Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Seasons 1-2, and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Michelle Yeoh, who played the roles of Captain Georgiou and her Mirror Universe counterpart on Star Trek: Discovery, has recently won a Golden Globe award. Her role in the mind-bending multiverse adventure Everything Everywhere All At Once has also landed her an Oscar nomination, and with Yeoh’s star rising in Hollywood, some Trekkies have begun asking whether the seemingly-abandoned Star Trek series based around Section 31, in which she was set to take a leading role, might be given a second chance by Paramount. Today I thought it could be interesting to revisit the Section 31 series and reevaluate its prospects.
There’s more than one reason why the original Section 31 pitch didn’t get off the ground, and we should consider why the series has been stuck in development hell for more than four years. Firstly, we have the character of Georgiou herself. This Mirror Universe character was, at the time the series was announced, pretty one-dimensional. Thanks to a solid performance by Michelle Yeoh, she didn’t stray into the horrible pantomime-level over-acting that trips up many other Mirror Universe characters, but there really wasn’t much to indicate that this lover of murder and torture could be anything more than just a bland, one-dimensional Mirror Universe trope – at least, not as of the end of Discovery’s first season.
There are multiple reasons why Section 31 didn’t succeed when it was first announced.
It took multiple appearances across Seasons 2 and 3 of Discovery, and the two-part Georgiou spotlight episode Terra Firma in particular, to begin to soften that hard Terran exterior. By the time Georgiou entered the Guardian of Forever’s portal in the 32nd Century, there was definitely potential in her character, and seeing what would come next for her had finally begun to feel like something fans might be interested in.
Had the Section 31 show been announced at that stage, rather than two years earlier, I daresay the reaction would’ve been a lot more positive. But Paramount jumped the gun and announced the series too early, the predictable result of which was a muted, underwhelmed reaction from both Trekkies and a wider audience. Without significant numbers of fans asking for the show – or even seeming to be anything more than mildly interested in it – Section 31 was, to coin a phrase, dead on arrival.
Michelle Yeoh during production on Discovery Season 1.
We also can’t overlook another huge factor: Captain Pike. I don’t think it’s fair to say that Anson Mount’s portrayal of Pike in Discovery’s second season was somehow fatal to the Section 31 show’s prospects, but it clearly played a part. Along with Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Una, the reception to Captain Pike in Discovery was overwhelmingly positive. In 2019, it was clear which characters fans wanted to see more of – and which they were, at best, apathetic toward.
This seemed to catch Paramount off-guard, with no plans afoot for extending Pike and Spock’s roles on Discovery. The corporation had to spend time in the aftermath of Discovery’s second season bringing these characters back, initially for a few episodes of Short Treks before Strange New Worlds was eventually greenlit. I think this speaks to a broader problem at Paramount, with the people supposedly in charge of the Star Trek franchise clearly unable to tell what will be a hit and what won’t… but maybe that’s a discussion for another time!
The huge success of Anson Mount’s portrayal of Captain Pike in Discovery Season 2 seemed to catch Paramount unawares.
Regardless, when Section 31 was announced in 2019, it didn’t win a huge amount of support out of the gate. Then Discovery’s second season came along, and fans were clamouring for more Pike and Spock. Resources may have shifted to planning Strange New Worlds, and Section 31 took a back seat.
Although Terra Firma was a great story – probably the best Mirror Universe story the franchise has ever told – after Georgiou’s departure, we still didn’t really see a huge amount of interest in Section 31. Sure, some folks were talking about it, and it would crop up occasionally in online conversations, but when compared to the constant questions Paramount had been fielding about Pike and Strange New Worlds, it was hardly lighting up the board. Even the teased but still unannounced Starfleet Academy series seemed to have generated more attention.
Burnham, Georgiou, and the Guardian of Forever.
I’m not alone in having speculated that Section 31 might’ve been quietly cancelled sometime in the last couple of years. The total lack of news from Paramount, even during events and panels where the conversation turned to future and upcoming projects, has combined with news from the project’s writers and even comments from Michelle Yeoh herself to paint a pretty clear picture of a project that isn’t going ahead. But will Yeoh’s newfound superstar status change all of that?
It would be a coup for Paramount and for the Star Trek franchise to be able to launch a series with a Golden Globe winner and – potentially, at least – an Oscar winner as its lead. By essentially piggybacking off of Michelle Yeoh’s success and status, the Section 31 series could draw in a wider audience than other Star Trek projects, and expanding the franchise beyond its existing fandom and viewer base has to be something Paramount works on in the months and years ahead. Thinking selfishly and cynically, this could be a way to achieve that objective.
Michelle Yeoh won a Golden Globe earlier this year. Photo Credit: NBC
But unless Paramount had the foresight to lock Michelle Yeoh into a contract back in 2019 that would still be valid, her rising star power will undoubtedly come with a growing price tag. The Section 31 series has already gotten a lot more expensive to create – and it’ll only get pricier if Yeoh wins an Oscar! But as they say, you can’t always put a price on success, and having someone of Michelle Yeoh’s calibre in a leading role would be a huge net positive for the Section 31 series.
We’ve already heard comments from Alex Kurtzman and others involved on the production side of Star Trek since Everything Everywhere All At Once started picking up Oscar buzz. These comments seem to indicate that the Section 31 show’s prospects aren’t completely bleak, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Paramount is now scrounging around trying to bring Michelle Yeoh back and to potentially revive the Section 31 series.
Alex Kurtzman is in overall creative control of the Star Trek franchise for Paramount.
We’ve talked a lot about Paramount’s mishandling and mismanagement of the Star Trek franchise over the past couple of years, and I think the Section 31 series is another example of that. It was announced in early 2019 to try to reaffirm the corporation’s dedication to Star Trek and what was then still called CBS All Access, as well as to generate a bit more attention and interest in Discovery’s second season. But Paramount had had months to process the reaction to Discovery Season 1, and to see that Mirror Georgiou, while not exactly hated by fans and viewers, was not in a position at that time to carry a series.
I have to assume that the broad strokes of Georgiou’s arc had been planned out at the time of the Section 31 series’ announcement, and that giving her some much-needed character development was on the agenda. But looking in from the outside, even as a fan it was hard to see where such a flat, one-dimensional character might go. For the casual viewers who make up the bulk of any show’s audience, creating a spin-off from Discovery based around Mirror Georgiou must’ve seemed utterly incomprehensible.
Georgiou stepping into the Guardian of Forever’s portal.
Higher-ups at Paramount should have realised that they were onto a winner with Pike and Spock, and plans should have been made during production on Discovery’s second season – or immediately after when responses from test audiences were reviewed – to create the show we now know of as Strange New Worlds. Had that project been “shovel-ready” in 2019, and been announced during Discovery’s second season, I think Paramount could have netted an easy goal.
Section 31 should have been announced in December 2020, shortly after Terra Firma had aired. By that point, Georgiou was finally ready to take on the leading role in a new series, and the reaction from fans would have been significantly more positive. By jumping the gun and trying to announce it too early, Paramount did serious harm to the Section 31 show’s prospects. Whether that harm will prove fatal is now, quite frankly, entirely in the hands of Michelle Yeoh.
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
The Section 31 series has several things going for it, as I see it. Of course we have the wonderful Michelle Yeoh in the leading role, and that’s fantastic! But beyond just one actress, there are some genuinely great concepts. Taking the Star Trek franchise in a different direction, with a focus on espionage, would open up completely different storytelling ideas. The franchise has touched on this in the past in more ways than one, but having a series where stealth and spying are part of the foundations would be something new.
Then we have the show’s significantly darker tone. In past Star Trek stories, Section 31 was presented as a shadowy, off-the-books, black ops organisation, the kind of outfit that would do anything to protect the Federation – even violating Federation laws. The potential to tell stories where the question viewers will have to contemplate is “do the ends justify the means?” is truly a fascinating one. Star Trek has touched on this in the past, but to place this idea in focus is, again, a new idea.
Sloan in Deep Space Nine first introduced us to Section 31.
The kinds of characters who might make up a Section 31 outfit also have a ton of potential to be interesting. There’s a lot of room for nuance, and also for characters with hidden pasts and deep secrets. We could even see a character from a totally unknown alien race, and have a storyline exploring why this race might choose to remain hidden. There’s a lot that the Section 31 series could do with the characters who might join Georgiou.
If the show were to return to the 23rd Century, as was implied in Terra Firma, it would be possible to cross over with Strange New Worlds. Strange New Worlds currently has a crossover event planned with Lower Decks – and I can’t wait to see it! But a crossover with another live-action Star Trek show would be fantastic, too. The 23rd Century would also allow the Section 31 series to potentially pick up characters like Ash Tyler, who was himself a Section 31 leader, and continue their arcs.
A crossover with Strange New Worlds could be incredible.
Whether any of this will happen, though… who can say? Paramount would be stupid to write off the Section 31 series at this time, and if there was some way to re-announce it shortly after the Oscars, perhaps… that could be a great idea!
I was one of the Trekkies in 2019 who felt that this series wasn’t the best idea, and while I’m happy now to admit to being completely wrong about that… Paramount has to take its share of the blame here, too. Announcing the show at a time when its lead wasn’t ready, just after Picard had been announced and with a return to the late 24th Century finally on the agenda… it was just the wrong moment. Not for the first time, I find myself saying to Paramount that serious introspection is needed and lessons must be learned. Why did no one involved in Discovery’s production realise what the reception would be like for Pike and Spock? If plans had been made for Georgiou’s development, why was this not communicated at the time? And why was the show announced weeks after Star Trek: Picard had been?
Georgiou in Discovery Season 3.
The renewed interest in Section 31 at Paramount has been spurred on by Michelle Yeoh’s success in Everything Everywhere All At Once, and I don’t think anyone would deny that. Whether that will be enough to revive the series and see it finally enter production, though… I’m not certain. While I firmly believe Paramount should move mountains to try to see it through, they no longer hold all of the cards. It’s up to Michelle Yeoh, newly-minted award winner, to decide what direction she wants to take for her career. If she chooses to stick to feature films, no one will blame her!
The Section 31 series was announced prematurely. By the time it was narratively ready, any hype and attention it could’ve gotten had long since faded, overtaken by Picard, Strange New Worlds, and others. This is Paramount’s fault, and the corporation will need to learn lessons from this episode as it moves forward. The last thing Star Trek needs is a repeat of this kind of mistake in future!
I’ll cross my fingers for positive Section 31 news this year. With Picard ending after its third season, there will be a potential opening in the Star Trek lineup… could Section 31 take that spot?
The Star Trek franchise – including all titles and properties discussed above – is the copyright of Paramount Global. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the Star Trek franchise, including Picard Season 2, Strange New Worlds Season 1, and Discovery Season 4.
It’s been known for a while that there are unannounced Star Trek projects that are being worked on behind-the-scenes, and from time to time someone senior at Paramount will re-confirm this fact in public! Just last month at Comic-Con, we got yet another statement about these secretive projects, this time from Alex Kurtzman himself – the man who’s in charge of the overall direction of the Star Trek franchise. Kurtzman stated that there are two unannounced series that are in active development, so today I thought it could be a bit of fun to speculate about what exactly those projects could involve!
In the past I’ve put out lists of prospective Star Trek shows, but this time I want to be more focused. Rather than wild speculation or pure fantasy, I want to stick as close as possible to what we know based on statements that have been made in public, filings by Paramount, and plausible rumours from around the Star Trek franchise. Rather than saying “here’s a list of my fantasy Star Trek projects,” I want to try to stay realistic and consider some projects that feel genuinely plausible. So that’s what we’re going to do today – no “hospital ship” or “colony world” concepts here! As nice as those would be from my perspective, they don’t seem like ideas that are being actively considered by Paramount at the moment.
Despite wanting to stick to the real world as much as possible, my usual caveat applies: I have no “sources” close to the production of Star Trek nor any “insider information.” I’m not trying to say that any of these projects are definitely going to be made, let alone that an announcement may be imminent! I’ve tried to base the entries on this list on statements from people involved with Star Trek, official notices and filings from Paramount, and plausible, persistent rumours – but all of it could be easily wrong or otherwise untrue. So please take all of this with more than a few grains of salt!
The reason why I’m putting together this list now is twofold. Firstly, Star Trek Day is coming up in just under three weeks from now, and there’s the possibility of a big announcement as part of that event. Secondly, Season 3 of Picard will be that show’s last, so in my view Paramount will already have something lined up to replace it – and an announcement of that project may be forthcoming sooner rather than later. Announcing Picard’s replacement too close to its third season risks overshadowing the show as it comes to an end; getting the announcement out of the way ahead of time will give fans time to properly digest it.
So with all of that out of the way, let’s jump into the list!
Series #1: Section 31
Sloan, director of Section 31 during the Dominion War era.
Although a series based around Section 31 has technically been “announced,” the lack of any official news for almost four years at this point clearly means that the series has hit some bumps in the road. While I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that it’s been cancelled altogether, it’s still possible that the Section 31 series will be reworked and perhaps even re-announced along with a premiere date.
As I’ve said more than once, the Section 31 series was announced far too early. Not only was it completely overshadowed by the hugely positive response from fans to Captain Pike and Spock in Discovery’s second season – something that seemed to catch Paramount completely off-guard – but its main character desperately needed the development she would receive in Discovery’s third season in particular before she could begin to feel like someone who could carry her own spin-off.
At the time the Section 31 series was first announced, many fans viewed Georgiou as a kind of sociopathic monster.
When the Section 31 series was first discussed, Michelle Yeoh’s Empress Georgiou was about as flat and one-dimensional as Star Trek characters get. Moreover, she wasn’t just a villain, she was a psychopathic, genocidal monster who kept slaves, ate sentient beings, and seemed to revel in torture, violence, and death. Even for an organisation as roguish and off-the-books as Section 31, Empress Georgiou seemed extreme – and asking fans to support a series centred around a character like that was, for many, too much.
It wasn’t until the two-part Season 3 episode Terra Firma that we really saw a change in Georgiou. After spending time away from the Mirror Universe she began to view aliens as equals rather than sub-human, and had even adopted some Federation-inspired ways of thinking. By the time she stepped into the Guardian of Forever’s portal she had changed just enough that she could be an anti-hero rather than an out-and-out villain, and both she and the Section 31 series needed that development.
Georgiou enters the Guardian of Forever’s portal in Terra Firma, Part 2.
My gut still says that the Section 31 series isn’t going to happen, and we should brace for a quiet cancellation sometime in the future rather than a big announcement. I haven’t heard anything about the series since its premature announcement back in January 2019 that sounded even slightly positive, and with Star Trek branching out in different directions, it’s possible that Section 31 simply missed the boat.
However, at time of writing the Section 31 series still exists, Paramount has retained the trademarked name, and it isn’t impossible to think that it will be revived. Perhaps a new team of writers and producers will take over the project and rework it in some way – potentially even without Empress Georgiou.
Series #2: Seven of Nine and Raffi
Seven of Nine and Raffi at the end of Picard Season 2.
With Picard concluding its run before any of the other current Star Trek projects, a spin-off from that series feels like a distinct possibility when considering its replacement. The time period that Picard established – the dawn of the 25th Century – is not represented by any other current Star Trek project, so if Paramount wants to keep that era alive – and potentially bring in more legacy characters from Deep Space Nine and Voyager – then a series occupying the same timeframe could be a possibility.
A lot of work went into Picard Season 2 in terms of sets being constructed for the brand-new USS Stargazer – but those sets were only used in the premiere and the second half of the season finale. That seems like a lot of work for relatively little screen time, so part of me has been wondering ever since whether those sets may be destined for use in a spin-off project!
Could a Seven and Raffi series be set aboard the new USS Stargazer?
With Seven of Nine being awarded a role in Starfleet at the end of Picard Season 2, she could be being groomed for command. Depending on how she and Raffi get on in Season 3 – which we’ll see in the first half of next year – a spin-off could see those two characters headline a new show, perhaps one set aboard the USS Stargazer.
Seven of Nine was, at one time, my least-favourite Voyager character. But Picard has given her some much-needed development that led into a wonderful arc across both seasons of the show so far, culminating in her taking the Stargazer’s captain’s chair in the Season 2 finale. I would never have expected to write these words in 2000-2001, but I think I’m ready for a Seven of Nine series!
Seven of Nine takes the captain’s chair.
Both Seven and Raffi have tactical backgrounds, so we could potentially see a series set aboard a kind of rapid-response vessel. The Stargazer’s mission could be less about exploration and more tactical in nature, potentially serving as Starfleet’s “muscle” in dangerous situations. That concept isn’t one that Star Trek has done before (not as a whole series, at least) so it would be something different for the franchise.
There are other 25th Century concepts that could replace Picard, but a direct spin-off featuring at least one new character that was introduced in that series could be just what the Star Trek franchise needs. Keeping some consistency and some ties between different projects isn’t a bad idea, and I’m sure that a Seven and Raffi series could find a way to stand on its own two feet without the presence of Admiral Picard.
Series #3: Project Khan and/or Ceti Alpha V
Iconic Star Trek villain Khan could make a return.
Earlier this year it was reported that Paramount had trademarked the name Project Khan. This follows on from a pitch by The Wrath of Khan writer/director Nicholas Meyer, whose project would focus on Khan’s life in between the events of Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan. Although these two ideas could be totally separate, there does seem to be an appetite from someone at Paramount to see this iconic villain make a comeback.
If we take the two ideas as separate for now, Project Khan could be connected to the Eugenics Wars, and could even be a spin-off from Picard. Season 2 antagonist Adam Soong very prominently picked up a folder titled “Project Khan” at the end of his storyline, with the series seeming to imply that he plans to resume working on some kind of genetic engineering.
How might this moment from Picard Season 2 connect to Project Khan?
This is a complete hypothetical, but if we were to get a series starting from that point, Khan himself may not appear. This could be a Brent Spiner project with Adam Soong attempting to recreate Khan’s work in the 21st Century, and could potentially see things like the outbreak of World War III, which purportedly happened in that era. Such a series could see the return of Chris Rios and Dr Teresa Ramirez – they could be trying to stop Dr Soong’s work.
Alternatively, Project Khan could step back to before the events of Picard and focus on Khan’s rise to power in the 20th Century. This would be an interesting concept, but it would have to be handled delicately. In short, the Star Trek timeline has, until now, been pretty vague about events in the modern day and how they relate to real-world history. If it were set in the 1990s, Project Khan could completely transform our knowledge of that era – but it could also tread on the toes of a number of other Star Trek stories.
Khan in Space Seed.
Then we come to the Ceti Alpha V pitch. As much as I admire Nicholas Meyer’s work on Star Trek, I have to be honest: this isn’t a series I would give the green light to if I were in charge. We’re talking about the least-interesting chapter of a story where the ending is already known, and I just don’t see what Ceti Alpha V could tell us about Khan or his ambitious plans that we don’t already know from Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan.
There is the tantalising possibility that a Khan-focused project could connect with Strange New Worlds, though, as the character of La’an Noonien-Singh is a descendant of Khan. That could certainly be a point in favour of doing a new Khan story. Last year I took a longer look at the Ceti Alpha V concept, and you can find that article by clicking or tapping here.
Series #4: Starfleet Academy
The logo of Starfleet Academy in the 24th Century.
