'Star Trek: Discovery': SPOILER Dies in "What's Past is Prologue"

The second chapter of Star Trek: Discovery has been full of surprising twists and shocking revelations. Tonight's episode, "What's Past is Prologue," proved no different.

SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery episode 13, "What's Past is Prologue," follows.

Last week's episode of Star Trek: Discovery, "Vaulting Ambition," revealed that the Captain Gabriel Lorca who had been commanding the USS Discovery was actually the Gabriel Lorca from the mirror universe who had somehow made it to the prime universe after staging a failed coup against the Terran Emperor.

In tonight's episode, Lorca tries to pick up where he left off. He once again attempts to wrest control of the Terran Empire from Emperor Georgiou, and he is nearly successful. After taking control of the ship, it all came down to a final showdown between Lorca and his forces and Burnham and Georgiou. Lorca seems to make a deal with Burnham, but it turns out to be a ruse to give Discovery the signal to attack the palace ship.

A fight breaks out in the throne room. It ends with Burnham holding Lorca at gunpoint. She tells Lorca that if he had just told them the truth that she and Starfleet would have helped him get home. She drops her weapon and says she won't kill him.

The Emperor feels differently. She comes up behind Lorca and stabs him in the chest. She then kicks Lorca into the mycelial super engine that powers the palace ship.

That seems to be the end for Lorca. But is it? Here's what Jason Isaacs, the actor who plays Lorca, told Entertainment Weekly.

"I would say, yeah, the prognosis is not good for him given he was dissolved into a million pieces on camera," he said. "There are not many homeopathic cures that can help that."

Isaacs also shared his thoughts on what he thought Lorca's fatal mistake was.

"In the end, he hadn't read Burnham correctly. He thought of her as practical, pragmatic, having made out-of-the-box decisions earlier on, that she'd see the best option for her is to stay and help him rule this empire and maybe she might buy into the racist philosophy he adheres to — the lack of assimilation and that the world is healthier and better when those who are powerful and strong rule it and the weak are kept down. He's blinded by that kind of bigotry, and it's never going to fly for her.

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