'Star Trek: Discovery' Showrunners Tease Season 2 Is About Family

Star Trek: Discovery showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts have suggested that the show's second season will focus on the theme of "family." Could they be teasing an appearance by main protagonist Michael Burnham's famous adoptive brother, Spock?

Berg and Harberts participated in a "For Your Consideration" event as part of CBS' Emmy Awards push for Star Trek: Discovery. The showrunners were asked what they could tease about the show's second season, which is now in production.

"I think you can see clues where we ended our last episode, episode 15 last year," Berg said. "That's all set up, and we're going to be paying off all the stuff that you saw and the people that maybe were brought to mind, you may be seeing some of those folks too."

In case you've forgotten, the first season of Star Trek: Discovery ended with the USS Discovery coming nose-to-nose with Star Trek's most famous ship, the USS Enterprise, and receiving a distress call from the ship's captain, Christopher Pike. Pike is one of the characters "maybe brought to mind" that Berg alludes to and fans now know that Anson Mount will play that role in the coming season.

Spock is the other character most likely to come to a Star Trek fan's mind. There's been no news of casting for that role, but Harberts really leaned into fan expectations in his own response to the question.

"The show this season, the themes we are tackling, it's a lot about family, the family you choose, and the family that you don't," Harberts said. "And as Gretchen said, we ended our finale with the USS Enterprise and the Discovery in sort of this tableau. So, when we talk about family, you can draw your own conclusions."

It certainly sounds like Harberts is leading fans to conclude that Spock will have a role to play in the coming season. He went on to say that "family" isn't the only them they're exploring.

"We are also tackling this season as well, where spirituality and science might interact," Harberts said. "For Michael Burnham, the struggle between facts and feelings and faith."

This is another theme that could easily include Spock as the half-human, half-Vulcan spent much of his arc throughout Star Trek learning to appreciate his logical Vulcan heritage as well as his human emotions. It'd be an interesting contrast with Burnham, who is entirely human biologically but grew up in Vulcan culture.

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada, and through Netflix in other international markets. Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto.

[H/T] Trek Movie