Last year (at Star Trek Day) Alex Kurtzman came pretty close to confirming that a Starfleet Academy series may be in the works. It’s certainly the nearest we’ve gotten to any kind of outright confirmation – and as above, Starfleet Academy is a title that Paramount has trademarked, this time all the way back in 2018.
Combine that with what felt like a bit of a backdoor pilot during Discovery’s fourth season, and I think we have a solid case to make that a Starfleet Academy series could be in the works! The Discovery Season 4 episode All Is Possible featured Lieutenant Tilly heading off on an away mission with a trio of new Starfleet cadets at the recently-reopened Starfleet Academy. It ended with her deciding to take up a permanent teaching post at Starfleet Academy and departing the USS Discovery – although she would reappear in the season finale.
Tilly’s departure.
All Is Possible definitely feels like a backdoor pilot, although the attention wasn’t on Tilly and the cadets all of the time. Tilly’s presence would connect the series to Discovery in a major way, and there’d be the possibility of crossover episodes with both shows set in the same 32nd Century time period. A Starfleet Academy show could also feature David Cronenberg’s character of Dr Kovich – a somewhat mysterious character who I still can’t figure out!
Alternatively, a Starfleet Academy series could ignore the 32nd Century and instead be set in the 25th. This version of the series could feature characters like Raffi and Elnor – the latter of whom is a cadet, and who was resurrected at the last minute in a sequence in the Season 2 finale that feels seriously underwhelming right now. Perhaps Elnor’s survival could be given new meaning and purpose if he were to be a major character in a Starfleet Academy series.
Cadet Elnor.
As a series concept, Starfleet Academy has been around the longest! While The Original Series was still in production in the 1960s, Gene Roddenberry came up with the idea of a show that would have focused on young Kirk and Spock during their Academy days – something we eventually saw (albeit in an alternate timeline) in 2009’s Star Trek reboot film.
I feel like a Starfleet Academy series could be a strong addition to the franchise. Not only would it be something different, but it could also be a great first contact for younger viewers – and perhaps even a second port of call for those who’ve recently become fans of Prodigy, too – as they find their way into the Star Trek fandom. Having several cadets as major characters would mean younger viewers could find this iteration of Star Trek easier to relate to and get started with, and that can only be a positive thing. I took a longer look at the Starfleet Academy concept last year, and you can find that article by clicking or tapping here.
Series #5: Enterprise Season 5/The Earth-Romulan War
The NX-01 Enterprise and two Romulan vessels.
This one is a bit more speculative, but I’m not the only one to wonder if there may be an attempt to bring back the 22nd Century in the near future. Calling this one “Enterprise Season 5″ might be a bit of a stretch, but any 22nd Century project could bring back at least some of the characters from that series for another adventure.
Prior to its cancellation in 2005, there were plans being drawn up for a fifth season of Enterprise. According to one of the show’s producers, if it had gone ahead Season 5 would’ve shown more of the origins of the Federation, and particularly the Earth-Romulan War that was first referenced in The Original Series. That could be the starting point for a revived Enterprise or a new 22nd Century series.
The Earth-Romulan War was established in The Original Series Season 1 episode Balance of Terror.
The Earth-Romulan War is a major event in Federation history, one that pushed the founding members of the Federation closer together. It was also a devastating conflict in its own right, and a series focusing on the war could have echoes of Deep Space Nine’s Dominion War arc. Star Trek can do war stories incredibly well – as we’ve seen in episodes of Discovery and Strange New Worlds just in the last couple of years – so this could be a great fit for an expanding franchise.
Any franchise has to be careful about coming across as too backwards-looking and introspective if it dives deeply into chapters of its own lore and backstory, but I think there’s space as Star Trek continues its renaissance to potentially step back to the time of the Earth-Romulan War. I know a lot of fans would happily welcome back Captain Archer or any other members of the Enterprise crew, so this project could be a real “love letter to the fans.”
The NX-01 Enterprise.
There were a number of factors that led to Enterprise’s cancellation in 2005, and although it was sad at the time, in many ways the Star Trek franchise needed a break and a reset. But maybe the time is right to bring back some of the characters and stories that had been conceived for unproduced seasons of Enterprise now that the franchise is back on solid ground.
There are definitely arguments to be made against establishing yet another different time period for Star Trek, as the franchise can already feel overcomplicated, especially for newcomers. But there are points in favour of returning to the 22nd Century, too, particularly if a series had a relatively tight focus on something like the Earth-Romulan War.
Series #6: Captain Worf
Worf on a promo poster for Picard Season 3.
Along with most of the rest of the main crew members from The Next Generation, Worf will be returning in Season 3 of Picard next year. It’s no secret that actor Michael Dorn has been talking up his own “Captain Worf” idea for the better part of a decade, and with the casting announcements for Picard, part of me has been wondering if that show’s final season might lead into a Worf spin-off.
As the character with the most Star Trek appearances to date – 274, in case you were wondering – we’ve spent a lot of time with Worf already! We’ve seen our favourite Klingon wrangle with his heritage and his duty to Starfleet, gain promotions, establish friendships with two different casts of characters, become a father, get married, become a widower, and much more besides. Is there room for another chapter in Worf’s life after the events of Deep Space Nine? I still think that’s an open question!
Is there room for new Worf-focused stories?
This one really depends on how Picard Season 3 goes down. Executive producer Terry Matalas has described Picard Season 3 as being a “send-off” for the crew of The Next Generation, presumably including Worf, and that sounds pretty definitive and final. We may see some characters killed off as the season goes on, especially if Picard and the crew are facing off against some kind of galaxy-ending threat. Even if Worf survives, it’s possible that all of the characters’ stories will come to a conclusive end, and if that’s the case there may be no room – and no need – for a Captain Worf series.
But it’s also possible that Picard Season 3 will be testing the waters to see whether certain spin-off ideas are viable. We’ve already considered the possibility of a Seven of Nine and Raffi series, and that’s one possibility. But maybe there’s a chance that, if fans respond incredibly positively to Worf in his new role, he could finally take the lead in his own series.
Worf as he appeared in Season 1 of The Next Generation.
For me, I feel that Worf in a leading role is an untested idea, and one that may not work. Although there are nuances in Worf’s characterisation, many episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine played up his Klingon traits, and while I’d never call him something like “flat” or “one-dimensional,” there’s definitely a case to be made that a character like Worf works best in a supporting role rather than a leading one.
But we can reserve judgement on that until we see what role has been created for Worf in Season 3 of Picard. Maybe he’ll get a fantastic ending to his decades-long story, one that feels conclusive and satisfying, rounding out his arc and tying up loose ends from both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. But maybe, just maybe, he’ll establish himself as the next character deserving of a spin-off project.
So that’s it!
Where will Star Trek go next?
Paramount (and subsidiary CBS Studios) has trademarked other names associated with the Star Trek brand that may be connected with shows or films that are currently in development, but it’s very difficult to know what to make of some of them! Vague titles like Star Trek: Destiny, Star Trek: Revolution, or Star Trek: Reliant have all been trademarked over the past few years – though several of these have now lapsed and haven’t been renewed. It isn’t clear whether any or all of these names were even intended to be used for films and television shows, or whether they were meant for merchandise and other projects. The interesting-sounding Star Trek Continuum trademark, for example, isn’t connected with a film or TV show at all, but is instead an official line of awful-looking NFTs.
For now at least, these are the Star Trek projects that seem to be the most likely based on what we’ve heard through official and unofficial channels. It’s definitely possible that work is ongoing in secret to develop some completely different Star Trek projects that we can’t predict at the moment, but in terms of what may be announced in the weeks or months ahead, the projects we’ve talked about today feel the most likely.
Next month’s Star Trek Day could be the venue for a big announcement…
Although trademarks exist for Ceti Alpha V and Starfleet Academy, if it were up to me I’d pick a 25th Century series to fill the hole that will be left when Picard finishes its run. Lower Decks and Prodigy will still be representing the late 24th Century, but I think it’ll feel like something’s not right if the 25th Century that Picard has only just begun to explore is abandoned with that show’s conclusion. Not only because we won’t get to carry on the journey, but because that era feels like the natural next step for a franchise that found so much success in the 1990s with shows set in the 24th Century.
But we’ll have to wait and see what the creative team at Paramount has in store! I think it’s possible – but by no means guaranteed – that an announcement could come as soon as next month. The Star Trek Day live broadcast has promised “announcements, reveals, and surprises” in its official press release, and the inclusion of certain actors – such as Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd – could hint at something big to come.
I hope this has been a bit of fun! I tried to steer clear of baseless rumours and fan-fantasies to focus instead on concepts and pitches that are known to exist and that seem plausible. But we’ll have to wait and see whether any of them are really going to happen!
The Star Trek franchise – including all properties (and potential properties) discussed above – is the copyright of Paramount Global. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the entire Star Trek franchise, including Picard Season 2, Discovery Season 4, Prodigy Season 1, Strange New Worlds Season 1, and more.
With Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard purportedly being the series’ last, I’m not ready to give up the 25th Century! Ever since Nemesis in 2002, I’d been desperately keen to see Star Trek show us what happened next; to move its timeline along. After the briefest of glimpses in 2009’s Star Trek, it was Picard that finally scratched that itch! Although Discovery is still in production with a fifth season being worked on, that show’s 32nd Century is far removed from the characters, factions, and themes of The Next Generation era. That’s why today I wanted to consider ten possibilities or concepts for shows that could pick up the baton from Picard.
For me, The Next Generation era – i.e. the late 24th Century setting that also includes Deep Space Nine and Voyager – is the franchise’s “golden age.” These shows – and the four films made during that time, too – represent the bulk of Star Trek’s 800+ episodes, and while there are definitely points of interest in the 22nd Century and 23rd Century that the franchise could revisit, for me it’s this time period that I’d like to see picked up for more adventures.
Captain Picard.
With Star Trek: Picard having established the dawn of the 25th Century as its setting, I really do feel that there’s scope to build on what’s been created so far. Season 3 may spend more time with Starfleet, but as of the end of Season 2 at least, there’s a lot we haven’t seen of this era. Picking up some of the characters, factions, storylines, and themes from past iterations of Star Trek is a big part of why spending more time in this era is worthwhile, but that doesn’t mean that every potential 25th Century project has to be a straight-up sequel to something that’s come before. I’d be thrilled to see a Strange New Worlds-style semi-episodic exploration-focused series with a brand-new cast, for example, set in this time period.
Although Picard Season 3 is still being worked on and likely won’t hit our screens until next year, I sincerely hope that the creative teams over at Paramount have already considered their next move. Alex Kurtzman (who is in charge of the Star Trek franchise for Paramount) has stated that there are other concepts in early development, and that as the current shows come to the end of their runs, these new shows would begin to be worked on. Whether any of the series concepts that he was referring to are going to be set in the 25th Century is unknown – but there are significant advantages to doing so.
Alex Kurtzman was interviewed by Wil Wheaton for Star Trek Day back in September and commented on the potential Starfleet Academy series.
I would wager that a significant portion of the Star Trek fan community would rank at least one of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, or Voyager in their top two favourite shows. And fans under the age of forty literally won’t be able to remember a time before The Next Generation! Most fans of my age will have either come to Star Trek during The Next Generation era or will have encountered it soon after becoming a fan; The Next Generation era was dominant from 1987 to 2002.
Fans who were invested in storylines like the Dominion War, the Maquis, Voyager’s journey home, and many, many more are interested to know what came next for their favourite characters. Picard has shown us a little of this – with a focus on Admiral Picard himself, naturally – and there have also been teases and glimpses in Lower Decks, Prodigy, and potentially in Discovery’s 32nd Century, too. But there’s a heck of a lot of room to do more.
The new USS Stargazer.
With Strange New Worlds flying the flag for the 23rd Century, and Discovery off doing its own thing in the far future, there’s a gap in live-action Star Trek that at least one 25th Century project needs to fill. Having established a few interesting details about what we must now call the Picard era, it would be positively criminal for Paramount to just abandon it. There are so many characters who we could catch up with, so many incomplete storylines to resume, and so many codas and epilogues still to be written.
Time is marching on, too – a sad reality for all of us. It won’t always be possible to bring back original actors and the characters that they portrayed, so it’s really a case of “if not now, when?” Wait too long to greenlight projects set in this time period and it may be too late to bring back certain characters.
So with all of that in mind I’ve put together a list of a few Star Trek projects that I personally think could be interesting and could pick up the baton from Picard. Although I feel confident that conversations are happening about future projects set in this era behind closed doors, my usual caveat applies: I have no “insider information.” I’m not trying to claim that any of these ideas will be picked up and make it to screen. This is a wishlist from a fan, and nothing more! It’s also entirely subjective, so if you hate all of my ideas or I don’t include something that you think should obviously be included, then that’s okay! There’s plenty of room within the Star Trek fan community for respectful disagreement and civil conversations!
Concept #1: Starfleet Academy
The emblem of Starfleet Academy.
When Lieutenant Tilly departed the USS Discovery early in Season 4, she became an instructor at Starfleet Academy in the 32nd Century. With her departure episode feeling like somewhat of a backdoor pilot thanks to introducing us to a handful of cadets, I’m sure I’m not alone in assuming that the heavily rumoured Starfleet Academy series will be set in the 32nd Century with Tilly as a major character. So that’s a big caveat to this potential project!
But a 25th Century Starfleet Academy series has a lot of potential, too. As a direct spin-off from Picard it could bring back characters like Raffi and Elnor, the latter of whom has already been established as a Starfleet cadet. That could even give meaning to Elnor’s unexpected survival at the end of Season 2.
Cadet Elnor in Picard Season 2.
A 25th Century Starfleet Academy series would be perfect for bringing back all sorts of characters from Star Trek’s past. We could learn, for instance, that Miles O’Brien is still at the Academy teaching engineering – as was established at the end of Deep Space Nine. Even if Chief O’Brien wasn’t a major character he could still make occasional appearances in that role.
One of the big advantages to a Starfleet Academy series right now is how it could serve as a kind of soft landing for new, younger fans who’ve been enjoying Prodigy. A series starring young adult cadets (or featuring cadets in major roles even if they aren’t the exclusive focus) would be a natural next step in so many ways, and could be a gateway into the Star Trek fandom for legions of newcomers. Just as holo-Janeway has been a guide in Prodigy, a returning character could fill a similar role here.
Concept #2: The Seven and Raffi show
Seven of Nine and Raffi in the Picard Season 2 finale.
When Season 2 of Picard premiered, I really thought that a USS Stargazer spin-off with Captain Rios in command would be a fantastic new series. That can’t happen now (and after Rios’ disappointing regression in Season 2, I don’t think I’d want it anymore anyway), but there is still the possibility to see a direct spin-off. This version would feature Seven of Nine and Raffi.
Although Seven of Nine’s captaincy of the USS Stargazer in Farewell felt very much like a brevet or a temporary thing, I feel there’s potential to see her given a commission in Starfleet. Raffi certainly felt that she would make an excellent captain! So maybe the next Star Trek series could be Star Trek: Stargazer with Captain Seven and XO Raffi taking the USS Stargazer on all kinds of adventures.
Captain Seven.
Seven of Nine is particularly well-suited to feature in stories that focus on the Borg, but there’s more to her character than that. I’m not sure whether a traditional exploration-focused series would be the best fit; maybe Seven and Raffi’s ship would be a rapid-response vessel designed for combat and tactical missions. An overtly action-oriented series would be new to Star Trek, so this could be a fun experiment to see how well it could work.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Seven of Nine’s arc across the first two seasons of Picard. It’s been cathartic to see a character I once disliked for her dull and repetitive storylines undergo genuine and lasting growth, and we might just be reaching a point where Seven of Nine is a strong enough character to take on the challenge of headlining a brand-new series of her own… supported by Raffi, of course!
Concept #3: Captain Sisko’s return
Captain Sisko.
Perhaps better-suited to being a miniseries or limited series, I really love the idea of Captain Sisko finally returning to the galaxy after spending time with the Prophets. At the end of Deep Space Nine, Sisko promised us that he wasn’t really gone and that he would return “one day.” After more than twenty years, could “one day” finally be just around the corner?
It’s worth acknowledging that Avery Brooks has seemed less willing than some other former Star Trek actors to reprise his role, and although there has been speculation as to why that may be, there’s never been any definitive statement from the man himself. I wouldn’t want to see Sisko recast at this moment in time (nor recreated through some kind of CGI process), so if Avery Brooks isn’t interested, the project won’t get off the ground.
In The Pale Moonlight is one of my all-time favourite Star Trek episodes.
One massive advantage to bringing back Captain Sisko is that he’d make a wonderful point-of-view character for us as the audience. As someone who’s spent decades away from the galaxy, Sisko would be just as interested as we are to learn what happened to his friends, to Deep Space Nine, to the Cardassians and Dominion, and so on. A Sisko-focused series could get away with dropping a lot of exposition in a way that feels natural, bringing us up to speed on the events of the past couple of decades without it feeling out-of-place.
More than that, though, I want to spend more time with Captain Sisko. Although picking favourites is hard, Sisko has always been one of the best and most interesting characters of The Next Generation era, and one of the best captains in the Star Trek franchise. Bringing him back would be just as impactful as bringing back Picard has been, and providing an epilogue and closure to Sisko’s story would be absolutely worth doing.
Concept #4: Section 31
A black Section 31 combadge in the mid-23rd Century.
The untitled Section 31 series was announced in 2019, shortly before Season 2 of Discovery aired. But since then, the supposedly ready-to-go project has been sidelined. Lack of interest from fans was part of the equation, perhaps, but Strange New Worlds certainly stole its thunder too!
The proposed series was to follow ex-Terran Empress Georgiou as she worked with the shadowy organisation that was first introduced in Deep Space Nine, and after Georgiou went through some significant character growth in Discovery’s third season, she finally seemed to get to a place where she could potentially take on the role of a morally ambiguous Section 31 leader without feeling like someone who resorts to violence and literal genocide at the drop of a hat.
Empress Georgiou’s departure.
To briefly recap, Georgiou had to leave the 32nd Century due to suffering from a technobabble illness that appeared to be fatal, and she was permitted to do so by the Guardian of Forever. If a suitable explanation could be found, Georgiou could potentially emerge in the 25th Century, setting the stage for her to play a role in Section 31 in this time period.
Alternatively, a Section 31 show set in this era could drop Georgiou altogether and focus on new characters instead. With Borg, Romulans, super-synths, strange anomalies, and other potential threats to the Federation that we’ve glimpsed in Picard, Section 31 could have a lot of work to do in this era!
Concept #5: A new exploration-focused series
The original USS Enterprise.
Strange New Worlds is currently flying the flag for semi-episodic “old school Star Trek” with a big focus on exploration. But this is the foundation of Star Trek; the franchise’s roots. Returning to this format in the 25th Century could be absolutely fantastic – and it could be a fun way to include a mix of new and legacy characters.
One of the limitations faced by Strange New Worlds is that it’s set a decade before The Original Series. There’s still a lot of wiggle room in that time period, and we could see Captain Pike make first contact with new and familiar alien races alike. But there are still constraints on which alien races can be included and how, and what stories Captain Pike and the crew could reasonably take part in.
