'Star Trek: Discovery': Lorca Launches a Coup in "What's Past is Prologue" Clip

Gabriel Lorca makes a second attempt at a coup of the Emperor in a clip from tonight’s episode [...]

Gabriel Lorca makes a second attempt at a coup of the Emperor in a clip from tonight's episode of Star Trek: Discovery.

Last week's episode of Star Trek: Discovery, "Vaulting Ambition," revealed that the Lorca who has been commanding the USS Discovery is actually from the mirror universe. Lorca somehow wound up in the prime timeline after a failed coup against the Terran Emperor.

The above clip from "What's Past is Prologue" shows that Lorca is nothing if not persistent. He frees his soldiers and sows seeds of dissent among the ranks of Emperor Georgiou's palace ship, the USS Charon. Lorca claims that Georgiou has allowed the Terran Empire to become weak, and promises he will "make the Empire glorious again." Watch the clip above.

The official synopsis for "What's Past is Prologue" reads, "Lorca plans to move forward with a coup against the Emperor, propelling Burnham to make a quick decision to save not only herself, but the USS Discovery."

The Lorca twist is just the latest in a series of big reveals throughout Star Trek: Discovery's second chapter. Before revealing that Lorca was a mirror universe native, Star Trek: Discovery also revealed that Georgiou is the Terran Emperor and that Lt. Ash Tyler was actually the Klingon torchbearer Voq.

These twists are all part of a second chapter that the show's executive producers teased would please fans of the original Star Trek.

"It'll be fun for Trek fans," showrunner Aaron Harberts said, teasing a "nice nod to stuff from [The Original Series]...It's definitely again a war story, as far as how it'll play out, but our characters find themselves in a place where their identities are challenged. It's an emotionally wrought back half. Very intense. The cast has done some amazing work.

"The other thing that's a huge theme for us is taking the Federation from the darkness into the light. Everybody wants this optimistic version of Star Trek right out of the gate. And I feel that our show has a lot of hope in it from episode to episode, depending on storyline we're tracking. By season's end, people will see the Federation they've come to know and love from The Original Series on."

New Star Trek: Discovery episodes become available to stream Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS All Access.

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