SDCC 2018: 'Star Trek: Discovery' Panel Recap

Star Trek: Discovery is taking its panel to Hall H for SDCC2018 and the CBS All Access powerhouse is filling the room.

The event was supposed to start at 1:30, but has been a little slow to get rolling as they are allowing the hall to fill. Expected to see a lot of cool footage as we get into this!

Panel will be Tig Notaro moderating, Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, Shazad Latif, Mary Wiseman, Anson Mount, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Chiefo, Anthony Rapp, and Wilson Cruz.

Alex, you directed season two premiere? Did you bring anything for them to see.....

Alex queues up the Season Two sizzle.

Martin-Green narrating, Discovery traveling ... blurred, red bodies...

Pike requesting permission to come aboard -- Anson Mount shows... and takes command of the ship.

Seven red bursts from 30,000 light years away have made contact. Mount is deciding to find out if they are acts of war or a big nothing...

Discovery in an astroid field, dodging billets as well.

Spock reference from Martin-Green as she blasts out of a seperate pod....

Mount ends the clip with a "hit it" and they cut to Martin-Green....

Last little bit was a comedic element with a sneeze onto one of the cast members.

Show premieres in January... Alex says that they are in post, but it is taking forever... doesnt have a set date, but it wil be in January.

In December there will be FOUR short films, 10-15 minutes in length. Tilly, Mudd, a new character, and it will give bactstory of Saru, too.

SPOCK WILL BE IN THIS COMING SEASON.

Q for Anthony: Youve been voted most likley to succeed at Space Talk.... how do you remember your lines, how do you do it?

"What til you hear Tig do space talk!! My boyfriend Ken is very helpful in running lines. The truth is that when there is good writing and it makes sence it makes it easier. It isnt a bunch of gobly gook, it related to physics and biology."

Q for Wilson: "Guessing since you are on the panel, that means we see you in season two... will you be reunited?"

"Im not here just to say hello.... we talked about early on when after Tyler and I had a moment in sick bay, we knew this was chapter in a long, epic story. In any epic love story there are ups and downs and this was a bump in the road -- well, in my neck -- but I will be back. We are reveling in this gay love that has saved the world, and all of the universes, so you're welcome, and we cant wait to show you what we are up to."

Q for Mary Chieffo: "We last saw you trying to reunite the Klingon empire at end of season 1.... where is she now?'

"She has this awesome detonator but she is doing the best to lead a very partriarchial empire. There is a fun new chancelor astethics. There is a lot of her shrouded in mystery in the first saeson, so it is really exciting to show in this new season. It is so architypal for me, and i get to manifest all these historical figures that arent a Greek or anything because she is an alien. But it is a lot of great things happening for her."

Q for Mary Wiseman: "Tilly wants to be a captain, what should we expect to see of her in this season?"

"She is going to keep working towards of her goal towards being a captain. She is going to have a struggle of it, really a lot of downs and some ups. Face obstacles and at time not do great jobs and she will question her sanity."

Q for Shazad: "You were in a very complacated love triangle or square... will that get sorted out, or take news shapes?"

"Hexagon.... yeah, he wants to see Burnham again, but he is far away. He is going to struggle to find his place in the universe."

Q for Doug: (most applause for Doug!) "Youve spent more time in prosethics... what has it been like playing Saru for an entire year?"

"First of all, this is not a face for a jumbotron... now you know why I am in prosethics. I have been 30-some years in my career and been in all sorts of fantasy land, this has been a true joy. I get to be a Kelpian, which has never been seen before in the Star Trek land and so I can build them and their species from the ground up. It is about 2 hours a day for me, so sort of in and out."

Q for Anson: "Tell us some of the folks of the Enterprise crew we will meet?"

"Its the one thing everyone has been asking, since the Enterprise shows up... I am going to reveal more information... we get to meet the a new No. 1 ... originally played by Rodenberry... who will played now by Rebecca Romijn."

Q for Alex: "Where will this fit into canon?"

"I guarantee you will get answers to how this fits into canon. That WILL happen. First season was a formation of a family. So much of season two will test them as a family. They will make choices between their real family and their starship family. There aer mysterious signals and they are significant and will answer why Enterprise is here and it will lead to a lot of surprises."

TURNS OVER TO FAN QUESTIONS:

Every time a new Star Trek series is released… there is a lot obacklash... how do you overcome negativity that try to judge your acting and the show:

Sonequa: "I think it is because of how profound it is, what we are doing, and I speak for us, and we consider this can be a gift and we take it as best we can and then we can give gifts as we are getting them. And when you are focused on the amazing people you get to work with how it changes you and how you can learn from others, and I can give what I got to my husband, my son, and the negativitiy just dissipates and it doesn't matter."

Anson: "I don't feel offended by literally anything on this show and its reaction. I think it is a compliment that people care so much about the canon and the history and the complexity. I really like it."

How was it going from chased by walkers to into space?

Sonequa: "I was like, whoa! I was shooting the last few episodes on my time with Walking Dead and I learned Star Trek was coming back. I got to see my old family backstage, and I don't want to cry, but there are things that are eternal and I am blessed to have had both."

Will there be some more easter eggs coming into this show:

Kurtzman: "Yes. We are syncing up to canon this year and so fans will see a lot."

Q: "Was Lorka planning to eat Saru?"

Doug Jones: "I always caught him looking at me funny. It would have been like a chicken nugget, but he was probably thinking about it a lot.

"We will get to visit Saru's home planet this season. So, my society was a hunted species, a predatory species, and so we will get to see who the predators are."

Now that you have been a part of Discovery, what ways does it influence how you see the world:

Wilson: "I feel like this show, this franchise, helped me define the dreamlike world that I want to live in. It helps me define what I hope the world to be. If all things were true and possible, we can create a world where our differences don't separate us, they join us. They can bind us together. That is the kind of thing we want to give to you in this moment."

Mary Chieffo: "I am spoiled in the best possible way. When I watching things that do not have the diversity we do. When there are shows that doesn't have races, genders, colors and all of that and I just don't understand why other shows don't, I almost become intolerant of the isolationism that other shows seem to have. Why don't they have more? It works."

If you could have whatever trope you wanted from the Star Trek bevy of tropes, which do you want to see on the show:

Anthony: "There are some tropes with red shirts that you will see this season. I can say that right."

There was a lot of online discussion about whether Ash was a victim of a relationship that was not consentual:

Mary: "There are conversations between the two and they need to happen, and they do. There is a lot to explore and a lot to be seen. There are complex conversations that have been very important to me, so I wont say too much, but it will be on the screen.

It is a reverse beauty and the beast imagery, something that we have seen in the traditional way, and this is something that shows that complex relationships exist and that the woman can be the beast, too."