Captain Pike.
In contrast, a new exploration series set in the 25th Century would basically have free rein to hop all across the galaxy, meet brand-new aliens, and bring back classic factions without treading on anyone’s toes. As long as such a series avoided Unknown Species 10-C (basically the only major new faction introduced in Discovery’s far future that Captain Burnham made first contact with), a show like this one could do what The Original Series, The Next Generation, and to an extent Voyager all did: set out on a mission of exploration with a blank canvas.
Seeking out strange, new worlds is where Star Trek began; it’s the core mission of Starfleet and the main goal of the Federation. Strange New Worlds is already proving that fans enjoy a series with that kind of focus, so picking up that concept and reworking it to be set in the Picard era absolutely could work.
Concept #6: Hospital ship
The USS Pasteur – a Federation medical ship.
In the ’90s, when I was watching and enjoying the shows of The Next Generation era, this was a concept that I thought could be a ton of fun! I imagined “ER in space,” with a hospital ship like the USS Pasteur being the show’s main setting and a chief medical officer as the main protagonist. My original version of this concept would’ve seen characters like Dr Pulaski and Dr Bashir return; a team-up of some of my favourite medical characters from other Star Trek shows.
Although Dr Pulaski is unlikely to be part of such a series now, there’s definitely scope to bring back the likes of Dr Bashir or Voyager’s EMH, as well as secondary medical staff like Nurse Ogawa, as part of a series that also introduces new characters.
Nurse Alyssa Ogawa.
The hospital ship would travel around the Federation and beyond, lending its services to planets, bases, and starships in need. There’d be illnesses and diseases to cure, natural disasters to bring aid to, and the ship could even be part of major military engagements and battles, tending to wounded soldiers and crewmen. Star Trek has shown us all of these basic concepts before, but this time they’d have an overtly medical focus.
There’s a huge audience for shows like House, ER, and Grey’s Anatomy, and a medical Star Trek series could have an appeal that extends far beyond the franchise’s typical sci-fi niche. Without the constraints of the real world, and with numerous aliens as both staff and patients, there’s almost unlimited potential in terms of creativity as well. We could see new deadly diseases created that could be timely reflections of our pandemic-afflicted world, and we could even take a deeper dive into diseases and medical conditions that have been referenced in past iterations of Star Trek.
Concept #7: Captain Kim
Ensign Harry Kim.
It’s become a bit of a joke in the Star Trek fan community: Harry Kim spent seven years as an ensign without being promoted. Perhaps he could finally get the command he’s always wanted and headline a new Star Trek show in the process!
Harry Kim would be the second major character from Voyager to play a role in this era of Star Trek, and that could lead to crossovers. It could be a lot of fun to see an older and more mature Harry Kim reunite with Seven of Nine – perhaps for the first time in many years. The series could even feature a Voyager reunion of the kind seen in Endgame. And of course, any time we’re talking about Voyager these days there’s the potential to tie in with themes and ideas present in Prodigy.
An older Harry Kim (from an alternate future) in the episode Timeless.
Captain Kim could show us a different side of Starfleet. Perhaps he’s in command of a hospital ship as we were discussing above, or perhaps his vessel is much more scientific in its mission; charting anomalies and stellar phenomena rather than making lots of first contact missions. A series like that would be more personality-driven and serialised rather than episodic with a “monster-of-the-week” to engage with, and I think someone like Harry Kim would excel in that kind of role.
Out of everyone on Voyager, I’d suggest that Harry Kim has perhaps the most potential for growth if he were to return. Considering that we met him on his first mission after graduating – and that he stuck with that “young and eager” characterisation for a long time during Voyager’s run – there’d be something rather cathartic about being reintroduced to an older, more mature Captain Kim.
Concept #8: A Klingon series
General Martok, a 24th Century Klingon leader.
This one would be quite a radical departure from anything that Star Trek has tried before. Leaving the Federation and Starfleet behind, this show would be set aboard a Klingon vessel. A Starfleet officer could be present as a point-of-view character and a way to help us as the audience find both a way in and a frame of reference, but the rest of the characters would be Klingons.
With Worf returning for Picard Season 3, he could become a recurring character on a Klingon-focused series. A character like Worf bridges the gap between the Klingon Empire and Starfleet, and along with a Starfleet officer aboard the ship he could also help ground the series.
Kol, a 23rd Century Klingon who recently appeared in Discovery.
What I like about this idea is that it would be something genuinely bold and different. We’ve spent a lot of time with the Klingons across various iterations of Star Trek – they’re probably the faction we know the most about after the Federation itself. But there’s still plenty of room to expand our understanding of the Klingons, and to show us the next chapter for their Empire in the aftermath of the Dominion War and their alliance with the Federation.
What kind of mission would a Klingon vessel have? If it’s exploration, how different would their approach be to what we’d expect from Starfleet? A Klingon series could also show off different roles for Klingons beyond that of “warrior.” How does a Klingon crew treat its engineers, scientists, and medical personnel, for example? Far from being one-dimensional “baddies,” there’s plenty of room for nuance and to show us a different side to the Klingons, and different Klingon personalities.
Concept #9: Captain Worf
Could Michael Dorn finally get his Captain Worf series?
Sticking with the Klingons, Michael Dorn has been talking about his pitch for a Captain Worf series for the better part of a decade at this point! Although I confess that I remain sceptical of the proposal for a number of reasons, with Worf’s imminent return in Picard Season 3, it has to be considered at least a possibility that there’ll be some kind of backdoor pilot or an attempt to test the waters to see if a Captain Worf series could be viable.
As the character who’s made the most Star Trek appearances (280+, not counting upcoming appearances in Picard Season 3), I feel that we’ve seen more than enough of Worf! We’ve seen his inner conflict between his Klingon and Starfleet identities, his struggles with fatherhood, his marriage and the grief he felt at losing Jadzia… and I’m just not sure where else there is to go.
Worf as he appeared in Season 1 of The Next Generation.
But despite my personal reservations, a Captain Worf series could prove me wrong and be the right move for Star Trek once Picard ends. Like Picard itself, a Captain Worf series would be anchored by its familiar face but perhaps rounded out with a fun group of new characters. There would be potential, perhaps, depending on how things go in Season 3, to bring in someone like Raffi as Worf’s first officer, tying the show to Picard in an even greater way.
As with Seven of Nine and Raffi above, a Captain Worf series could go all-in on action, with Worf commanding a tactical vessel and rushing into dangerous situations and combat missions. Or, in an attempt to put a completely different spin on the character, maybe Captain Worf would be in command of a lightly-armed science vessel on a mission of exploration! That could be a fun way to go and a twist on the expected premise of the series.
Concept #10: Super-synth invasion
The mechanical noodles of the super-synths.
Spoiler alert for a future theory article, but one of my guesses about Picard Season 3 is that the Admiral and his friends will have to face off against the super-synths from Season 1 – and that they’re responsible for the anomaly in Season 2. That would be a neat way to tie all three seasons of the show together!
But assuming that doesn’t happen, I’d love to revisit the super-synths that we only caught a glimpse of in the Season 1 finale. Assuming that their intentions were hostile, and that they planned to attack organic life in the Alpha Quadrant, could a new spin-off revisit that concept and perhaps show the super-synths making their invasion attempt?
Did Soji paint a target on the Alpha Quadrant thanks to her beacon?
This is a reworking of another concept that I’ve had kicking around for some time: a Borg invasion series. But with the Borg having already played a big role in Season 2, perhaps the super-synths could be subbed in to become the antagonists of a series (or miniseries) that sees the Federation involved in a war for its very survival.
This kind of existential threat has been used and re-used in Discovery, and I could understand if some fans wouldn’t want to see it brought back so soon! As I’ve said recently, it’s my hope that Discovery will try something different in Season 5! But it would be fun to bring back the super-synths and to revisit the Federation at war for the first time since Enterprise’s conflict with the Xindi – and it could be a great way to bring in a mix of new and legacy characters.
So that’s it!
Admiral Picard.
Those are ten concepts for Star Trek shows that I think could pick up the baton from Star Trek: Picard in the years ahead, sticking with the early 25th Century and potentially expanding on what Picard has already done.
My “first contact” with Star Trek back in the early 1990s was The Next Generation, and I was a big fan of Deep Space Nine and Voyager during their original broadcast runs as well. With live-action Star Trek series set in the 23rd and 32nd Centuries, it seems to me that Picard’s eventual finale is going to leave a pretty significant hole in the franchise. Even if every major character from The Next Generation returns and gets an amazing goodbye, there are still characters, themes, storylines, and more from Deep Space Nine and Voyager that I’ve been longing to see picked up for more than two decades!
Deep Space Nine.
If it were up to me, the early 25th Century would probably be the main setting that I’d want to use for the majority of new Star Trek projects. There was even scope a couple of years ago to bring Captain Burnham and Discovery into this time period, and I think that could’ve worked exceptionally well too. I don’t think that Picard necessarily needs a direct spin-off, bringing back main characters in a huge way, but I’d dearly love to see the setting and time period re-used in future.
I’m hopeful that Season 3 will be a fun adventure with the crew of The Next Generation, and that it can serve as a launchpad for one or more new Star Trek projects set in this era. Whether any of my own ideas will make it… well, I doubt it. But who knows! More than ever it feels like Paramount is listening to Star Trek fans; without a massive fan campaign we would never have seen Strange New Worlds. So there’s a possibility, perhaps, if Picard Season 3 is well-received that a spin-off or follow-up could indeed make it. Time will tell!
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 will be broadcast on Paramount+ in the United States and on Amazon Prime Video around the world sometime in the next year or so. The Star Trek franchise – including Picard and all other properties discussed above – is the copyright of Paramount Global. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3.
The Section 31 series is currently stuck in that nebulous zone that industry insiders refer to as “development hell.” Despite having been officially announced almost three years ago and supposedly having scripts written, at time of writing it’s been a very long time indeed since we heard anything close to official about the series.
I last took a look at the Section 31 show’s prospects back at the end of April, and since it’s been a while I think we should briefly recap why I feel increasingly sure that the project isn’t going ahead.
After a deeply underwhelming reaction to the Section 31 show’s announcement in 2019, Discovery’s second season premiered – and fans immediately fell in love with Captain Pike, Spock, and Number One. Calls for Pike to be granted his own spin-off eventually led to the development of Strange New Worlds. After Strange New Worldswas officially announced, we began to hear rumblings about the Section 31 series potentially being reworked. For a show that had supposedly been ready to go and on the verge of beginning official production for more than a year, news in 2020 that scripts were being re-written did not sound good.
Has the Section 31 show been quietly cancelled?
Alex Kurtzman – the head of Star Trek for ViacomCBS – later dropped a significant bombshell: that there were no plans for any new Star Trek series to enter production until one of the current shows has concluded. With Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds all being worked on at that point, Kurtzman said that no other shows would enter production until at least one of those had finished its run. We later heard from the Section 31 show’s co-creators that they were “still having conversations” about the Section 31 series – which sounds an awful lot like industry speak for a project on life-support.
Back in April we heard from Michelle Yeoh – Empress Georgiou herself – on The Pod Directive, Star Trek’s official podcast. It’s important to keep in mind that The Pod Directive is an official production, not a fan-made one, because if Yeoh had been interviewed by literally any Trekkie in such a format, the question of the Section 31 show’s future would certainly have come up. It didn’t – and Yeoh could only speak in very vague terms about hoping to “one day” return to the role of Georgiou.
Michelle Yeoh appeared on Star Trek’s official podcast earlier this year.
Months later and we still haven’t heard anything about Section 31. Shazad Latif, who played Tyler in Discovery’s first two seasons, suggested that there had been unofficial chats about the show earlier this year – but again, that hardly sounds positive. At Star Trek Day back in September, Alex Kurtzman teased that a Starfleet Academy series may be in the very early stages of being worked on, which could mean that it’ll be the next project for the Star Trek franchise. In contrast, the Section 31 series wasn’t mentioned at Star Trek Day at all.
Let’s assume for now that the combination of no official announcements and a slow trickle of bad news does in fact mean that the Section 31 show isn’t going to happen. The question is why? What might’ve caused a rethink over at ViacomCBS and convinced the corporation to invest its time and money elsewhere?
It isn’t as simple as saying “Captain Pike.” It’s true that the fan response to Pike (as well as to Spock and Number One) absolutely stole the Section 31 show’s thunder in 2019, but that can’t be the full story. It is very interesting to note, though, that the support for Captain Pike from Discovery fans and viewers seemed to catch ViacomCBS completely off-guard. Did they not realise, during production on Discovery Season 2, that they had something special on their hands with Anson Mount and Ethan Peck? If not, why not?
Perhaps it’s true that ViacomCBS was only willing to greenlight one Discovery spin-off in 2019, and if that’s the case it was patently obvious within a couple of episodes which character fans were clamouring to spend more time with – and which they weren’t. But in 2019 ViacomCBS was practically throwing its money around, working on Star Trek projects left, right, and centre. It doesn’t make sense to say that there was only enough money in the kitty for one spin-off – and if fans liked both Georgiou and Pike, why not go ahead with both projects?
Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike.
The build-up to Discovery Season 2 came in the wake of the surprise announcement of Star Trek: Picard. Many Trekkies were incredibly excited to revisit the 24th Century and see the next chapter of Picard’s life, and there was a great deal of buzz and excitement surrounding Picard Season 1. As I argued at the time, a Discovery spin-off in the 23rd Century almost felt like a regressive step in comparison; many fans were excited to see the Star Trek franchise’s overall timeline move forward again for the first time in eighteen years – Section 31, being set in the 23rd Century, felt like a backwards step.
The intention behind announcing the Section 31 series prior to Discovery Season 2 was twofold: partly to drive subscribers to what was then still called CBS All Access, reminding folks that a new season of Star Trek was coming, but also to reaffirm the corporation’s commitment to Star Trek as a brand and Discovery as a series in the wake of a somewhat controversial first season. As Season 1 was rolling on, there were an increasing number of anti-Star Trek social media groups popping up, and one commonly-heard refrain in 2017, 2018, and into 2019 was that Discovery was about to be cancelled. This story, by the way, still does the rounds in those same groups in 2021, despite the show now being into its fourth season!
The timing of the Section 31 show’s announcement was intended to provide a boost to CBS All Access.
There was a need for ViacomCBS to try to bring in more subscribers, and there was also a need to do something to demonstrate that the corporation still had faith in Discovery and the broader Star Trek franchise. Shutting down some of the anti-Trek hate wasn’t the main reason, but it may well have been a factor in the decision-making.
So in January 2019, as Discovery’s second season drew near, we got the announcement of the Section 31 series. But rather than the positive response ViacomCBS was hoping for, reaction to the news was muted at best – and disagreeable at worst.
I was one of many Trekkies left underwhelmed by the concept of the Section 31 series at that time. Michelle Yeoh is an outstanding performer, don’t misunderstand me for a moment. But her character of Empress Georgiou was someone who was fundamentally uninteresting – at least she was as of the end of Discovery Season 1. Remember that the Section 31 show was announced before a single Season 2 episode had aired, and long before Georgiou got some much-needed character development in Season 3.
Georgiou changed a lot over the course of Season 3 in particular.
Imagine, for a moment, that the Section 31 show had been announced last December – in the days following the broadcast of Terra Firma, Part 2. How much more excited and interested might fans have been then than they were in January 2019? I think we all know the answer to that question.
The Mirror Universe and its Terran inhabitants can be fun, and even though I freely admit that the Mirror Universe is far from my favourite Star Trek setting, I can appreciate what it brings to the table. But the Mirror Universe has only ever been the kind of over-the-top pantomime fun that I can enjoy for a single episode at a time. Terrans are basically all the same: violence-loving sociopaths. They make Prime Timeline Klingons look positively tame thanks to their gratuitous use of violence and torture, and there’s never been any demonstrable room for character depth or nuance.
The best Mirror Universe character, aside from Georgiou herself, was probably Mirror Spock way back in The Original Series.Deep Space Nine tried, to its credit, to tell some different Mirror Universe stories about enslaved Terrans and a Klingon-Cardassian Alliance – but the Alliance fell into many of the same thematic and storytelling traps as the Terran Empire had.
Aside from Georgiou, Mirror Spock is one of the few nuanced and interesting Mirror Universe characters.
In short, Mirror Universe characters are uninteresting at best. At worst, as we see far too often across different Star Trek shows (including Discovery) they’re pathetically ridiculous. A combination of poor scriptwriting and a one-dimensional setting encourages even great actors like Sonequa Martin-Green to ham it up and put in performances that wouldn’t be out of place in a primary school play. At the end of Discovery Season 1, there was nothing at all to indicate that Empress Georgiou wasn’t the same kind of bland, uninteresting Mirror Universe villain as characters like Intendant Kira or Mirror Kirk.
Unlike many other Terran characters, I never felt that the acting performance put in by Michelle Yeoh was over-the-top. Some Mirror Universe performances – such as Mirror Kirk in The Original Series and Mirror Burnham in Discovery – are so truly awful that I find them borderline unwatchable, as the Mirror Universe setting seems to trick even competent performers into forgetting how to act. Badly-written scripts and a setting that doesn’t lend itself to anything but pantomime don’t help, of course. But I felt, to Michelle Yeoh’s credit, that Georgiou managed to avoid falling victim to the worst tropes of the setting. Even so, that didn’t make the way the character was presented at the end of Discovery’s first season a net positive going into the announcement of the Section 31 series.
Some Mirror Universe performances are excruciating to watch…
In Discovery’s first season, we saw first-hand how Georgiou ruled the Terran Empire with an iron fist. She subjugated aliens – including Saru’s people, the Kelpiens – and ensured they were second-class citizens at best, slaves at worst. She killed indiscriminately and had no qualms whatsoever about destroying entire planets or exterminating entire sentient races. Some fans (and non-fans) derisively termed Georgiou “Space Hitler” as a result. And this was the point at which ViacomCBS announced a new series with this character as its lead.
I never liked the term “Space Hitler” to attack Georgiou… but I confess that I understand why some fans felt it was an appropriate descriptor in Season 1. It encapsulates Georgiou as a dictator, as a violent sociopath, as someone willing to inflict some truly evil actions upon the galaxy, and as someone who governs a state with a pro-human, anti-alien philosophy. It’s not an expression I would use; it’s offensive, crass, and deliberately provocative. It’s also a pretty crude analogy, but I get where it came from.
Georgiou committed many atrocities while ruling the Terran Empire.
Think for a moment about Georgiou’s actions in Season 1. In her first appearance, she insists that Burnham and the crew “bow to their emperor,” then proceeds to feed Kelpien meat to Burnham a couple of episodes later. After being dethroned as Emperor and brought to the Prime Universe by the crew of the USS Discovery, she teams up with Admiral Cornwell to destroy the entire Klingon homeworld. Why? Does she suddenly care about the Federation and want to see it preserved? No: she likes killing, she likes violence, and she saw an opportunity to commit genocide and just went for it.
We began to see indications in Season 2 that Georgiou had a softer side, particularly when it came to Michael Burnham. At one point in the episode The Red Angel (unfortunately the season’s worst) she wanted to cut short a dangerous assignment when Burnham’s life appeared to be in danger. But it wouldn’t be until Season 3 – and really not until midway through the season – that any significant softening of Georgiou’s hard Terran exterior would be readily apparent.
