‘Star Trek: Discovery’: SPOILERS Die in ‘Succession’

The latest Star Trek: Discovery comic book series from IDW Publishing, which is also the latest installment of the saga of the mirror universe, has come to a close, but it took down some major characters in the big finale.

SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery: Succession #4 Kirsten Beyer, Mike Johnson, Angel Hernandez, and Mark Roberts follow.

Star Trek: Discovery: Succession takes place in the mirror universe after the end of the mirror universe story that took place during the first season of Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access. That story ended with the destruction of the Terran Empire’s flagship and the apparent death of Emperor Phillipa Georgiou as the USS Discovery made its way home to its own timeline. In Succession, Georgiou’s cousin, Alexander, has assumed the throne.

Alexander was unaware that Georgiou’s adopted daughter, Michael Burnham, was still alive after having been assumed killed in the destruction of Gabriel Lorca’s ship. While Alexander has been preparing to launch genocidal weapons capable of eliminating all non-human sentient life in the galaxy, Burnham has been making uneasy alliances with rebels like the Klingons Kol and L’Rell, the Vulcan-sympathizer Amanda Grayson, and Katrina Cornwell, a secret ally of Lorca’s serving Alexander on Earth.

But Alexander has been on to Cornwell all along. Once the rebels arrive on Earth, they are taken as prisoners and brought into the throne room. Alexander executes Amanda Grayson and plans to do the same to the others, but the Klingons strike, overpowering the Emperor’s guards.

Cornwell and Burnham help to overpower the Emperor and his guards, but once Alexander has been captured Burnham shows her true colors and kills Cornwell by literally stabbing her in the back. In a twist from what Star Trek: Discovery suggested in its first season, Succession suggests that Mirror Burnham has in fact been loyal to her mother all along and not in league with Lorca.

With Alexander out of the way, Burnham moves onto her coronation as the new Terran Emperor. She’s even willing to honor the deals she made with the Klingons to get there. However, Burnham’s reign ends up being quite short as one of the genocidal weapons meant to kill non-humans is triggered but kills only the humans at the coronation.

This is the doing of Airiam. Though a member of the USS Discovery bridge crew in the prime timeline, Airiam in the mirror universe has taken command of the ISS Shenzhou. Though born a human herself, Airiam has been so modified by synthetic parts that most humans ostracize her as something other. Now she’s taken and crowned herself as the new ruler of the Terran Empire.

What do you think of the latest mirror universe story? Let us know in the comments!

Star Trek: Discovery: Succession is on sale now.