Star Trek: Discovery: Sonequa Martin-Green Explains the Challenge of Reconnecting With Season 1 Michael Burnham for Season 5, Episode 4

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 used time travel to consider how far the show's heroes have come. SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4, "Face the Strange," follow. Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 sees this season's antagonists, Moll and L'ak, sabotaging Discovery by using time travel technology to trap the ship and its crew in a time loop. Luckily, Captain Burnham, Commander Raynor, and Commander Stamets prove immune to the time loop's effects, which means it's up to them to free the rest of the crew. For Burnham, that means facing the person she used to be in the most literal sense.

It's a premise that feels serendipitous given that Star Trek: Discovery's writers didn't know this would be the show's last season. The episode's climax sees Captain Burnham coming face to face with science Specialist Burnam, her Season 1 self, assigned to Discovery as a mutineer prisoner under the command of Captain Lorca. This leads to an understandable misunderstanding, some fairly symmetrical violence, and ultimately, Captain Burnham giving her younger self the Vulcan nerve pinch.

Ahead of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's premiere, ComicBook.com had the opportunity to ask Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Burnham, what it was like to have to reconnect with the Season 1 version of the character. She admits it wasn't easy.

"It was challenging," Martin-Green says. "It was, and it really hit me once we were there shooting. I knew that it would probably be challenging when I was reading the script but when we were actually shooting, I thought, 'Oh my goodness, look at all the growth.' What a gift that the writers gave this character, that the writers gave me, to be able to have that context and see the contrast as well. And you go, 'Oh my goodness, this woman has grown.'"

Martin-Green continues, owning up to not being eager to revisit some difficult emotions that dominated Burnham during Discovery's first season. "But I didn't want to go back there. I actually was like, 'Oh, it was painful back there,' you know what I mean? Like, 'Oh, gosh, sweet Burnham, when you were still so riddled with guilt and pain and, insecurity.' So it was hard, actually, to do that. I mean, once I was in it, I was in it, but yeah, I'm so grateful that we got to see, look, at all the growth that has happened. It's easy to forget when you're in the present moment, but when you look back, you can really see."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 on Paramount+

According to Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's official synopsis, the season "finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well… dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's cast includes Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland "Book" Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira) and Callum Keith Rennie (Rayner). Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's recurring guest stars include Elias Toufexis (L'ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

CBS Studios produces Star Trek: Discovery in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth are executive producers. Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise are co-showrunners.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.