Georgiou was rather partial to roast Kelpien in Discovery’s first season.
Terra Firma went a long way to changing how I felt about Georgiou – as I’m sure it did for many other fans as well. We saw nuance in her characterisation for the first time – a sense that there was more to her than just violence and psychopathy for their own sakes. She expressed empathy for the first time, being unwilling or unable to carry out some of the violent actions that her role as Empress would have required of her. The changes she attempted to make to the way that the Terran Empire was governed ultimately led to her “death” within the Guardian of Forever’s portal – and proved to the Guardian that she was deserving of a second chance. I would argue that it was this episode that also demonstrated to us as the audience that Georgiou was deserving of a second look, too.
Georgiou needed Terra Firma to really come into her own as a character – especially a character that a new series was going to focus on. It wasn’t until we saw her returned to the Terran Empire – or the Guardian’s approximation of it, at any rate – that we could appreciate how living with the Federation had changed some of her opinions and attitudes. For example, Season 1 Georgiou would happily eat Kelpien. But by the time Terra Firma rolled around she’d come to value, in her own way, Saru as a person and even as a leader.
Georgiou had come a long way from eating Kelpien to arrive at this moment.
As the audience, we needed to see all of that before we could conceivably commit to a series starring this character. In hindsight it’s easy to say that the Section 31 series was a good idea, because I have to assume that the writers and producers already had some kind of an outline in mind for this story. At the very least they’d have known Georgiou’s destination; the culmination of her arc across Discovery’s first three seasons. But none of that was apparent to us as the audience at the end of Season 1.
Had Section 31 been announced not in January 2019 but December 2020, I think we’d have seen a far more positive and excited reaction to the new show. But ViacomCBS jumped the gun, trying to boost Discovery and CBS All Access without, perhaps, fully thinking through what the show’s actual prospects were or what the reaction from Trekkies might be. It wouldn’t be the last time that the corporation would mangle its handling of the Star Trek franchise, unfortunately.
Had the Section 31 show been announced at this point, not almost two years earlier, the fan reaction would likely have been very different.
ViacomCBS’ biggest failing when it came to Discovery’s second season is, I would argue, not realising how strongly fans would feel about Pike, and how much excitement there would be within the fandom for a Pike spin-off. If they’d realised that – and with hindsight it should’ve been obvious, especially considering these shows are almost always shown to audiences at test-screenings before they premiere – then perhaps the Section 31 announcement would’ve been held back, and Strange New Worlds could’ve been announced either during or shortly after Discovery’s second season.
Because of issues with Georgiou’s characterisation, prior to Season 2 was a bad time to announce the Section 31 series. The fact that the series is based around Section 31 – an organisation that fans have often indicated that we’d like to see more of – got completely buried by the announcement that Michelle Yeoh was going to headline it. Arguments over the character of Empress Georgiou and her suitability as the star of a new show drowned out any interest in the Section 31 organisation itself. And the otherwise muted, uninterested response from Trekkies and a wider television audience compounded that, driving the first nail into what appears to be the series’ coffin.
We may never learn what comes next for Georgiou.
Speaking personally, it wasn’t until we got to Terra Firma that I saw the merits of a Section 31 show with Georgiou at the helm. One of the first articles I wrote here on the website almost two years ago was about the Section 31 series – and how I was truly not interested in it at all. It took seeing Georgiou’s character arc play out, and the strong two-part episode Terra Firma in particular, before I was sold on the concept. But by then, it seems, it may well have been too late to revive the show’s declining prospects.
Star Trek’s past is littered with unresolved story elements – though most don’t involve major characters. It’s possible that Georgiou’s story will simply be left incomplete, her destination after entering the Guardian of Forever’s portal never to be shown nor explained on screen. That would be unfortunate, especially because the character we finally got to see by the latter part of Discovery’s third season is so much more nuanced and interesting to follow. Seeing Georgiou run Section 31 had finally begun to sound like a show that Trekkies were interested in… but it feels like it’s too late now. The franchise has simply moved on to other projects.
The Star Trek franchise – including all properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4, Star Trek: Picard Season 1, and for other iterations of the Star Trek franchise.
Now that all of the international broadcasting nonsense is out of the way, let’s get back into my weekly Discovery theory updates! We only missed one week, and there’s still a ton of speculating to be done about the story of Season 4, the gravitational anomaly, and what might become of some of our favourite characters.
If you’re new to my weekly theory updates for Discovery Season 4, here’s how the format works: after every episode I go back to my theory list. I cross off theories that have been debunked, celebrate any that appear to have been confirmed, update any that have seen progression, and add any new theories that the most recent episode has spawned. There will be some theories that, for whatever reason, the most recent episode didn’t advance in any way, so those will simply be restated to keep the list up-to-date and in one place!
I wrote up all of my pre-season theories into one list a couple of weeks ago, so this time we’ve already got two confirmations to take a look at before we jump into the main list.
Confirmed theory #1: The Spore Drive will be rolled out to more ships.
Book in Discovery’s Spore Drive cube.
Finally! After the revelation in the Season 3 finale that Book – and potentially anyone else with similar empathic abilities – could control the Spore Drive, the last hurdle in the way of it being rolled out to other Starfleet ships had been surmounted. It finally feels like Discovery is on the cusp of finding another use for what had been one of the most controversial technologies introduced in the series.
In Kobayashi Maru this was almost treated as a throwaway line, so I wouldn’t blame you if you missed it, but President Rillak confirmed that a “next-generation” Spore Drive is being developed by Starfleet as part of the Federation’s plans to rebuild and expand. It wasn’t stated on screen, but I wonder if the USS Voyager-J might be fitted with a Spore Drive as part of its retrofit; the vessel was in spacedock, after all.
The USS Discovery makes a Spore Drive jump.
I’d been hoping that the series would go down this road for a while. Moving forward in time to the 32nd Century means there are no “canon purist” arguments in favour of abandoning the Spore Drive, keeping it a secret, or ensuring that only the USS Discovery could use it. And the events of the Season 3 finale seemed deliberately designed to create an easy way to expand the Spore Drive to more ships – perhaps even paving the way for future Star Trek productions in this era.
We don’t yet know what the implications will be of Kwejian’s destruction on Starfleet’s plans. It was implied in the Season 3 finale that anyone with empathic abilities could use the Spore Drive, not only Kwejian natives, so the loss of Kwejian and most of its population shouldn’t mean that the Spore Drive expansion has to be abandoned. It might be possible for Betazoids, Deltans, or even Vulcans to train to become Spore Drive navigators.
Confirmed theory #2: A new character joined the main cast.
A new name has been spotted in the opening credits!
Following the departures of Nhan and Georgiou, it felt like there was definitely scope to either promote a recurring character to the main cast or create at least one new one! We’ve met President Rillak, who seems like she’ll become a recurring character, but the one who’s been promoted to join the main cast is Blu del Barrio’s character of Adira.
Adira makes a great addition to Discovery’s main cast of characters, occupying a similar role to Tilly in Season 1 in particular. As Tilly has undergone significant character growth across the show’s first three seasons, there was scope to bring someone brand-new aboard the ship, and having that person be someone young and eager is a positive thing. Adira is not only involved in their own storyline with Gray and Dr Culber, but also as a scientist can work with Stamets, Tilly, Saru, and Captain Burnham. I think Adira has the potential to be a versatile character in whatever stories lie ahead.
My original version of this theory centred around the question of Captain Burnham’s first officer. Now that we know that role has gone to Saru, it seems as though the main and recurring characters for this season are set.
So those theories were confirmed. Now we’ll take a look at some new theories and a few updated theories.
Theory #1: President Rillak knows what the anomaly is… and may be responsible for its creation.
President Rillak in Kobayashi Maru.
This ties into a broader point that we’ll be considering from several angles: the possibility that the gravitational anomaly is not a natural phenomenon. If the anomaly is artificial in nature, the question of who is responsible for its creation crops up. It could be a weapon deployed by another faction, of course, but it could also be a Federation creation – perhaps a weapon designed to defend against the Borg, a rogue experiment to try and prevent a second Burn, or something else entirely.
If that’s the case, President Rillak almost certainly knows more about the anomaly than she’s willing to say right now. Perhaps she’s hoping that it won’t be what she fears it is, or perhaps she’s trying to cover her own back – Captain Burnham did go out of her way to describe her as a “politician,” after all.
Does President Rillak know more about the anomaly than she’s saying?
President Rillak is a character with depth, not simply an “evil admiral” character trope. But it wouldn’t be the first time that Discovery has presented us with a fairly hard-line character in a position of authority who turns out to be concealing a dark secret.
As the head of the Federation, President Rillak is committed to doing whatever it takes to preserve the organisation. The anomaly may have been part of those plans… somehow. If she isn’t responsible for its creation directly, she may still know what it is if a past Federation President signed off on its creation. She may be covering up that secret on behalf of the Federation.
Theory #2: Captain Burnham and/or the Red Angel time travel suits from Season 2 are connected to the anomaly.
Captain Burnham.
Though we did see some moves away from Discovery’s laser-focus on Michael Burnham in Season 3, the show has put her front-and-centre in all of its main storylines so far. Season 2’s Red Angel storyline was connected to Burnham in a major way, and I wonder if Burnham might similarly have some kind of connection to the anomaly that she’s currently unaware of.
Perhaps the Red Angel suit, which Burnham sent back in time in the Season 3 premiere, malfunctioned somehow, and its powerful wormhole-creating technology gave rise to the gravitational anomaly. If the Red Angel suit completed its journey back to the 23rd Century, the anomaly may have had centuries to grow and expand unchecked.
This was the last we saw of the Red Angel suit back at the beginning of Season 3.
I’m not sure that this one is particularly likely, but as I said last year about a possible Burnham connection to the Burn, not only does Discovery kind of have a precedent for telling this kind of story, but there would also be something very dramatic about this revelation. In this case, Burnham would be indirectly and unknowingly responsible for creating something devastatingly damaging. How would she react to that, and how would Book react given what’s just happened to Kwejian?
If time travel is involved, perhaps a future Captain Burnham or a parallel universe Captain Burnham could be responsible for the anomaly’s creation – either intentionally or not.
Theory #3: Gray’s transfer to a new body won’t be simple.
A holographic representation of Gray’s synthetic body.
I adored the scene with Gray, Adira, and Dr Culber in Anomaly. As someone who’s struggled to come to terms with my own gender identity and my gender expression, it was so deeply relatable to see Gray “customising” his new body. But also included in that scene was a line from Dr Culber about how the “Soong method” used to transfer consciousness into a synthetic form has a very low success rate.
I suspect that line was included as a kind of pre-emptive plot hole plug that will have nothing to do with Gray! If the Soong method was said to work every time, then it would be very difficult to kill off any Star Trek characters from the 25th Century onwards, because fans would rightly ask “why didn’t they transfer to a synth body?” So I suspect that’s why the line was included.
Admiral Picard had his consciousness transferred to a synthetic body in the finale of Picard Season 1.
However, it felt a little ominous for poor Gray. It was great to see that Adira, Dr Culber, and others had been working hard to help Gray become seen again after the events of Season 3, and I have no doubt that somehow we’ll see Gray in a physical body before the season is over. But we’re only two episodes in at time of writing – will it really happen so quickly, and so seemingly simply?
I’m not convinced of that yet! There are many things that could go wrong, delay the transfer, or prevent it entirely. And there are an unlimited number of technobabble explanations for finding a new way to give Gray a body! So let’s see what happens – but I wonder if this storyline might have a few twists and turns along the way.
Theory #4: Book will find Kyheem and Leto inside the gravitational anomaly.
Book with Leto and Kyheem shortly before the destruction of Kwejian.
In Star Trek: Generations, Captain Picard encountered Captain Kirk inside the Nexus – despite Kirk being declared “dead” after the Enterprise-B encountered the energy ribbon. We don’t know what the gravitational anomaly is yet; one of my very early pre-season theories involved the Nexus, but that seems to be debunked already! However, the anomaly’s mysterious nature raises the faint possibility that at least some of those it appears to have “killed” may not be as dead as they first appear.
This theory is, I freely admit, a bit of a long-shot. And it hinges on a fundamental question underlying the story of the season: is there more to the gravitational anomaly than meets the eye? If the anomaly is just an extreme example of space weather, flitting through Federation space destroying anything unfortunate enough to be in its way, then probably everyone on Kwejian is dead. But if the anomaly harbours some kind of gateway, wormhole, portal, time vortex, or any of the other Star Trek-y technobabble phenomena that we’ve seen across the franchise’s history, then it’s possible that at least some of the folks on Kwejian found themselves transported to whatever realm lies inside of the anomaly.
Theory #5: The anomaly is a sentient life-form.
Could the anomaly be similar to V’Ger?
“It was only trying to communicate!” has become a Star Trek cliché, often used to describe how the seemingly-aggressive actions of an alien life-form are actually something innocuous. Perhaps the same is true of the gravitational anomaly: at its core is a life form, perhaps one not dissimilar to the Sphere seen in Season 2, and it’s on its own mission of exploration.
V’Ger from The Motion Picture is an interesting comparison. Like the gravitational anomaly, V’Ger was massive in size, capable of destroying space stations, fleets of ships, and even threatening to destroy entire planets. When Admiral Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise were able to figure out V’Ger, however, they found a life-form at its core, one which was just as curious to learn and grow as they were.
Theory #6: Saru will be given the captaincy of the USS Voyager-J.
The USS Voyager-J.
Saru’s future was briefly discussed before he offered to serve as Captain Burnham’s first officer. He has already been offered a command of his own, so Starfleet clearly values his command abilities and experience. President Rillak was seen to be assessing Captain Burnham’s suitability for the captaincy of the USS Voyager-J in Kobayashi Maru… and she mentioned having a shortlist of candidates. Could Saru be on her list?
At time of writing, a fifth season of Discovery hasn’t been officially confirmed. But if the show is to run for another season – or more – the question of Saru’s role comes up. It would be possible to work out a way to keep him on board as first officer for longer than one season, and in many ways I think that’s something fans would want to see. But at the same time, from an in-universe point of view, it kind of makes sense for Starfleet to use its experienced captains where possible.
Captain Saru.
Several of the qualities that President Rillak said she was looking for in a potential captain seem to apply to Saru. He’s more level-headed, less likely to put himself in a dangerous situation, and more inclined to think of the big picture. He has a weakness when it comes to Kaminar, as we saw toward the end of Season 3, but generally speaking he isn’t someone who lets his emotions get the better of him. His wisdom and calm demeanour could be valuable in the captain’s chair of the Federation flagship.
If Saru did depart Discovery in a future episode or season, could that perhaps set the stage for Star Trek: Saru… or perhaps Star Trek: Voyager-J? That’s a very interesting possibility! One element of Season 3 that I felt didn’t really get as much attention as it might’ve was that Saru was the Star Trek franchise’s first non-human captain (in a leading role). There’s perhaps scope to follow him on another adventure sometime in the future.
Theory #7: The gravitational anomaly is a superweapon.
The USS Discovery approaching the anomaly in the second Season 4 trailer.
We touched on this theory above when we considered the Federation’s possible complicity in the creation of the gravitational anomaly, but there are many other ways such a story could pan out. The anomaly’s unpredictable nature, as noted by Tilly and Saru at the end of Anomaly, could imply that there’s an intelligence at work, perhaps dictating the anomaly’s moves. This could be the anomaly itself as suggested above, but it could also be the case that the anomaly is being controlled or manipulated by something or someone externally.
If the anomaly turns out not to be a natural phenomenon, and is indeed deliberately targetting the Federation, who might the possible culprits be? And what would be the purpose behind attacking the Federation in this manner? If it’s the precursor to an invasion, perhaps later in the season we’ll see whoever is responsible making their next move.
Theory #7a: The Borg are responsible.
A Borg drone seen in The Next Generation.
We don’t know whether the Borg Collective still exists in the 32nd Century; it hasn’t even been mentioned since the USS Discovery’s arrival. However, out of all of the factions in Star Trek, few seem capable of creating a weapon on the scale of the gravitational anomaly. This wouldn’t be in line with the Borg’s usual modus operandi, as they prefer to assimilate rather than attack from afar. But a lot may have changed in the centuries since we last encountered them, meaning this could be the opening salvo of a Borg attack… or the last gasp of a dying Collective.
Theory #7b: The super-synths from Picard Season 1 are responsible.
This is all we really saw of the super-synths.
We still don’t know very much about the super-synths that Soji and Sutra attempted to contact in the Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Picard. Other than claiming to offer support and help to synthetic life, what are their goals and motivations? Was their offer even genuine, or was it a trap? The mechanical tentacles glimpsed in Picard Season 1 looked terrifying! Moreover, we know that the super-synths have the technology to move stars – something only possible with an advanced understanding of gravity. Creating a stable 8-star octonary system is an incredible technological and gravitational feat, so they have precedent of a sort when it comes to working with gravity.
Theory #7c: The Kelvan Empire is responsible.
Rojan, a representative of the Kelvan Empire.
This one might seem to come completely out of the blue! In The Original Series, Captain Kirk met representatives of the Kelvan Empire, a faction originally from the Andromeda galaxy. Seeking a new home, a Kelvan scouting party had reached the Milky Way and were looking for worlds to conquer. Kirk would ultimately dispatch an unmanned starship offering to help the Kelvan Empire find new worlds to settle – but what if his offer was rejected? Given the vast distances involved, the timelines kind of line up for the Kelvan Empire to return to the Milky Way.
Theory #7d: The Sphere-Builders from Enterprise are responsible.
A Sphere-Builder seen in Enterprise.
A defeated faction in one of the Temporal Wars, the Sphere-Builders initially hoped to convert a large swathe of the Alpha Quadrant to match their native extradimensional realm, and constructed a number of large space stations known as Spheres to facilitate this transformation. Crewman Daniels would tell Captain Archer that the Sphere-Builders were defeated in the 26th Century, but could they have since rebuilt? The gravitational anomaly isn’t necessarily the same as what they were trying to do with the Spheres, but they’re one of the few factions in Star Trek that might be capable of creating a weapon on this scale.
So those theories were new or saw some advancement in the first two episodes of the season.
To keep these theory posts as uncomplicated as possible, I like to keep all of my theories in one place. So below you’ll find all of my other Season 4 theories. These weren’t debunked or confirmed in the first two episodes, and indeed saw no real movement at all. They remain in play, though.
Theory #8: A major character will be killed.
A Starfleet coffin draped with the Federation flag as seen in Deep Space Nine.
Season 3 saw a couple of major departures: Mirror Georgiou entered the Guardian of Forever’s portal, and Nhan remained behind aboard the USS Tikhov. Yet despite the dangers the crew faced as they navigated the 32nd Century, battled the Emerald Chain, and figured out the mysteries of the Burn and the Verubin Nebula, only one ally – Ryn – lost their life.
Killing off a character can be an excellent way to communicate the stakes involved if it happens at a relatively early stage. It can also be a storyline that brings a lot of emotion, as we have to say goodbye to a beloved member of the crew.
Dr McCoy and Sulu playing dead in The Wrath of Khan.
