount's share value has taken a nosedive this week. Now while most of this is related to Paramount Global, it will of course affect the future of Paramount Plus, including programming choices, budget and just about everything else that determines whether or not we'll get to see any "Star Trek" going forward, let alone quality "Star Trek." Let's face facts, the only reason we're getting a Section 31 TV series TV movie is because of contractual obligations.

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery," and every other episode of every "Star Trek" show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US, while "Prodigy" has found a new home  on Netflix.

Internationally, the shows are available on  Paramount Plus  in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on  Paramount Plus  in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

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…and of course, this full-cast photo was released by the streamer earlier this year.

The final season of  Star Trek: Discovery runs through May 30 on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery  Season 5 continues on Paramount+ May 2 with “Whistlespeak,” followed the next day on SkyShowtime in other regions.

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Den of Geek

Star Trek Just Pulled Off a Huge Call Back to a Beloved Enterprise Character

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 digs deep into The Original Series lore in an episode full of references to "The Paradise Syndrome."

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This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers.

Although Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is focused on a season-long quest for ancient secrets from before the dawn of history, there have also been a few episodes that have been almost standalone in structure. From the time loop in “Face the Strange” to the return of the ISS Enterprise in “Mirrors,” Discovery ’s final seasons has episodic stories, woven into the bigger arc. And, out of all of season 5, episode 6, “Whistlespeak,” is probably the most standalone of the bunch.

In order to retrieve the latest clue to the Progenitor tech, the USS Discovery jumps to the planet Halem’no, a pre-warp planet. Here, Burnham and Tilly have to go undercover to not only find the clue, but also, repair some concealed technology. Along the way, Discovery pays homage to The Original Series , the prequel series Enterprise , and beyond. Here are the biggest Star Trek easter eggs and references in the episode…

Weather Towers 

Throughout all of Star Trek , or at least the time of The Voyage Home , there’s been the strong suggestion that the weather on Earth, and other Federation planets, is controlled by low-key terraforming technology. In “Whistlespeak,” Burnham and Tilly have to fix a weather tower that is malfunctioning on a pre-warp, Prime Directive-protected planet. This exact mission hasn’t happened before, but it is reminiscent of several Trek episodes from the past…

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Going Undercover With an Indigenous Culture

The conceit that Burnham and Tilly have to blend in with a pre-warp civilization has several precedents in other Star Trek series and films. In The Original Series episodes “Pattern of Force,” “Return of the Archons,” “A Private Little War,” and “The Paradise Syndrome,” the crew has to infiltrate planets and pass themselves off as natives. Ditto The Next Generation episode “Who Watches the Watchers?” and the beginning of the feature film Insurrection . Burnham, Owo and Captain Pike also went undercover in a pre-warp civilization in the Discovery season 2 episode “New Eden.” Then, the entire Strange New Worlds gang, including Pike, Spock, and La’an all went undercover in the series premiere of that that show, also titled “Strange New Worlds.”

Finally, the very first glimpse of Michael Burnham ever happens near the start of the first Discovery episode from 2017, “The Vulcan Hello.” And in that episode, Captain Georgiou and Michael Burnham are helping save a pre-warp civilization from a drought without being detected. So, in Disco’s first season and its last, Burnham is on a very similar mission. At least once, anyway.

Subcutaneous Comms

Burnham and Tilly also rock both subcutaneous — under the skin — communicators, as well as tricorders embedded into their eyes. The retinal tricorders are new, but Kirk and Spock both had subcutaneous transponders put into their arms in the episode “Patterns of Force.” 

The scientist who created the weather towers for the Halem’nites was named Hitoroshi Kreel, a Denobulan. Though we never see him on screen, we know, generally, some basic features of what Denobulans look like. The beloved character of Dr. Phlox in the series Enterprise was a Denobulan, and it was in that series that nearly all the lore of the planet Denobula was established, even though the planet was never seen on screen. Outside of Enterprise , we’ve seen Denobulans in Lower Decks , Prodigy , and briefly in Strange New Worlds Season 2. But, despite being mentioned in this Discovery episode, no Denobulans appear.

Burnham’s Job

While it’s easy to forget what Burnham trained to do for Starfleet, this episode reminds us of the fact that in season 1, it was established that in both Starfleet and at the Vulcan Science Academy, Burnham studied xenoanthropology. She’s actually perfect for away missions like this because of her anthropological background, unlike say, several other Starfleet captains who frequently would go on missions like this.

“We could really use you at” 

Ever since season 4, Tilly has been teaching at Starfleet Academy, which, for now, is located somewhere at Federation HQ. Tilly telling Burnham she wants her to teach there too is interesting, and has some precedent in previous Star Trek lore. When Spock was teaching at Starfleet Academy, in The Wrath of Khan , he brought Kirk in to help out at the beginning of the movie. Because Tilly and Burnham are both from the 23rd Century initially, it’s not too nuts to think of them both teaching at Starfleet Academy at some point in the future, much like their classic-era colleagues across space and time.

Paradise Syndrome: Reloaded

Overall, the story of “Whistlespeak” feels like a modern update of tricky TOS episode, “The Paradise Syndrome.” In that episode, Kirk lost his memory, and became part of a tribe of Native Americans who lived on a planet that was not Earth. Progressive stuff for 1968 maybe , but less than great or thoughtful now. However, the sci-fi premise of “The Paradise Syndrome” was fantastic even if the politics were iffy: A device that was placed on the planet by an advanced alien race—designed to protect the people of the planet—malfunctions and gains religious significance. This is exactly what happens with the weather stations on Halem’no, and, just like Kirk and Spock had to go back into the obelisk in TOS to save the native population, Burnham and Tilly have to do the same thing in this Discovery episode. 

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Interestingly, this “Paradise Syndrome,” connection goes even deeper when you realize that “The Preservers,” mentioned in that episode, were the first indication that an advanced humanoid species seeded several planets with humanoid lifeforms. So, without “:The Paradise Syndrome,” you kinda don’t have the TNG episode “The Chase,” and without that, you certainly don’t have Discovery season 5’s epic search for the Progenitor tech, which goes all the way back to 1993, or 1968, or millions of years in the past, depending on your point of view.

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…