'Star Trek: Discovery' Showrunners on Future of Mirror Universe, Lorca, and Georgiou

Star Trek: Discovery just concluded its first season and pre-production is underway on it second. While fans have high hopes for the show's sophomore outing, especially after that surprising final scene, they shouldn't expect Star Trek: Discovery to revisit the mirror universe anytime soon.

Star Trek: Discovery spent multiple episodes in the mirror universe in its first season. Showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg tell Entertainment Tonight that the parallel dimension was a setting that fit the show's first season themes, but with those themes and narrative threads now tied up, the show will be moving on next season.

"The Mirror Universe was perfect for season one because one of the themes of the season was literally self-discovery for Michael Burnham, figuring out who she was," Berg says. 'The great thing about going to Mirror was to be able to live out the fantasy of "If we did this, should've, could've, would've,' and 'If I had an opportunity to say goodbye to somebody again or have closure with somebody again,' and it fit perfectly with that theme. In order to return to Mirror, we would have to have a really good reason to go, better than the reason that we went this year. What we've learned on Star Trek is never say never about anything, but for now, I'm really proud of the story we told in Mirror, and we're going to let people sit with those for a while and maybe we'll be going back again in the future. But for right now, enjoy those episodes from the last year!"

Star Trek: Discovery won't be filling in the ninth-month gap in the prime timeline from when Discovery was away either.

"To be honest, Episode 14 ["The War Without, the War Within"] was all about what had happened," Harberts says. "With the destruction that was wrought by the Klingons and the Federation during those nine months, we tried to paint the picture of that. I think what's exciting about moving into season two is we've got a fresh new palette. We've put the war behind us and we're excited to move on into some things that Trek fans have been longing for, which is more exploration, more diplomacy, more planets, more away missions. We're focused on serving up some new stuff."

While those storylines and themes are wrapped up, there are still a couple of characters lingering in the universe. The prime universe's Gabriel Lorca is presumed dead, but otherwise unaccounted for, and the former Terran Emperor, Phillipa Georgiou, was let go to live out her life in the prime timeline in exchange for sparing Qo'noS. Could they pop up in the future?

"If they're out there, the possibilities are endless," Berg says. "Never say never. That's the great thing about this universe: there are so many more different ways to go. I can't confirm or deny anything, but..."

Harberts adds, "If we find Prime Lorca, I sort of want to find him making artisan sourdough bread in a bakery in San Francisco. That's how that storyline could start and we'd just build from there."

Star Trek: Discovery will return for its second season on CBS All Access.