In short, I think there are plenty of reasons on the production side why killing off a major character could make sense in Season 4. Discovery has seen a number of characters leave the series – far more than any past Star Trek show, in fact – but the series’ death toll is still relatively low when compared to many other modern television shows.
There are also a couple of characters who feel in danger for different reasons. For a full breakdown of which characters I think might be on the proverbial chopping block, check out my list of “death predictions” by clicking or tapping here.
Theory #9: There will be a character crossover from a past iteration of Star Trek.
Voyager’s Doctor is a contender!
Yes, I’m officially bringing this theory back! This is one that I doggedly clung to for all of Season 3, and while it arguably kind of happened with the Guardian of Forever, that wasn’t really what I meant.
The show’s 32nd Century setting has shot Captain Burnham and the crew far beyond anything in Star Trek’s established canon, and that should mean that practically everyone we remember from other Star Trek shows won’t be around any longer. But this is Star Trek – with some creatively-written technobabble, practically any major character could have survived all the way through to the 32nd Century!
Could Sutra still be alive in the 32nd Century?
It’s also possible for Captain Burnham to discover the logs of a long-dead officer; someone we as the audience would be familiar with. While this would be less of a “crossover” than if a character from the past could be physically present, it would still be a lot of fun to see!
There are a handful of characters who could have survived to the 32nd Century based on what we know about them from past iterations of the franchise. Included in this category would be people like Soji, Voyager’s Doctor, and a few others. But as we’ve seen in episodes like Relics and even the film Generations, all it would take to make a big crossover happen is some kind of temporal anomaly, stasis field, or other technobabble!
Theory #10: Burnham may not remain in the captain’s chair.
Michael Burnham in the captain’s chair in a promotional image for Season 4.
This is a controversial one, so let me just say up front that I’m neither in favour of this theory nor opposed to it – I just think it’s a possibility. As things stand, Discovery has had four different captains across its four seasons. One of the show’s unique points of interest within Star Trek’s broader canon are the very different ways in which these individual captains commanded the ship and crew.
It’s got to be considered at least a possibility, then, that the show will continue this trend. This doesn’t mean Captain Burnham will be killed off; I’d actually argue she’s pretty safe. But there are many different routes to her potentially leaving the ship, such as a desire for freedom that we saw in Season 3, or even perhaps taking up a new, more senior role within Starfleet.
Captain Burnham in Anomaly.
If this theory were to come to pass, it would be something I’d expect to see at the very end of the season. Even if Burnham seems 100% committed to her new role as captain, I don’t think it’s a theory we can definitively rule out.
It’s worth mentioning that at time of writing Discovery hasn’t been officially renewed for a fifth season – so all this talk of who’ll be in the captain’s chair by then could be moot! And of course this theory has a very strong counter-argument: that Discovery’s main story arc across its first three seasons can be read as Burnham’s ascent to the captain’s chair.
Theory #11: Kovich works for Section 31.
Kovich in Season 3.
This is another Season 3 theory that I’m choosing to bring back! The question of who Kovich is and what role he played in Starfleet and the Federation was left open at the end of Season 3, and we know that the character will return in some capacity. As someone who seemed to talk around the issue at hand and not reveal everything he knew, Kovich strikes me as potentially being a Section 31 operative – or even the head of the organisation.
We don’t know yet if the Section 31 series that was announced in 2019 will go ahead as planned. But if it does, there could potentially be a connection between Kovich and Georgiou that would tie the two shows together. Kovich is mysterious enough that his character could be taken in many different directions – but my money’s on Section 31.
Theory #12: The ban on time travel will be explained further.
Admiral Vance first told us of the ban on time travel.
This one is a hope as much as a theory right now! In short, the ban on time travel was introduced early in Season 3 primarily as a way for the writers and producers to avoid questions about why the 32nd Century was so different from how the far future had been depicted in earlier Star Trek productions, as well as to explain things like how the Burn was able to catch the Federation off-guard and why Georgiou couldn’t simply be sent back in time when she needed to.
But the ban itself raises some issues – the biggest one being the lack of detail on how it works and how something like this could possibly be enforced. As I said several times last season, it isn’t possible to just un-invent a technology so useful and powerful as time travel. Even just a few lines of dialogue going into a little more detail on the mechanisms involved in the ban would be really useful.
Theory #13: The Federation has flouted the ban on time travel.
HMS Bounty travels through time in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Sticking with the time travel ban, another theory I had last season was that the Federation – and Section 31 in particular – might have deliberately flouted the ban and failed to abide by the rules. Someone as straight-laced and committed to Starfleet ideals as Admiral Vance is highly unlikely to have sanctioned such a move, but someone like the shadowy Kovich (who we talked about a moment ago) might have. President Rillak could also be involved.
Obviously the bulk of the season’s story will deal with the gravitational anomaly. But there’s scope to either talk about the time travel ban in a standalone episode or even tie the two stories together – perhaps the anomaly has been unleashed as a result of unsanctioned time travel.
Theory #14: The story will connect with the Short Treks episode Calypso.
The USS Discovery seen in Calypso.
Despite a handful of moments in Season 3 which seemed to connect to Calypso, the story of the season overall ended up going in a very different direction. While we saw a couple of things that arguably did tie in to the Short Treks episode, major things like the USS Discovery undergoing a refit have actually moved the plot even further away.
It’s possible that Calypso will forever remain an outlier in Star Trek’s canon – an episode tied to a vision of Season 2 or Season 3 that was changed before it made it to screen. But earlier in Season 3 it felt like we were getting close to seeing how it could all be tied together – and I’m hopeful that Season 4 will find a way to do so.
Theory #15: The crew will have to defend the Verubin Nebula.
The dilithium planet at the centre of the Verubin Nebula.
The Federation is in a weakened state, and even if we see worlds like Ni’Var rejoin the organisation it’s still nowhere near as powerful as it once was. The Verubin Nebula is thus a very tempting target for anyone looking to gain an edge in a galaxy where dilithium is still in short supply. As the only known significant dilithium supply, whoever controls the Verubin Nebula will have a massive tactical advantage.
We can compare the Verubin Nebula to Deep Space Nine’s Bajoran wormhole in that respect – it’s a resource of huge strategic importance. Season 3 didn’t show us much about the makeup of the galaxy’s factions outside of the rump Federation and the Emerald Chain, but it’s got to be possible that factions like the Dominion, Klingon Empire, or even the Borg still exist and would want to seize the Verubin Nebula for themselves.
The USS Discovery arriving at the Verubin Nebula in Season 3.
Season 4 has teased a scientific puzzle – the gravitational anomaly. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be villains in play, and Discovery has introduced us to several compelling and interesting villains over its first three seasons.
To make a long theory short, it would begin to stretch credulity to think that everyone in the known galaxy would see the Federation rebuilding and having access to dilithium and not want to find out for themselves what’s going on. Once the Verubin Nebula’s existence becomes known, even if the Federation promises to share its bounty with all comers, it seems very likely that someone would want to take control of the dilithium supply for themselves.
Theory #16: Captain Burnham and the crew will encounter the Klingons.
The Klingons have been part of Discovery since the beginning.
By the late 24th Century the Federation and Klingons were firm friends, having been allied for a century and after fighting side-by-side against the Dominion. We don’t know if that alliance endured to the 32nd Century, but it’s certainly plausible to think that it did. The Klingons might even have joined the Federation at some point, and their violent warrior culture may have been significantly pacified.
One thing that could be very interesting to see is how the crew of the USS Discovery – almost all of whom are veterans of the Federation-Klingon war – would respond to that. They’ve worked alongside Klingons like L’Rell before, but many of them still see the Klingons as an old enemy. The story of overcoming that prejudice could mirror episodes like The Wounded from The Next Generation, and would be very interesting to see.
Theory #17: Some areas of the galaxy – such as the Delta Quadrant – avoided the worst effects of the Burn.
The USS Voyager was the first Federation starship to explore the Delta Quadrant.
It’s quite possible that Season 4 won’t revisit the Burn narrative in any detail. But one thing I’d be curious to see is the true extent of the disaster – did it reach all four quadrants of the galaxy equally, or did its effects fade out after a certain point? Michael Burnham discovered that the Burn had a point of origin, and that it radiated out from that point like ripples on the surface of water. Ripples eventually diminish, fading away the further they travel, and perhaps that’s true of the Burn as well. There could be whole areas of the galaxy that didn’t even notice the Burn – and maybe the ship and crew will visit one such region.
If the Delta Quadrant was left largely unscathed, for example, what might that mean for the likes of the Borg? It’s possible they aren’t even still around in the 32nd Century, but it’s also possible that they’ve had more than a century to expand and build up their forces while the Federation suffered.
Theory #18: The Guardian of Forever will be back.
Carl – the Guardian of Forever’s new persona.
Having reintroduced the Guardian of Forever in Season 3, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Discovery return to the Guardian’s planet in Season 4. The gravitational anomaly is something new and threatening, so it’s possible Captain Burnham might want to ask the Guardian for help or information.
The Guardian of Forever is also the only way we know of at present to travel through time – something that might be necessary if Season 4 makes an attempt to link up with Calypso in a big way. There are many reasons why Captain Burnham might want to revisit the Guardian, and it would be great to bring back actor Paul Guilfoyle, who played the Guardian’s humanoid avatar in Season 3.
So that’s it! Those are all of the theories I currently have in play.
Stay tuned for weekly updates to this list after new episodes air! I try very hard to publish my theory updates in between episodes so that nothing is out-of-date! Season 4 is off to an exciting start – and there are plenty of mysterious elements to get stuck into.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 is available to stream now on Paramount+ in the United States, Scandinavia, Latin America, and Australia. The show is on Pluto TV in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and other parts of Western Europe at 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Individual episodes or the full season can be purchased on iTunes, Amazon Video, and possibly other platforms in the UK, parts of Europe, and select other countries. The Star Trek franchise – including Discovery and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3 and the trailers and teasers for Season 4. Spoilers are also present for other iterations of the Star Trek franchise, including Picard Season 1.
Discovery’s fourth season kicks off next week, and if you missed my coverage of the series last year you might not know that I like to write up my theories after each episode has aired. This year I want to get in early and put all of my major pre-season theories into one place… that way we can cross them off as they get debunked – or possibly even confirmed!
Last year I had a lot of fun combing over each episode and trying to speculate and theorise where the story might go. I came up with many theories that were wide of the mark – check out some of my worst ones by clicking or tapping here! – but I did also get some things right.
A Ferengi Starfleet officer glimpsed in the second Season 4 trailer.
It’s important to caveat any list of theories by saying that I have no “insider information” and I’m not trying to claim that anything listed below will happen. Fan theories are a lot of fun for me, but they can also detract from a person’s enjoyment of media if they get too attached to a particular theory that ultimately doesn’t come to pass. If you find yourself in that position, I recommend taking a break from fan theories for a while.
So let’s have a bit of fun and kick off my Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 theories one week early! You might’ve seen some of these already – I’ve written up a few big pre-season theories over the past few months. Let’s jump into the list!
Theory #1: A major character will be killed.
A Starfleet coffin draped with the Federation flag as seen in Deep Space Nine.
Season 3 saw a couple of major departures: Mirror Georgiou entered the Guardian of Forever’s portal, and Nhan remained behind aboard the USS Tikhov. Yet despite the dangers the crew faced as they navigated the 32nd Century, battled the Emerald Chain, and figured out the mysteries of the Burn and the Verubin Nebula, only one ally – Ryn – lost their life.
Killing off a character can be an excellent way to communicate the stakes involved if it happens at a relatively early stage, and we know Captain Burnham and the crew will be facing a dangerous gravitational anomaly. It can also be a storyline that brings a lot of emotion, as we have to say goodbye to a beloved member of the crew.
Dr McCoy and Sulu playing dead in The Wrath of Khan.
In short, I think there are plenty of reasons on the production side why killing off a major character could make sense in Season 4. Discovery has seen a number of characters leave the series – far more than any past Star Trek show, in fact – but the series’ death toll is still relatively low when compared to many other modern television shows.
There are also a couple of characters whose roles aboard the ship feel in danger – not least of whom is poor ex-Captain Saru, who was rather unceremoniously shuffled out of his role in the Season 3 epilogue. For a full breakdown of which other characters may or may not be in danger, check out my list of “death predictions” by clicking or tapping here.
Theory #2: There will be a character crossover from a past iteration of Star Trek.
Voyager’s Doctor is a contender!
Yes, I’m officially bringing this theory back! This is one that I doggedly clung on to for all of Season 3, and while it arguably kind of happened with the Guardian of Forever, that wasn’t really what I meant.
The show’s 32nd Century setting has shot Captain Burnham and the crew far beyond anything in Star Trek’s established canon, and that should mean that practically everyone we remember from other Star Trek shows won’t be around any longer. But this is Star Trek – with some creatively-written technobabble, practically any major character could have survived all the way through to the 32nd Century!
Could Sutra still be alive in the 32nd Century?
It’s also possible for Captain Burnham to discover the logs of a long-dead officer; someone we as the audience would be familiar with. While this would be less of a “crossover” than if a character from the past could be physically present, it would still be a lot of fun to see!
There are a handful of characters who could have survived to the 32nd Century based on what we know about them from past iterations of the franchise. Included in this category would be people like Soji, Voyager’s Doctor, and a few others. But as we’ve seen in episodes like Relics and even the film Generations, all it would take to make a big crossover happen is some kind of temporal anomaly, stasis field, or other technobabble!
Theory #3: Burnham may not remain in the captain’s chair.
Michael Burnham in the captain’s chair in a promotional image for Season 4.
This is a controversial one, so let me just say up front that I’m neither in favour of this theory nor opposed to it – I just think it’s a possibility. As things stand, Discovery has had four different captains across its four seasons. One of the show’s unique points of interest within Star Trek’s broader canon are the differences between these very different individual captains and the way they commanded the ship and crew.
It’s got to be considered at least a possibility, then, that the show will continue this trend. This doesn’t mean Captain Burnham will be killed off; I’d actually argue she’s pretty safe. But there are many different routes to her potentially leaving the ship, such as a desire for freedom that we saw in Season 3, or even perhaps taking up a new, more senior role within Starfleet.
Captain Burnham in the first Season 4 trailer.
If this theory were to come to pass, it would be something I’d expect to see at the very end of the season. Even if Burnham seems 100% committed to her new role as captain, I don’t think it’s a theory we can definitively rule out.
It’s worth mentioning that at time of writing, Discovery hasn’t been officially renewed for a fifth season – so all this talk of who’ll be in the captain’s chair by then could be moot! And of course this theory has a very strong counter-argument: that Discovery’s main story arc across its first three seasons can be read as Burnham’s ascent to the captain’s chair.
Theory #4: The Spore Drive will be rolled out to more ships.
The USS Discovery making a Spore Drive jump.
The Season 3 finale rushed past this point as it had a lot going on, but the revelation that Book – and potentially millions of other people with empathic abilities – can serve in the role of Spore Drive navigator is huge. The technology was previously limited by Stamets being the only one with the ability to interface with the mycelial network, but now that limitation has seemingly been removed.
In a galaxy where dilithium supplies are still low, having a powerful alternative method of propulsion is a godsend for Starfleet, and I would think it would be a priority to start recreating the technology and training up a whole corps of Spore Drive navigators.
Book was able to use the Spore Drive in Season 3 – potentially opening it up for more ships to use.
On the production side of things, this would finally find a proper use for what has been one of Discovery’s more controversial elements. Even after the discovery of the huge dilithium cache in the Verubin Nebula, the vitally-important fuel is still a limited resource. Developing an alternative way for Starfleet ships to get around should still be a priority for the organisation.
This could be a story with real-world parallels, too. Climate change is a very real and very dangerous threat out here in the real world, and finding new, cleaner ways of generating power and fuelling our vehicles is essential. Discovery could use its Spore Drive as an analogy for the development of electric vehicles or renewable energy generation, for example.
Theory #5: Kovich works for Section 31.
Kovich in Season 3.
This is another Season 3 theory that I’m choosing to bring back! The question of who Kovich is and what role he played in Starfleet and the Federation was left open at the end of Season 3, and we know that the character will return in some capacity. As someone who seemed to talk around the issue at hand and not reveal everything he knew, Kovich strikes me as potentially being a Section 31 operative – or even the head of the organisation.
We don’t know yet if the Section 31 series that was announced in 2019 will go ahead as planned. But if it does, there could potentially be a connection between Kovich and Georgiou that would tie the two shows together. Kovich is mysterious enough that his character could be taken in many different directions – but my money’s on Section 31.
Theory #6: The ban on time travel will be explained further.
Admiral Vance first told us of the ban on time travel.
This one is a hope as much as a theory right now! In short, the ban on time travel was introduced early in Season 3 primarily as a way for the writers and producers to avoid questions about why the 32nd Century was so different from how the far future had been depicted in earlier Star Trek productions, as well as to explain things like how the Burn was able to catch the Federation off-guard and why Georgiou couldn’t simply be sent back in time when she needed to.
But the ban itself raises some issues – the biggest one being the lack of detail on how it works and how something like this could possibly be enforced. As I said several times last season, it isn’t possible to just un-invent a technology so useful and powerful as time travel. Even just a few lines of dialogue going into a little more detail on the mechanisms involved in the ban would be really useful.
Theory #7: The Federation has flouted the ban on time travel.
HMS Bounty travels through time in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Sticking with the time travel ban, another theory I had last season was that the Federation – and Section 31 in particular – might have deliberately flouted the ban and failed to abide by the rules. Someone as straight-laced and committed to Starfleet ideals as Admiral Vance is highly unlikely to have sanctioned such a move, but someone like the shadowy Kovich (who we talked about a moment ago) might have. President Rillak is someone we don’t know yet, but she could also be involved.
Obviously the bulk of the season’s story will deal with the gravitational anomaly. But there’s scope to either talk about the time travel ban in a standalone episode or even tie the two stories together – perhaps the anomaly has been unleashed as a result of unsanctioned time travel.
Theory #8: The story will connect with the Short Treks episode Calypso.
The USS Discovery seen in Calpyso.
Despite a handful of moments in Season 3 which seemed to connect to Calypso, the story of the season overall ended up going in a very different direction. While we saw a couple of things that arguably did tie in to the Short Treks episode, major things like the USS Discovery undergoing a refit have actually moved the plot even further away.
It’s possible that Calypso will forever remain an outlier in Star Trek’s canon – an episode tied to a vision of Season 2 or Season 3 that was changed before it made it to screen. But earlier in Season 3 it felt like we were getting close to seeing how it could all be tied together – and I’m hopeful that Season 4 will find a way to do so.
Theory #9: The crew will have to defend the Verubin Nebula.
The dilithium planet at the centre of the Verubin Nebula.
The Federation is in a weakened state, and even if we see worlds like Ni’Var rejoin the organisation it’s still nowhere near as powerful as it once was. The Verubin Nebula is thus a very tempting target for anyone looking to gain an edge in a galaxy where dilithium is still in short supply. As the only known significant dilithium supply, whoever controls the Verubin Nebula will have a massive tactical advantage.
