Star Trek fans are eagerly awaiting the return of Star Trek: Discovery, the now Saturn Award-winning CBS All Access series, and while the show still does not have a season two premiere date, CBS did release a teaser when the show entered production on its new season.
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The promotional teaser was shot from a behind-the-scenes production standpoint, highlighting the hard work being done to bring the world of Star Trek back to life. Even so, if you look hard enough there are several exciting reveals and hints of things to come to be found in the promo.
Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season ended with the USS Discovery encountering Starfleet’s most famous vessel, the starship USS Enterprise. Upon meeting the vessel, they received a distress call from the ship’s captain, Christopher Pike, a familiar name to fans to Star Trek: The Original Series (or fans of the Kelvin timeline movies, for that matter).
While the season ended there, fans likely noticed Commander Michael Burnham and Ambassador Sarek sharing a glance. That’s because they are both aware that Sarek’s son, Spock, is serving as Pike’s science officer aboard the Enterprise. Could this be a coincidence, or something more?
Then there’s Section 31. The organization’s involvement was revealed by a scene deleted from the show’s first season finale that was then revealed at WonderCon, in which an agent of Section 31 travels to Kronos and recruits Philippa Georgiou, the former emperor of the Terran Empire in the mirror universe who is now stranded in the prime timeline. Section 31 is a notorious organization in the Star Trek franchise (though there is existence is almost entirely unknown by those characters who exist within the universe), so it should be interesting to see how they become involved with Discovery‘s second season.
Keep reading to see all of the hints and reveals we picked up in the Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 promo.
Voices from the Past
The first truly noticeable thing in the promo isn’t the visuals, but the audio. The promo is framed by a voice-over from three different Star Trek characters.
The first is the voice of Michael Burnham, the lead character of Star Trek: Discovery played by Sonequa Martin-Green, using lines plucked from the first season of Star Trek: Discovery.
The second voice is that of Jeffrey Hunter playing Captain Christopher Pike in the original Star Trek pilot episode “The Cage.” Specifically, it draws from a monologue where Pike considers retiring from Starfleet. “The Cage” takes places about two years before the USS Discovery and the USS Enterprise come nose-to-nose in the final scene of Discovery’s first season, with the Discovery receiving a distress call from Captain Pike. This quote is likely setting the stage for Anson Mount’s debut as Pike in Discovery Season 2.
The final quotes are pulled from Leonard Nimoy’s dialogue as Spock in episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. Spock is the son of Sarek and Amanda Grayson, Burnham’s adoptive parents. Though CBS All Access hasn’t confirmed that Spock will appear in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, he is expected to have a significant presence and impact on the plot in some form or another.
New-Old Starfleet Unfiorms
Star Trek fans fixated on continuity have been bothered by the fact that the Discovery crew wears a different uniform than that of the Enterprise crew in Star Trek: The Original Series despite the fact that both shows are supposed to take place in roughly the same era in Star Trek‘s timeline, though Discovery has some wiggle room since it takes place a decade before Kirk’s five-year mission and a year after the cage.
The promo shows that the series will tackle this problem head-on in season two. The promo shows off newly designed Starfleet uniforms that are clearly meant to be akin to those from Star Trek: The Original series, but with some modern touches. Command gold, operations red, and sciences blue can all be seen in the video.
Enterprise Interior
Star Trek fans already got a shot of the USS Enterprise’s updated exterior in the Star Trek: Discovery Season One finale. The promo also reveals that fans will get to see the redesigned interior of the Enterprise as well.
The interior of the Enterprise is quite distinct from the interior of the Discovery. The white and red walls stand out a bit more than the mostly gray walls of the original Enterprise set, but the lines of the lines of the design definitely harken back to the original series.
The Star Trek: Discovery prequel novels have explained the differences in the technology and designs between the Discovery and the Enterprise as Starfleet moving towards a more minimalistย design philosophy with their new starships.
Spock’s Quarters
What is likely the most important interior Enterprise shot in the promo is the one above, which shows Michael Burnham standing in front of an open door leading into someone’s quarters.
But it isn’t just anyone’s quarters. The room number on the door is 125 on deck 3F. Those are Spock’s quarters aboard the Enterprise, as revealed in a shot from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Amok Time.”
The question is whether Burnhamย is going there to meet with Spock or investigate his quarter because, for whatever reason, he is absent from the Enterprise.
With so much talk about the theme of season two being “family,” it is hard to see how Spock doesn’t play a big role this season.
Section 31
The Enterprise isn’t the only new set being built for Discovery’s second season. The video shows an entire stack of blueprints for sets, including one for a “Section 31 bridge/lab.”
Section 31 is the covert organization that works outside of Starfleetย regulations and Federation laws to protect and advance the Federation by any means necessary.
A deleted scene released at WonderCon revealed that the black Starfleetย insignia badges seen early in Discovery’s first season belong to Section 31, leaving many to wonder if the Discovery itself – with its registry number NCC-1031 – was a product of Section 31. It seems we’ll learn more in the show’s second season.
Captain Pike
The video also offers fans their first look at Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike of the USSย Enterprise in Star Trek: Discovery Season Two.
It’s a rear shot and the scene clapper is blocking most of Mount’s head, but it’s still Mount in action and wearing a Starfleetย command gold uniform.
The video shows Mount standing on the set of the USSย Enterprise. Sonequaย Martin-Green is in the scene as well, playing Michael Burnham.
That Burnhamย ends aboard the Enterprise with Pike would seem to suggest further that whatever Pike’s distress call is about involves her foster brother, Mr. Spock.
Aliens New and Old?
It wouldn’t be a new season of Star Trek without some new aliens, and the video shows a few shots of Discovery‘s prosthetics and makeup team hard at work bringing these aliens to life.
There’s a closeup shot of one alien that looks like it will be a new creation. However, another shot reveals what could be a redesignedย member of the Saurian race.
Saurians have never played a huge role in Star Trek’s narrative. The most notable member of their species appears briefly in the background aboard the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The lizard-like humanoid race is best now for their brandy, which is mentioned in Star Trek: The Original Series and the race holds a specialย place in the heart of many a Star Trek fan.
