‘Star Trek: Discovery’ EPs Tease High Stakes for Michael Burnham

Last week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery saw the ship finally return to their own timeline. Things aren’t great though as the ship overshot its own time by nine months. The Klingons have seemingly won the war with the Federation.

With the United Federation of Planets seemingly on the brink of annihilation, it will come down to Special Michael Burnham to do what needs to be done to save the day. At least that’s what the show’s executive producers, Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg, tell Entertainment Weekly.

“As the crew of Discovery deals with the fallout of Mirror Universe Lorca, they must end the war with the Klingons once and for all,” the showrunners said. “Burnham is going to have to strike unexpected alliances in a mission that requires the Discovery team to take the fight directly to the Klingons. Will there be redemption for Burnham’s mutiny against Georgiou or Tyler’s attacks on Culber and Burnham? As the first season wraps up, the stakes have never been higher for the U.S.S. Discovery and we’re excited to answer many of the questions that have been asked since the first episode, as well as tease what’s to come.”

There are plenty of strange bedfellows current riding on board Discovery. As the showrunners mentioned, there’s Lt. Ash Tyler. Tyler is actually Voq the Klingon Torchbearer transformed to appear human and with a human’s personality and memories imprinted on his own. When Voq discovered the truth, his mind broke and he murdered Dr. Hugh Culber. L’Rell and Saru formed an uneasy understanding to save Tyler’s life, but it’s unclear what state he’s in now and whether L’Rell or Tyler will be interested in cooperating further with Starfleet.

When it comes to Burnham’s mutiny, the memory of Georgiou is given physical form by Mirror Universe Philippa Georgiou, the former Emperor of the Terran Empire whom Burnham rescued and brought to the Prime Timeline. After learning the lesson of “The Vulcan Hello,” a mirror universe approach to dealing with the Klingon Empire may be what the Federation needs. But will the Starfleet be willing to adopt those aggressive tactics?

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