We can compare the Verubin Nebula to Deep Space Nine’s Bajoran wormhole in that respect – it’s a resource of huge strategic importance. Season 3 didn’t show us much about the makeup of the galaxy’s factions outside of the rump Federation and the Emerald Chain, but it’s got to be possible that factions like the Dominion, Klingon Empire, or even the Borg still exist and would want to seize the Verubin Nebula for themselves.
The USS Discovery arriving at the Verubin Nebula in Season 3.
Season 4 has teased a scientific puzzle – the gravitational anomaly. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be villains in play, and Discovery has introduced us to several compelling and interesting villains over its first three seasons.
To make a long theory short, it would begin to stretch credulity to think that everyone in the known galaxy would see the Federation rebuilding and having access to dilithium and not want to find out for themselves what’s going on. Once the Verubin Nebula’s existence becomes known, even if the Federation promises to share its bounty with all comers, it seems very likely that someone would want to take control of the dilithium supply for themselves.
Theory #10: The super-synths from Picard Season 1 are involved with the gravitational anomaly.
The super-synths in Picard Season 1.
Picard Season 1 introduced us to a faction I nicknamed the “Mass Effect Reapers” – for their similarity to that video game faction. This race of super-synths existed outside of the Milky Way galaxy and promised to come to the aid of any synthetics who were being persecuted by organics, and Soji and Sutra attempted to contact them in the Season 1 finale.
We don’t know much at all about the super-synths or what their goals or motivations might be. It has to be considered at least possible that the attempted contact by the Coppelius synths set in motion a chain of events that could lead to the super-synths attacking the Milky Way galaxy.
Theory #11: The gravitational anomaly is a superweapon.
The USS Discovery en route to the anomaly in the second Season 4 trailer.
Based solely on what we’ve heard about the gravitational anomaly in the trailers and teasers, one thing strikes me as odd. The anomaly appears to be “targetting” the Federation. I put the word in inverted commas because it implies an intelligence at work – someone or something in control of the anomaly, directing it to attack the Federation. But what if that’s actually the case?
I mentioned the super-synths above as one possible culprit, but we could also consider factions like the Borg or the Dominion – they might have taken the opportunity of the Burn to perfect a weapon to destroy the remaining members of the Federation, perhaps as a precursor to invading and conquering the Alpha Quadrant.
A different depiction of the anomaly.
There are also factions like the Kelvan Empire from The Original Series – whose possible return to the Milky Way galaxy lines up in terms of timing. Enterprise’s Sphere Builders also come to mind: they attempted to use their own anomaly-generating devices to convert a region of space to resemble their native realm also as a precursor to invasion.
In short, are we certain that the gravitational anomaly will be nothing more than a natural phenomenon? I’m definitely not convinced of that right now! Past seasons of the show have seen twists and turns, taking stories in unexpected directions. Right now we assume that whatever this anomaly is it’s something natural – but that may not be the case.
Theory #12: Captain Burnham and the crew will encounter the Klingons.
The Klingons have been part of Discovery since the beginning.
By the late 24th Century the Federation and Klingons were firm friends, having been allied for a century and after fighting side-by-side against the Dominion. We don’t know if that alliance endured to the 32nd Century, but it’s certainly plausible to think that it did. The Klingons might even have joined the Federation at some point, and their violent warrior culture may have been significantly pacified.
One thing that could be very interesting to see is how the crew of the USS Discovery – almost all of whom are veterans of the Federation-Klingon war – would respond to that. They’ve worked alongside Klingons like L’Rell before, but many of them still see the Klingons as an old enemy. The story of overcoming that prejudice could mirror episodes like The Wounded from The Next Generation, and would be very interesting to see.
Theory #13: Some areas of the galaxy – such as the Delta Quadrant – avoided the worst effects of the Burn.
The USS Voyager was the first Federation starship to explore the Delta Quadrant.
It’s quite possible that Season 4 won’t revisit the Burn narrative in any detail. But one thing I’d be curious to see is the true extent of the disaster – did it reach all four quadrants of the galaxy equally, or did its effects fade out after a certain point? Michael Burnham discovered that the Burn had a point of origin, and that it radiated out from that point like ripples on the surface of water. Ripples eventually diminish, fading away the further they travel, and perhaps that’s true of the Burn as well. There could be whole areas of the galaxy that didn’t even notice the Burn – and maybe the ship and crew will visit one such region.
If the Delta Quadrant was left largely unscathed, for example, what might that mean for the likes of the Borg? It’s possible they aren’t even still around in the 32nd Century, but it’s also possible that they’ve had more than a century to expand and build up their forces while the Federation suffered.
Theory #14: The Guardian of Forever will be back.
Carl – the Guardian of Forever’s new persona.
Having reintroduced the Guardian of Forever in Season 3, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Discovery return to the Guardian’s planet in Season 4. The gravitational anomaly is something new and threatening, so it’s possible Captain Burnham might want to ask the Guardian for help or information.
The Guardian of Forever is also the only way we know of at present to travel through time – something that might be necessary if Season 4 makes an attempt to link up with Calypso in a big way. There are many reasons why Captain Burnham might want to revisit the Guardian, and it would be great to bring back actor Paul Guilfoyle, who played the Guardian’s humanoid avatar in Season 3.
Theory #15: At least one new character will join the main cast.
Lieutenant Detmer in Season 3.
One big question facing the series right now is who will take on the role of Captain Burnham’s first officer? Tilly was seen in the second trailer wearing the blue uniform of the science division, so it seems as though her tenure as the USS Discovery’s number one will be short-lived. So who will replace her? There are several secondary bridge officers like Rhys, Nilsson, and Bryce who are contenders, but it could also be someone like Lieutenant Willa – Admiral Vance’s aide-de-camp from Season 3.
A new character entirely could also join the crew, either directly as Burnham’s XO or to replace someone else who gets promoted to that role. With both Nhan and Georgiou departing in Season 3, and a potentially reduced role for Saru this time around, there’s definitely scope to bring a new major character aboard the ship.
Lieutenant Sahil was commissioned into Starfleet at the end of Season 3.
We could potentially see characters from Season 3 like Lieutenant Sahil or even Aurellio make a comeback. Sahil was the guardian of a Federation relay post who Captain Burnham met at the beginning of the season, and he was commissioned as an officer in the season finale. He would be a great choice in my opinion.
A wholly new character could also be concocted. We know that Federation President Rillak will be new for Season 4, but how significant a role she will have remains to be seen. I definitely feel that there’s scope for at least one new character – or perhaps the promotion of a secondary character to the regular cast.
So that’s it for now! Those are my official Season 4 theories written up and ready to go!
Grudge is also coming back!
The season premiere will arrive in less than a week from now, so stay tuned for a full review of the episode and an update to these theories! I wonder how many will be completely destroyed right off the bat?
I’ve been looking forward to Discovery’s fourth season all year, and it’s hard to believe it’s now only a few days away! I’m hoping to see a season of television that will be tense, exciting, and unpredictable. Despite my love of theory-crafting, I like being wrong just as much as I like being right – if not more! A story that goes in truly unexpected directions is a lot of fun, so I won’t be upset even if absolutely none of my theories come to pass.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 will premiere on the 18th of November 2021 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on the 19th of November 2021 on Netflix in the United Kingdom and around the world. The Star Trek franchise – including Discovery and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3 and for other iterations of the Star Trek franchise.
It’s been a while since the still-untitled Star Trek: Discovery spin-off based around Section 31 was announced. In January 2019, prior to Discovery’s second season premiere, ViacomCBS first told us about the spin-off, which would star Michelle Yeoh as Terran Empress Philippa Georgiou and focus on her new career as an agent of shadowy intelligence organisation Section 31. Since then, we haven’t heard much direct news about the planned series, and some of the indirect news we’ve been hearing out of the production side of Star Trek now officially has me worried for the show’s prospects.
It’s not unfair to say that the reaction from Trekkies to the announcement of the Section 31 series was muted at best. There was excitement at the prospect of a new Star Trek series, of course, but with Star Trek: Picard already in production by this point, many fans were less interested in Georgiou and Section 31. There are a couple of reasons why I think this was the case, and before we go any further it’s not a bad idea to look at them in turn.
Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou.
Firstly, Mirror Georgiou herself. Michelle Yeoh is an amazing actress, and in many ways Discovery had been lucky in its first season to land someone of her calibre. If you haven’t seen the sci fi-horror film Sunshine, in which Yeoh plays a supporting role, I highly recommend it, and that’s just one example. But the character she plays in Discovery is a Terran, and when the show was first announced it was before any character movement or development that would come later in Discovery’s run. Mirror Georgiou was about as flat and one-dimensional as Terrans get.
Unlike a number of other Star Trek actors and actresses we could mention, Michelle Yeoh’s performance as Georgiou managed to avoid the pitfalls that Mirror Universe characters can easily fall into – namely hammy, over-the-top, pantomime villain performances. While that is a positive, and a further reflection on Yeoh’s hard work and talent, the character of Mirror Georgiou doesn’t offer much room for manoeuvre, or at least didn’t at the end of Discovery’s first season. She was a typical Terran: quick to violence, petty and demeaning toward others, and unpleasant. There seemed to be little room for Mirror Georgiou to be even an antihero; basing a series around this character as a protagonist felt like a mark against it rather than a point in its favour.
Georgiou was a very flat character in Discovery Season 1.
Secondly there was Star Trek: Picard’s impending arrival, as already mentioned. Picard had been announced about six months earlier, and many Trekkies were incredibly excited for Star Trek’s return to the 24th Century after such a long time, as well as for the return of Captain Picard himself – and possibly other characters from that era too.
These two factors came together to see the series announced to a lukewarm reception even from Star Trek’s biggest fans and supporters. There was a sense that the show might just be unnecessary with the franchise heading back to the 24th Century and in a different direction, and at best there was mild interest, but no real hype or excitement. Discovery had made some significant investments ahead of Season 2 in anticipation of the Section 31 series, such as constructing a full bridge/operations centre set for the Section 31 starship, and it’s likely – in my opinion as an outsider, at least – that the underwhelming reception to the show’s announcement was disappointing to ViacomCBS and the creative team behind Star Trek.
The announcement of Star Trek: Picard a few months earlier arguably worked against the Section 31 series.
Then along came Captain Pike. With the Section 31 series already on the ropes, Discovery Season 2 reintroduced fans to the classic captain from Star Trek’s first pilot episode… and we absolutely loved it! Anson Mount’s excellent portrayal of Pike led to calls for him to get his own spin-off, and even before the season finale wrapped up, Trekkies were signing petitions and doing everything they could to show ViacomCBS that there was a real appetite for more of Captain Pike.
This appeared to catch the production team rather off-guard, and it was more than a year after Discovery Season 2 was over and done with before Strange New Worlds – the highly-requested Pike spin-off – would be announced.
Coming on top of an underwhelming announcement, which was probably done in the run-up to Season 2 to drum up interest and convince more folks to subscribe to CBS All Access, Captain Pike totally stole the Section 31 show’s thunder and pulled the rug out from under whatever plans had been put into place for the new series. If there was room for one Star Trek: Discovery spin-off in ViacomCBS’ plans, it was clear which one fans were clamouring for – and which one they were not.
Anson Mount’s outstanding performance in Discovery Season 2 quite rightly led to calls for a Captain Pike series.
So the combination of a disappointing announcement and the overwhelming popularity of Captain Pike evidently saw the Section 31 series drop down the priority list. Discovery Season 3 was announced and went into production. Picard Season 1 came and went, and a second season was announced. Lower Decks Season 1 was broadcast and Season 2 entered production. Strange New Worlds was announced and entered production. Prodigy was announced and entered production. Even Discovery Season 4 entered production, and we heard nothing in all that time about Section 31.
I assumed that, with so many other Star Trek shows on the books, ViacomCBS had simply taken the sensible route by prioritising Strange New Worlds Season 1, since that’s the show fans were really excited about. The Section 31 series would surely follow, right? After all, we knew as far back as 2019 that the show was in pre-production with its stories written and potentially one full set already built.
Georgiou holding a black Section 31 combadge in Discovery Season 2.
ViacomCBS’ radio silence on the Section 31 series became apparent over the course of 2020, when several big Star Trek events came and went without any mention of the show at all. I began to wonder at that point what was happening behind the scenes, but then we learned that the series was “still being worked on,” with producers and writers collaborating via Zoom due to the pandemic, and that at least some of the scripts were being heavily edited or re-written. That did not sound like good news for a show that had been supposedly ready to go for more than a year.
The next time we heard anything connected to the Section 31 show it came from Alex Kurtzman, who’s in charge of the overall direction of Star Trek at ViacomCBS. Gone was the notion that the Section 31 series was imminent, and instead Kurtzman explained that there were no plans to produce or broadcast any new Star Trek series until at least one of the current ones – Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy – had concluded. That seemed to mean that Section 31 was officially on the back burner.
Georgiou in Discovery Season 3, after a return to the Mirror Universe.
It got even worse, however, for the Section 31 series, when talk of pre-production was nixed. The show’s co-executive producers recently said that they’re still “having conversations” about the series going ahead, which is a big step down from where the show seemed to be in 2019. Those so-called “conversations” feel like a Hollywood euphemism for a show that’s dying or on life-support, and as we’ve recently seen with at least two Star Trek feature film concepts, until a project is officially greenlit and in production, things can change.
Finally we come to the comment that prompted this article. Michelle Yeoh, who plays Mirror Georgiou and who was supposed to star in the Section 31 series, was recently interviewed on The Pod Directive, which is Star Trek’s official podcast. She made absolutely no mention of the Section 31 series or any plans for appearing in it, and could only speak in pretty vague terms about how there’s potential to come back to the franchise “one day,” and even saying at one point “Who knows?” when discussing Georgiou’s future.
Michelle Yeoh recently spoke on the official Star Trek podcast, but made no mention of the Section 31 series.
Those comments are ambiguous and I encourage you to listen to the full interview for the sake of context. But what was striking to me more than what Yeoh said is what she and the podcast hosts didn’t say. Remember that this is an official Star Trek podcast, so there will be a degree of “toeing the party line,” so to speak. I think it’s not unfair to say that if Yeoh had been interviewed by Trekkies outside of an official setting, the Section 31 series would have come up, especially in the context of discussions about Georgiou’s future. The fact that neither she nor the podcast hosts tried to steer the conversation in that direction is, in my opinion, rather telling.
And that’s why I’m officially worried about the Section 31 show’s future prospects. Will it ever see the light of day? Or will we remember it in years to come alongside Planet of the Titans, Phase II, and that weird Lwaxana Troi sitcom as a Star Trek show that was never produced?
I was initially not sold on Section 31 as a concept, and I’m happy to admit to that. But I’ve since come around to the idea, especially following Georgiou’s arc across the third season of Discovery, and I think she would make for an interesting and more nuanced character to follow now than she would’ve done prior to Season 2 when the show was announced. There’s potential in a darker Star Trek series, something akin to some of the episodes in the latter part of Deep Space Nine’s run, showing off some really difficult situations where there is no such thing as a “no-win scenario.” Bringing a character like Georgiou into a setting that allows for morally ambiguous choices could be an interesting and explosive mix.
Will this be the last we ever see of Georgiou?
It would be a real shame if the Section 31 series were cancelled at this stage. There’s a lot of potential in the series, even if it didn’t seem to have much at first. If Georgiou were to return to the 23rd Century, as seems likely following her departure from the 32nd, there would even be the possibility of linking up with Strange New Worlds for crossover stories, like we saw The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine do on a handful of occasions.
Michelle Yeoh’s recent comments – and lack of comments – about Mirror Georgiou and her future in the Star Trek franchise are the latest that have worried me, but the Section 31 series has felt like it’s been on shaky ground for a while now. The fact that no new information has been officially announced about the series in such a long time is concerning for its survival, as are other comments from people involved with its production. I will continue to keep my fingers crossed, and if we get any significant news about the Section 31 series – or any other Star Trek project – I hope you’ll join me again for more discussion.
The Star Trek franchise – including the untitled Section 31 series, Discovery, and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3, Star Trek: Picard Season 1, and for other iterations of the franchise.
At the end of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, Mirror Georgiou surprised me – and a lot of other viewers as well – by remaining aboard the USS Discovery as it headed into the future. Michelle Yeoh, who plays the character, had been announced as the lead in a new spin-off series based on the shadowy organisation Section 31 in the run-up to Season 2’s broadcast, and it was assumed that the new series would take place in the 23rd Century. Georgiou’s departure into the future seemed to complicate that!
Part of that story has since been resolved, and we now know that Georgiou will not be remaining in the 32nd Century with Burnham and the rest of Discovery’s crew. The Guardian of Forever sent Georgiou to an unknown destination in the episode Terra Firma, Part 2. Georgiou’s destination was left ambiguous, deliberately so. And in my Discovery Season 3 theories post after Terra Firma, Part 2 was broadcast I speculated about a few possible time periods that she could find herself in on the other side of the Guardian’s portal. This time I’m going to expand on that a little, looking at the possibilities of different time periods, as well as the possible pros and cons of each from both an in-universe and production perspective.
Mirror Georgiou – played by Michelle Yeoh – is set to headline the upcoming Section 31 series.
Before we get into the different time periods, it’s worth considering the Section 31 show’s status. Despite being announced in early 2019, before Discovery Season 2 was broadcast, the show has yet to enter production. Comments from Alex Kurtzman and particularly the two lead writers/producers (Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt) seem to suggest that the show’s fate is not certain, and recent news about Star Trek projects through at least the first half of 2022 explicitly excluded the Section 31 series. It seems as though it won’t be entering production any time soon, perhaps not until Discovery, Picard, or Strange New Worlds have concluded their runs.
I must admit that this news doesn’t leave me feeling great. The Section 31 series already took a back seat to Strange New Worlds – fans were clamouring for more of Anson Mount and Ethan Peck as Pike and Spock after Discovery Season 2, and that definitely stole the Section 31 show’s thunder. Fans just weren’t as excited about Mirror Georgiou and Section 31 as they were for Pike, and as a result we’ve seen Strange New Worlds greenlit and enter production before Section 31, even though it was announced later.
Strange New Worlds is already in production, despite being announced after the Section 31 show.
I was one of the fans who wasn’t particularly excited for Section 31 during Discovery Season 2. But I have since come around to the idea of this show, and I feel that – if properly executed – it could be a truly interesting and different part of a growing Star Trek franchise. A James Bond-esque spy thriller, which is what the series seems to want to be, holds a lot of appeal, and may even succeed at bringing in new viewers beyond Star Trek’s usual crowd. That’s all to the good!
So despite my initial reaction, I’m now firmly in the camp that’s looking forward to Section 31 – and I hope it does manage to enter production before too long! With that out of the way, let’s start to consider just when in the Star Trek timeline the series could be taking place. My usual caveat applies: I have no “insider information.” This is guesswork from a fan, and a chance to spend a bit more time with Star Trek. Nothing more.
A black Section 31 combadge, as seen in Discovery Season 2.
To briefly recap, Discovery Season 3 took the crew – including Mirror Georgiou – to the 32nd Century. For technobabble reasons, crossing over from a parallel universe and travelling forward in time caused Georgiou to become terminally ill, suffering as a result of her molecules being pulled in two directions. In order to save her life, Burnham and the AI aboard Discovery took Georgiou to an isolated planet in the Gamma Quadrant, which was later revealed to be the new home of the Guardian of Forever. After putting Georgiou through a test in which she appeared to revisit the Mirror Universe, the Guardian allowed her to use the portal to travel backwards through time.
