‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 2 Photo Offers Best Look Yet at Updated Klingons

Star Trek: Discovery star Mary Chieffo has released a new photo from Season Two revealing her Klingon character L’Rell’s new look.

The photo shows L’Rell now with long locks of hair. Chieffo also reminded fans that L’Rell is now the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council with the tweet, “New Chancellor, who dis?”

Take a look below.

Klingons in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery had no hair on their heads. Chieffo explained after the new trailer for Season Two was released why it is that Klingons have grown their hair back out.

“You might have noticed in the trailer, there is a bit of a new aesthetic going on and that is a really exciting addition that has been made and is inspired by Glenn Hetrick, who is our designer and a huge Trek fan himself,” Chieffo said during the Star Trek: Discovery NYCC panel. “He was inspired by season six, episode 23 of The Next Generation, ‘Rightful Heir.’ There is a reference when Kahless is brought back as a clone. The way he proves himself is he tells the story of how he cut off a lock of his hair and dipped it into a volcano and made the first bat’leth, with which he killed Molor, the terrible tyrant who was running Qo’noS at the time.

“So, in the spirit of Discovery, we took that one little beautiful seed that was planted from an earlier iteration and kind of expanded on that, and we see that in a time of war the Klingons would shave their heads, and in a time of peace, we start to grow it back out. I really love the symbolism of that.”

When some fans pointed out that the Klingons did not shave their head during the Dominion War story arc in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Chieffo explained that the culture changed after the destruction of the moon Praxis and the signing of the Khitomer Accords in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

“The Dominion War takes place more than 100 years after the events of Discovery,” she says. “Traditions change and are lost in time. Much of what T’Kuvma predicted about homogenization and assimilation of the Klingon race occurs after the explosion of Praxis & subsequent political shift.”

What do you think of L’Rell‘s new look? Let us know in the comments!

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the U.S., through CraveTV in Canada and through Netflix in other international markets.

Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto and will premiere on CBS All Access on January 17, 2019.