The one thing we need to pay closest attention to is what the Guardian said of Georgiou’s destination. He didn’t specify in any real way where or when he was sending her, instead opting to ambiguously tell her that he was sending her “to a time when the Mirror Universe and the Prime Universe were still aligned.” That does not necessarily mean the 23rd Century, and it’s largely because of this line that we can theorise about Georgiou’s destination!
Without further ado, let’s look at my list of possible destinations for Georgiou, and thus the possible settings for the Section 31 series.
Number 1: The 23rd Century
Despite everything else I’m going to say on this list, the 23rd Century has to be the most likely destination for Georgiou. From the production side of things, this is what we were told when the show was announced, and it would allow for possible crossovers with Strange New Worlds and any future series or films set in this time period. And from an in-universe point of view, the only way to cure Georgiou’s technobabble illness was either to return her to her own time period – the 23rd Century – or to the Mirror Universe. None of the other time periods on this list would, as far as we know, cure her condition.
However, the Guardian of Forever’s statement, quoted above, seems to rule out the 23rd Century. As we’ve seen in both The Original Series and Discovery, by the 23rd Century the two universes were very much not in alignment. The Federation and the Terran Empire are about as far apart as it’s possible to be, and Discovery even implied that there are genetic differences between Terrans and humans.
Kovich, the Federation official who conducted Georgiou’s debriefing in the 32nd Century.
Returning to the 23rd Century could see Georgiou reunite with Ash Tyler, the head of Section 31 as of the end of Discovery Season 2. Tyler could have an interesting role to play in the new series, and the clash of personalities between him and Georgiou – as well as a potential for them to bond over their mutual love for Burnham – could see some truly interesting and perhaps even emotional character moments.
If Georgiou does arrive in the 23rd Century, one of the big storylines would surely be the disappearance of Section 31, explaining how it went from being an open secret in Discovery’s era to something entirely underground by the time of Deep Space Nine 120 years later. Ash Tyler may have started that process – and it could even be something we see hinted at in Strange New Worlds if he makes an appearance there – but Georgiou could be the driving force behind cloaking Section 31 in secrecy – and may even kill off Starfleet officers who are aware of the organisation’s existence.
Section 31 was hidden and its existence unknown to most Starfleet officers by the mid-24th Century.
The Guardian of Forever’s line may count against it, but I believe that the 23rd Century remains Georgiou’s most likely destination. She may arrive within days, or even hours, of her departure, or she may not arrive until several years later. The latter may be more likely, but either way the potential for crossovers with Strange New Worlds exists and is enticing.
In addition to seeing the organisation disappear and move into the shadows, Section 31 stories set in the 23rd Century could bring back races and factions we got to know in Discovery and The Original Series. We could explore in more detail the relationship between the Federation and the Romulans in this era, for example, which would tie in with Star Trek: Picard‘s Romulan focus. Or we could see how Section 31 reacted to Pike and Kirk’s missions of exploration.
Number 2: The Mirror Universe
As noted above, there are two known ways to cure Georgiou’s technobabble illness: return her to her own time period, or return her to her native universe. Perhaps the Guardian of Forever was so impressed by Georgiou’s attempts to reform the Terran Empire (depicted in Terra Firma, Part 1 and Terra Firma, Part 2) that he chose to send her back there to continue that work – even though he said he wouldn’t!
This raises its own question of when Georgiou will arrive – will it be in the Mirror Universe’s 23rd Century, or will she arrive at some other time? If the Section 31 show goes down the Mirror Universe route it would already be a pretty significant curveball, so I would assume she would return to the 23rd Century rather than complicating matters further by having her arrive in a different time period.
Georgiou with her honour guard in Terra Firma, Part 1.
So let’s assume this theory is right and Georgiou arrives back “home” in the Mirror Universe. What would that mean for the show – it’s supposed to be based on Section 31, not the Mirror Universe! There could be a Mirror version of Section 31, perhaps one which acts in a different way to the Section 31 of the Prime Timeline. Georgiou may even establish such an organisation to further her attempts at reforming the Terran Empire.
In the timeline of the Mirror Universe shown in Deep Space Nine, reforms put in place by Spock led to the collapse of the Terran Empire, and the Mirror Universe by the 24th Century came to be dominated by a Klingon-Cardassian alliance. Perhaps the tragedy of the Section 31 series will be that the reforms Georgiou tries to put into place will ultimately lead to Terrans being enslaved and subjugated.
Terrans like Mirror O’Brien were conquered and enslaved by the 24th Century.
I’m not sure that this would be the best way to go, even though on the surface it appears to be something different. The Mirror Universe, as I’ve said on more than one occasion, can be okay to visit for one-off stories, but the over-the-top violent nature of the setting tends to mean Mirror Universe characters are boring and pretty one-dimensional, all enjoying gratuitous violence for its own sake. The Mirror Universe also descends far too easily into pantomime, with hammy, over-the-top performances even from otherwise good actors.
The role of Section 31 in the Mirror Universe is not clear either, and it doesn’t seem like something the Terran Empire would necessarily need. If they’re already successful as a dominant, authoritarian state with a huge military, an organisation like Section 31 just seems like overkill! Not to mention that, thanks to Terran morality, there’d be no reason for such an organisation to be clandestine. It could be out in the open, just another branch of the Terran military. In short, while a Mirror Universe series may seem interesting to some fans, I don’t think this would be the right way to do it. It would be too much of a twist on the series we’re expecting to see, and it would be limited in its scope.
Number 3: The 25th Century
Specifically I’m thinking that Georgiou could arrive at the very beginning of the 25th Century. Why? Well, basically the entire reason for this hangs on the production side of things! The dawn of the 25th Century is when Star Trek: Picard is set. Having Georgiou arrive at this time would potentially allow for the Section 31 show to cross over with Picard. Even if that didn’t happen, it would expand the 25th Century setting, perhaps laying the groundwork for more shows and films in this era.
Out of all of the possible destinations for Georgiou, this one has the least going for it from an in-universe point of view. There’s nothing we know of to suggest that the Mirror and Prime Universes are in some kind of alignment by this time, nor would sending her here cure her technobabble condition. In fact, if she did arrive here she should arguably still be suffering from it. It would be a contrivance, one set up specifically to allow Georgiou to cross over and appear in Picard – or other future Star Trek projects which also occupy this place in the timeline.
Picard and the crew of La Sirena.
I mentioned Deep Space Nine’s Mirror Universe episodes above, and in theory we could see a connection to those episodes if the dawn of the 25th Century is when the Section 31 show is set. If the Terran Rebellion depicted in Deep Space Nine was a success, the Terrans we met in that show seemed far less aggressive and domineering than their 23rd Century counterparts. Perhaps we could learn that they didn’t simply re-establish the Terran Empire and created a more enlightened democratic society in its place.
However, there are two issues with this. The first is that in Discovery Season 3, Kovich at least implied that some form of Terran Empire or Terran-centric society existed after the 24th Century. Kovich appeared to be an expert on Terrans, and while he did say that the Terran Empire had collapsed “centuries” before the 32nd Century, he didn’t say exactly how long ago that happened. The second point comes from the production side of things: how many viewers will be familiar with those five episodes of Deep Space Nine? Us Trekkies will be, of course, but most casual viewers of the series won’t remember them, and thus there isn’t any real benefit to tying Georgiou and the Section 31 show to Deep Space Nine in a big way.
Number 4: The 21st Century
Could the Section 31 series be the first ever Star Trek show to be set in the present day?! Well, no. But maybe!
Here’s why I think it could at least be possible that a mid-to-late 21st Century setting is on the cards. The Guardian of Forever’s statement, quoted above, says that Georgiou is being sent to a time when the Mirror and Prime Universes were aligned. In Star Trek’s timeline, the earliest point of divergence that we know of came in the year 2063, during first contact between humans and Vulcans.
In the Prime Timeline, first contact went smoothly and led to an alliance between Earth and Vulcan that eventually evolved into the Federation. In the Mirror Universe, Zefram Cochrane led a mob that massacred the arriving Vulcans. In fairly short order, Terra had conquered Vulcan and the Terran Empire was born. We can’t be certain that this is absolutely the earliest point of divergence, but it’s the earliest we can be sure of.
The Guardian of Forever in the guise of “Carl.”
Using this logic, the 21st Century is the best fit for the Guardian’s statement, as it can be argued that prior to first contact, the Mirror and Prime Universes were in total alignment. Sending Georgiou to the mid-21st Century – perhaps the 2050s or 2060s – would thus cure her of her technobabble illness, which was the whole point of sending her back in time.
While this is certainly a good fit (we can argue about “best fit” till we’re blue in the face!) for the Guardian of Forever’s statement, what would it mean for the Section 31 show? If Georgiou arrived in the 2050s or 2060s, she’d be on Earth either during or shortly after the Third World War. This event has been referenced a few times in Star Trek but never really explored, and we could learn more about the factions involved, as well as more about the impact first contact had on humanity.
Might Georgiou arrive some time before the events of Star Trek: First Contact?
However, for a Star Trek show, I think a 21st Century, pre-first contact setting would be a severe limitation. Instead of Georgiou trekking across the galaxy kicking butt, she’d be limited to Earth and the solar system, with adversaries being humans and perhaps the occasional Vulcan. That limitation would be difficult, and as we’ve never seen a Star Trek show set so early in the timeline, there would be unique challenges to overcome.
However, on the flip side it could be interesting to learn that Georgiou – the former Terran Empress – was instrumental in the creation of the Federation. By laying the groundwork for Section 31, perhaps even creating the organisation itself, Georgiou could keep humanity safe in its crucial early days as a spacefaring people. Georgiou could be seen not just as the leader of Section 31, but as its first ever leader, laying down the ground rules for how Section 31 will operate, and its objective of defending the Federation at all costs.
Number 5: The 27th Century
In the Discovery Season 3 episode Die Trying, Kovich gave us a bit more information about the Mirror Universe. Specifically, he explained that the “distance” between the two parallel realities had been slowly growing, meaning that by the 32nd Century it was no longer possible to cross between them as it had once been. The last crossover before the 32nd Century came “five hundred years” earlier – which would put it sometime in the 27th Century.
Does this mean that it fits with the Guardian of Forever’s statement about the two universes being “aligned?” I don’t think so, and it’s a stretch to make that argument. However, as the 27th Century was (indirectly) referenced only a few episodes before Georgiou’s departure, I think we have to consider it as a possibility for her ultimate destination. If it wasn’t in play at all, why bring it up? Maybe it’s just a red herring; a throwaway line I’m too focused on! But maybe there’s more to it than that.
Burnham and Georgiou chat with the Guardian of Forever.
What do we know about the 27th Century? The answer is “very little.” It was referenced in The Next Generation Season 3 episode Captain’s Holiday, when a powerful weapon created in this period was sent back in time. Time travel had been definitively invented by this time, and the Federation used it in some capacity. Otherwise, all we can be sure of is that the Federation existed in this era.
Having an almost-blank slate like this is what a lot of creators and producers want! So in that sense, it would be a great setting for a new Star Trek series, just as the 32nd Century was for Discovery Season 3. However, unless there’s a bigger plan to bring more Star Trek projects to this time period, it would isolate the Section 31 show, separating it by hundreds of years in both directions from everything else in the franchise. I’m not sure that would be a positive thing.
So that’s it. We’ve looked at five possibilities for the Section 31 show’s setting, largely based on a single ambiguous line from Terra Firma, Part 2!
At this stage, if I had to place a bet with my own money I’d have to say that the 23rd Century is most likely to be the right choice. The others all have drawbacks, and while all five have the potential to tell different and interesting stories, the plan all along seems to have been for the Section 31 series to use a 23rd Century setting. The reason for all of this speculation, of course, is that we didn’t see for ourselves where – or when – Georgiou ended up after she stepped through the Guardian of Forever’s portal!
This is the last we saw of Georgiou. Her destination? Unknown.
I’m still hopeful that the positive reception received by Star Trek: Picard will lead to more projects occupying its 25th Century setting in future, and if that’s the case then bringing the Section 31 series to that time period would make a lot of sense. As I’ve said on a number of occasions, when Star Trek was at the pinnacle of its success in the 1990s, the shows and films being produced all shared the same setting and time period, something which modern Star Trek has opted to disregard. From the point of view of casual fans and viewers, this unquestionably makes the Star Trek franchise harder to follow, so consolidating as many projects as possible into a single time period makes a lot of sense.
However, if Strange New Worlds proves to be the success that ViacomCBS – and many fans – are hoping for, returning to the 23rd Century with the Section 31 series would still accomplish that goal. There could be crossover episodes between the two series, and future projects – like the potential Ceti Alpha V miniseries – could also be incorporated into a broad, interconnected set of shows.
Georgiou just before leaving the 32nd Century.
I remain hopeful that the Section 31 series will make it. Though it seems as if production may be months or even years away right now, the show remains in contention over at ViacomCBS, and would certainly take Star Trek to different thematic places. As I said when I wrote up a wishlist of things I’d like to see included, a spy thriller has the potential to tell some fascinating stories, and perhaps some that are morally ambiguous. I see the future cast of Section 31 – including Georgiou – as antiheroes; a team kind of like the DC Comics villains in the film Suicide Squad, doing bad things to bad people in the name of keeping others safe.
I hope you’ll stay tuned for any and all future Section 31 news! If we hear any major announcements, casting information, or see a trailer, I’ll do my best to cover it here on the website. There’s a huge amount of Star Trek on the horizon, and Section 31 could be a significant part of that. Time will tell what will ultimately happen, but I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed!
Stay up to date with my Section 31 articles on my dedicated Section 31 page. The untitled Section 31 series currently has no broadcast date scheduled. However, it will almost certainly premiere on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, and other countries and territories where the service is available. Further international distribution has not been announced. The Star Trek franchise – including the Section 31 series, Discovery, and all other titles mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. Some stock photos courtesy of pixabay. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are minor spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3.
In addition to the first teaser image for Star Trek: Prodigy, a recent update from ViacomCBS (that was primarily directed at their investors) has given us a couple of interesting bits of news regarding both current and future Star Trek projects. Today I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at what was said and try to figure out what may or may not be coming our way in 2021 and the first half of 2022.
The most significant piece of news was that ViacomCBS plans to have something from the Star Trek franchise on Paramount+ every quarter. Since it’s already almost March I think we can rule out anything in Q1 this year! But that still potentially leaves us with three Star Trek projects before the end of 2021.
The teaser image for Prodigy, in case you missed it!
I said just after New Year that I believed we’d see both Prodigy Season 1 and Lower Decks Season 2 this year, and those will almost certainly be two of the three. With Discovery Season 4 having been in production since November, I have to assume that will be the third series planned for this year – perhaps targeting a Q4 broadcast like Season 3 received in 2020. That’s ambitious in my opinion – post-production work on Discovery Season 3 took over nine months to complete – but if ViacomCBS and Paramount+ can manage it, it will be a fantastic achievement! And it will mean one extra Star Trek show in 2021 that I wasn’t expecting!
If that’s the plan, that would then open up Q1 and Q2 of 2022, and it seems certain that we’d get Picard Season 2 (which has just started filming) and Strange New Worlds Season 1 in the first half of next year – probably in that order. So this current quarter could be the longest we’ll have to go without any new Star Trek for quite some time!
Picard and his new crew are coming back soon.
What will happen after that is in question, and this is where the other interesting bit of news comes in: ViacomCBS has no plans to produce any other Star Trek shows until those currently in production have concluded.
This seems to mean that the Section 31 series, which originally had a premiere date suggested for this year, is going to be delayed yet further, and I interpret comments by some of its writers and producers to mean that the series going ahead at all is less certain now than ever. Strange New Worlds completely stole the Section 31 show’s thunder, both before and after it was announced, and as I said a while ago, I never really got the impression that there was much excitement for Section 31. Many Discovery fans were clamouring for a Pike series almost from the first episode of the show’s second season, but Georgiou and Section 31, while not badly received, were very much the lesser part of that story overall.
Anson Mount recently cropped up in his Starfleet uniform in the ad campaign for Paramount+.
Georgiou’s recent departure from Discovery has set the stage for Section 31 – but it also left things very open as to where (and when) she will end up. Perhaps behind the scenes what’s going on is some major retooling of the Section 31 show’s premise; it had been suggested by Alex Kurtzman and others fairly recently that the scripts were still being worked on, and this feels like another indication of changes to the upcoming series.
So this unfortunately raises the question of the Section 31 show’s ultimate fate. Is this the first step to it being cancelled… or “un-announced?” It feels like it could be, sadly. Despite not being as interested in Section 31 when it was announced, I’ve recently come around to the idea of this kind of spy thriller. If done well I think it could be something really fun and different within Star Trek, and with it having been announced I kind of want to see it come into being. Even if it only runs for a single season, or gets cut down to a miniseries or television movie I still think it could be worthwhile.
Michelle Yeoh is set to return as Mirror Georgiou in the Section 31 series some time soon.
The longer-term futures of other Star Trek projects are less clear. No future seasons of any in-production shows were announced – though it seems likely, according to the rumour mill, that we’ll see Discovery Season 5, and Picard Season 3 was said to be there for the taking if Sir Patrick Stewart wanted it. Beyond the halfway point of 2022, though, Star Trek’s future gets a little harder to predict. We could see Lower Decks Season 3, Prodigy Season 2, or perhaps a new set of Short Treks mini-episodes.
What is clear, though, is that Section 31, the potential Ceti Alpha V miniseries that I covered a few weeks ago, and the still-unannounced live-action series that is in pre-production won’t be coming imminently.
ViacomCBS has “plans” for expanding Star Trek beyond the projects that we know about, though, and there was talk of ideas and concepts being worked on behind the scenes. Paramount+ is being established with a view to a widespread international rollout, which will begin next month with the USA, Canada, and Australia, before heading to Scandinavia and Latin America later in the year. Hopefully it’ll come to the UK soon!
Paramount+ launches next week.
Other recently-announced projects for Paramount+ include a Halo television series, a prequel to Western drama Yellowstone, a reboot of Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats, and more. CBS All Access has grown its subscriber base since it was launched, passing the 8 million mark last year. The relaunch of the service as Paramount+, with its promised live sport and varied mix of films and television shows will surely bring in a lot of viewers – keeping Star Trek on the air for a long time to come.
These announcements were interesting, and I feel reasonably confident now that we’ll see three Star Trek shows this year instead of the two I had been expecting, so that’s fantastic! And I cannot wait for both Season 2 of Picard and the debut of Strange New Worlds next year. It’s a wonderful time to be a Star Trek fan right now – we have literally never had so many different projects all on the go at once. Someone pinch me… I must be dreaming!
The Star Trek franchise – including all properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1, and for other iterations of the franchise.
Two years on from its announcement, we don’t know very much about the upcoming Section 31 series. It doesn’t even have an official title – we all assume it will be some variant of Star Trek: Section 31, but even that much has never been confirmed. Both Strange New Worlds and Prodigy were announced after the Section 31 series but have been given titles and have even seen major announcements.
Perhaps the lack of news is caused, in part, by main character Philippa Georgiou (the Mirror Universe version) being part of Star Trek: Discovery’s third season. There may have been a desire to avoid spoiling her storyline and ultimate fate, which is commendable – if true! However, there have also been rumours – which we must look at with a healthy dose of scepticism – that seem to suggest the scripts have undergone re-writes which may have contributed to the delay.
Georgiou recently departed the 32nd Century.
It’s been a while since I looked at the Section 31 series in any depth – though I have touched on it on a number of occasions in relation to Discovery – and despite the lack of anything concrete, now seems as good a time as any, so what I thought I’d do is put together a nice internet-friendly list and go over a few options for the series and what it could include.
Number 1: Some James Bond-style action.
Roger Moore as James Bond in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only.
You don’t make a series based around Starfleet’s answer to MI6 and not use it to tell some great action stories… do you? Spies work in the shadows, but no one wants to see Georgiou and her new crew sat behind desks listening in on subspace messages like a futuristic NSA. We want to see them out in the field, on dangerous black-ops assignments, making full use of their licenses to kill.
Section 31 is supposed to be the no-holds-barred last line of defence for the Federation, so action should be on the agenda. We could see them sabotaging spaceships, assassinating rogue planetary leaders, and chasing supervillains halfway across the universe. It should be sufficiently over-the-top, too, or we’ll be left wondering why Starfleet security couldn’t handle things!
Number 2: Enter the Picard time period.
The crew of La Sirena in Picard Season 1.
When Georgiou stepped into the Guardian of Forever’s portal in the Discovery third season episode Terra Firma, Part II, her destination was not clear. The Guardian merely said that he was sending her to a time period where the Mirror and Prime universes were closely aligned. Many have assumed that her destination is the 23rd Century – and everything we’ve heard so far suggests the series takes place then. But what if that isn’t the plan?
When I wrote up a shortlist of possible time periods during Discovery’s third season I suggested that, rather than the 23rd Century as predicted, Georgiou may instead arrive at the beginning of the 25th, the era in which Picard is set. This would connect all three eras that Star Trek currently has on the go (at least in live-action). Georgiou would be the one character who has spent time with Pike – soon to be of Strange New Worlds – as well as Burnham in the 32nd Century and potentially Picard – or someone else we met in that series.
Finding some way to tie the disparate parts of Star Trek together is a challenge facing the current creative team. At the moment, every ongoing Star Trek project occupies a different place in the timeline, with precious little binding them together beyond a brand name and some general themes. It’s not that I’m concerned about this as a creative decision – as a Trekkie I quite like seeing different eras and settings. But from the point of view of Star Trek’s general audience this starts to look convoluted to the point of being offputting. The franchise needs those casual viewers in order to remain profitable and successful, so simplifying the timeline would be one of my top priorities.
At the very least, I would hope that the Section 31 series doesn’t end up in a distinct time period of its own!
Number 3: A great supporting cast.
Maybe not quite that many…
Michelle Yeoh is a fine actress, but she can’t carry the series all by herself. Georgiou will need people around her, especially if she finds herself once again caught in a new time period.
These characters can’t all be morally ambiguous, butt-kicking super-spies either. Georgiou already fills that kind of role, so we’ll need to see some diversity in the personalities she works with. Each will also need a distinct role in the organisation – and here we leave the basic Star Trek formula behind. Even if the series is set aboard a single ship, the usual crew roster of a captain, doctor, scientist, and engineer won’t really fit with the kind of stories the Section 31 show could and should be telling.
Instead we’ll need to see roles closer to those in a series like Agents of SHIELD or the aforementioned Bond films – mission specialists, weapon and gadget experts, hackers/technology experts, as well as scientists, spies, and a commander to tie the team together. Georgiou may be the commander – but she could still have a superior to answer to; the overall head of Section 31.
There could be roles of that nature for half a dozen characters or more, and like Picard did, the show could expand beyond Starfleet to pick up a wide array of unique and interesting people.
Number 4: Moral ambiguity.
What should you do?
You’ve heard of the internet’s favourite philosophical question: the “trolley problem.” Would you be willing to actively kill one person to save the lives of several? Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few – even if that means murdering the few? These are the kinds of questions Section 31 has the answer to – and it’s a solid “yes.”
In Deep Space Nine, Section 31 poisoned the Founders of the Dominion with a virus that they were unable to cure, potentially committing genocide against the changelings in pursuit of ending the destructive Dominion War. Whether it’s a season-long story arc or a single episode, I want to come away from the Section 31 show at least once wondering if the ends justified the means.
These people are not Starfleet – and they cannot let such things as Federation morality, the laws of war, or anything else get in the way of their objectives.
Number 5: A mix of standalone stories with a season-long arc.
Discovery Season 3 had both ongoing storylines and single-episode plots.
One thing that Discovery really managed to do well in Season 3 was blending standalone stories with its season-long plotlines. Strange New Worlds has promised something similar, and it would be great if the Section 31 show was likewise a mix. Picard showed that telling a single story across one season can be a lot of fun… but it also showed how that story has to really stick the landing to avoid feeling disappointing. A blend of episodic and serialised storytelling seems to be the direction of travel for Star Trek at the moment, and that’s probably for the best.
For example, we could see season-long character arcs which develop Georgiou and some of her fellow Section 31 operatives, while telling a handful of smaller one- or two-episode stories depicting some of their missions. There could be ongoing stories – like Discovery’s Burn or the search for the Federation – but allowing each episode (or at least some episodes) to stand on their own.
Number 6: A fun new starship design.
“It’s the Titan!”
Lower Decks gave us the California-class USS Cerritos. Picard gave us La Sirena. Discovery gave us the Crossfield-class USS Discovery. Along the way we’ve seen a few other neat starship designs, and in many ways the ship itself is a major part of any Star Trek show. Thus whatever ship the Section 31 folks use will need to look awesome.
The design used for the Section 31 ship in Discovery Season 2 may come back – I did note in Season 2 that a whole set had been built for that ship’s multi-level operations centre, so perhaps we can infer from that that we’ll see Georgiou on a similar vessel. There’s scope to redesign the craft, however, especially if the Section 31 series doesn’t return to the 23rd Century.
Though Star Trek has done one series set aboard a space station, the nature of Section 31 suggests the possibility of black ops missions all across the galaxy – and for that they’ll need a ship. Modern Star Trek has done well with ship designs, in my opinion, and I’m hopeful for another great one this time around.
Number 7: Why did Georgiou not warn Section 31 about the Burn?
The Burn happened in the 31st Century and devastated the Federation.
If Section 31 don’t care about the Prime Directive, surely they don’t care about its temporal equivalent either. It’s obvious that Georgiou won’t and can’t warn Section 31 about the impending Burn – but I think seeing her wrangle with that decision would be interesting.
Georgiou has a unique relationship with Michael Burnham, and her reasoning for never mentioning the Burn to anyone in this pre-Burn era may be simple: to avoid contaminating or changing the timeline Michael is currently living in. Doing so could have serious repercussions, and perhaps we’ll see her learn about that and come to the conclusion that she doesn’t want to put Michael in danger.
Or it could simply be that Georgiou does not care about the impending future devastation of the Federation!
Number 8: If returning to the 23rd Century, reunite with Captain Pike.
Pike, Number One, and Spock on the bridge of the Enterprise.
As mentioned above, the time period in which the Section 31 series will be set has not yet been confirmed. In some ways, the 23rd Century does not fit the Guardian of Forever’s statement that he was sending Georgiou to a time when the Mirror and Prime universes were in alignment – we know from what we’ve seen of the Mirror Universe in this era that it is very different! However, returning her to the 23rd Century would cure the fatal technobabble illness she was suffering from in Discovery, so it remains a likely option.
If she returns, I’d love to see her surprise Captain Pike. As far as Pike knows, she has forever left the 23rd Century, so it would be a shock to see her return! She could convey a message from Saru and Burnham to him, if she felt like it, but she could also be on a secret Section 31 mission where she needs the help of Pike, Spock, and the Enterprise – connecting the Section 31 show to Strange New Worlds.
Number 9: A time-loop storyline involving Kovich.
Kovich oversaw Georgiou’s debriefing in Discovery Season 3.
Why did Kovich – the ambiguous character played by David Cronenberg in Discovery’s third season – not warn Georgiou about the ailment she was about to experience? Why did he take a personal interest in debriefing her? Whether Kovich is a Section 31 operative or not, he’s clearly a high-ranking Federation official with a high security clearance. Georgiou may have been able to send a message to him by preserving it in Section 31.
This would explain some of Kovich’s actions in Discovery – such as why he didn’t tell Georgiou her health was about to suffer. He may have received the message from her at just the right moment, explaining exactly what he needed to do to ensure she would be sent back in time by the Guardian of Forever. If he’s working for Section 31 himself this would make more sense, but even if not it would be an interesting time-loop story.
Number 10: Bridge the gap between Discovery and Deep Space Nine.
Sloan, a Section 31 operative seen in Deep Space Nine.
Section 31 in Deep Space Nine was so deep underground that even Starfleet captains like Benjamin Sisko were not aware of its existence. All records of the organisation – which was relatively out in the open in the Discovery era – seem to have been purged, and memory of the organisation forgotten even by Starfleet. How did this happen? And why? That’s something the Section 31 series could explain.
I don’t think we need to go all-out on this one story point. It would be enough to show the organisation disappearing and heading underground, perhaps forcing senior Starfleet admirals to make its existence classified. We don’t need a repeat of Enterprise’s Klingon augment virus, perhaps showing Section 31 using Men In Black-style memory erasers on everyone who ever encountered them! Assuming the Section 31 series is set in this time period, at least paying lip service to the fact that the organisation has been depicted very differently in the past would be sufficient.
So that’s it. A short wishlist, or collection of ideas that the untitled Section 31 series could adopt.
It may be a while before we see Georgiou and the Section 31 show. Discovery Season 4 is currently filming, with Picard and Strange New Worlds both set to start filming sometime soon too. While there’s nothing to stop multiple shows being produced simultaneously, with the pandemic proving disruptive and with the two animated shows also being worked on, Section 31 may simply be at the back of the queue. I doubt we’ll see it premiere this year – but who knows, I’ve been wrong about such things before!
Georgiou steps into the Guardian of Forever’s portal… and into the new Section 31 show.
Speaking of being wrong – this entire list may be. I don’t claim to have any “insider information,” and as we’re so far away from seeing anything at all from the Section 31 show it may be futile to wish and speculate about what may be included. As always, I encourage you to be sceptical of anyone making such a claim, and also to keep in mind that no fan theory or wish is worth getting upset or worked up over.
With Georgiou having departed Discovery, the stage is set for the Section 31 series. Despite not being particularly excited about it at first, I think there’s potential here to tell some interesting – and perhaps quite different – stories set in the Star Trek universe. I’m interested to see what the franchise can do with a Bond-esque spy thriller.
The untitled Section 31 series currently has no broadcast date scheduled. However, it will almost certainly premiere on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, and other countries and territories where the service is available. Further international distribution has not been announced. The Star Trek franchise – including the Section 31 series, Discovery, and all other titles mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, as well as for Star Trek: Picard and other iterations of the franchise.
The two halves of Terra Firma gave us quite a lot to work with, but with only three episodes left before Season 3 is over, Discovery has a lot of work left to do to resolve major ongoing storylines. I’m ever so slightly concerned that we’re going to end up with a rushed conclusion, repeating the mistake Star Trek: Picard Season 1 made earlier in the year. Hopefully that won’t be the case and there will be enough time for every extant story thread to either reach a conclusion or set up the events of Season 4 – whenever that may come!
By the end of Terra Firma, Part II we’d seen two confirmations and three debunkings, so let’s look at those first.
Confirmed theory #1: Carl is the Guardian of Forever.
The Guardian of Forever’s portal.
I got goosebumps when Carl announced who he really was – complete with the Guardian’s voiceover from The Original Series. Though the revelation may have been less interesting to new fans who aren’t familiar with The Original Series, I adored this moment and sat with a big dumb grin on my face for much of the rest of Terra Firma, Part II.
Though we could kind of argue that the inclusion of Sarek, Pike, and Una/Number One accomplished something similar in Season 2, the mystery of Carl’s powers and identity that we all had to sit with for a week is part of what made the ultimate reveal so exciting. I’ll always love when Discovery ties itself into past iterations of Star Trek, and this was perhaps my favourite connection of the season so far.
Confirmed theory #2: Georgiou will travel back in time.
Georgiou checks her holo-padd.
Where did Georgiou go for the three months she spent seemingly in the Mirror Universe? Well, Carl seemed to suggest he sent her to some kind of parallel universe, but perhaps not the Mirror Universe she came from.
Regardless, Georgiou has now definitely gone back in time – perhaps to the 23rd Century, or perhaps to another time period as we’ll discuss in a moment. We don’t know where or when she’ll emerge, and given how final her exit from Discovery felt, I doubt very much we’ll learn anything about her destination until the Section 31 series is ready to go.
My earlier theory had been that Georgiou may have travelled back in time along with the USS Discovery, perhaps in a tie-in with the Calypso story that saw the ship abandoned. This now can’t happen, of course, and while I wasn’t correct about how and why Georgiou travelled back in time, I did get the overall point right!
So those theories were confirmedin Terra Firma, Part II. Next we have three debunkings, all related to Georgiou.
Debunked theory #1: Georgiou will accidentally change the future.
Georgiou prepares to execute Mirror Burnham.
Although I wasn’t convinced that Georgiou had truly travelled back in time, one issue that time travel stories can encounter is a paradox. When Georgiou began making changes to the 23rd Century Mirror Universe, I wondered if we might’ve seen some ramifications for the future, perhaps something she and Burnham would then have to fix by restoring the true timeline.
When it seemed as though the Mirror Universe that Georgiou was seeing was different to how we saw it in Season 1 – with key players like Stamets and Burnham arriving at altogether different fates – it seemed at least a possibility. However, for Guardian of Forever-related reasons, nothing Georgiou did appears to have altered the 32nd Century, and as of the moment she left, everything was exactly where it should be.
Debunked theory #2: Georgiou didn’t travel back in time or to the Mirror Universe.
Georgiou with Burnham and her honour guard.
As discussed above, it wasn’t 100% clear where and when Georgiou spent her time over the last two episodes. But she did, according to Carl, travel back in time and to a different universe – whether or not it’s the Mirror Universe is up for debate.
I postulated this theory because of the major narrative differences between the setting Georgiou occupied and what we know of the history of the Mirror Universe and some familiar characters from Season 1. I doubt the series will revisit any of these points in future, and it seems as though the ultimate explanation for why things are different is because she was in a different universe either created or accessed by the Guardian of Forever. I’m okay with that, as it doesn’t create any major inconsistencies.
Debunked theory #3: Georgiou had been tampered with by the Federation (or Section 31).
Georgiou first became ill after a meeting with Kovich.
Despite being in the 32nd Century for at least a few weeks before Discovery found Federation HQ, Georgiou’s technobabble health problems did not emerge until immediately after her meeting with the mysterious Kovich. This led me to theorise that he could be a Section 31 operative and may be responsible for the sudden decline in her wellbeing.
However, it seems that this was a deliberate false lead, as Kovich not only was not implicated in making Georgiou ill, he actively consulted with Dr Culber and offered his expertise when asked. He knew more than he let on, both to Georgiou and Starfleet, but he was not responsible for harming her.
So those theories were debunked. Now let’s dive into the main list, beginning with a special bonus theory!
Bonus theory: Four ideas for Georgiou’s destination.
Georgiou’s destination, both in space and time, was left deliberately unanswered in Terra Firma, Part II. Carl told us he was sending her “to a time when the Mirror Universe and the Prime Universe were still aligned.” That’s an interesting statement, and could be interpreted in a lot of ways. We are very unlikely to know for sure where and when Georgiou ends up until she returns to our screens in the upcoming Section 31 series – but naturally, I have a few ideas.
The 21st Century
The reason why this one seems unlikely right now is because a Star Trek show set even earlier in the timeline than Enterprise would be difficult to produce. Enterprise depicted Earth’s first voyage of exploration, and while there were humans in space before Archer’s big mission, they were limited in speed and in the areas they covered. Thus, from the point of view of a Star Trek show, what is there to do?
On the flip side, the 21st Century is arguably the best fit for Carl’s ambiguous explanation of where Georgiou is going. We don’t know anything about the early history of the Mirror Universe, but if it’s true that it and the Prime Universe were once “aligned,” as Carl explained, the earliest known point of divergence between the two timelines is 2063 and first contact between Earth and Vulcan. In the Mirror Universe, after Cochrane’s warp flight he and his followers massacred the Vulcans who arrived on Earth, before humanity conquered their homeworld and founded the Terran Empire.
If this is truly the point of divergence, sending Georgiou to the 21st Century could fit with what Carl said. It could also mean that the Section 31 series depicts the creation of the organisation, and we could learn that Georgiou was its first leader.
The 23rd Century
The most likely destination based simply on what we know of the Section 31 series. It would also return Georgiou to her own time, thus curing her technobabble ailment. A return to the 23rd Century would allow for the return of characters like Ash Tyler, and we could even see a crossover with Strange New Worlds reuniting Georgiou with Captain Pike.
A series set in this era would depict Section 31 going underground, transforming itself into the clandestine outfit we first encountered in Deep Space Nine. However, the Mirror and Prime Universes are certainly not “aligned,” as Carl put it, in the 23rd Century, so could that be a hint that Georgiou is headed elsewhere? If not, how will that be explained?
The dawn of the 25th Century
The Mirror Universe episodes from Deep Space Nine showed a far less “Terran” group of Terrans fighting for their freedom against a Klingon-Cardassian alliance. Perhaps this change in the Terrans continued, leaving the Prime and Mirror Universes in something close to alignment by the late 24th Century.
This would have the benefit of connecting the Section 31 series with Star Trek: Picard – and any future shows or films set in that same era. There could be crossovers with Picard, and we could see major connections between Star Trek’s different ongoing timelines. Is it likely? Well, I’m not so sure. I think you have to squeeze the semantics of Carl’s statement a little too much, plus it connects only to a handful of Deep Space Nine episodes that most audiences wouldn’t be familiar with. But it’s not impossible.
The 27th Century
Kovich told us in Die Trying that there hadn’t been a crossover between the two universes in “five hundred years,” which would mean the last time it was possible would have been in or around the 27th Century. Does that mean the two universes were “aligned” at that point? Well no, but it could be argued that they were.
The drawback to this idea, like with the 21st Century above, is that it would isolate the Section 31 series in yet another time period, splitting up the ongoing Star Trek projects. There’s also no compelling reason to visit the 27th Century – very few of characters from other Star Trek shows could be alive, and nothing major seems to have happened in this era, which takes place after everything else in Star Trek yet before the Temporal Wars and the Burn brought the Federation to the brink.
So those are four ideas for where (and when) Georgiou might be headed. Now let’s get into the main theory list.
Number 1: Saru, Burnham, or somebody else will use the Guardian of Forever to send the USS Discovery back in time.
Carl – a.k.a. the Guardian of Forever.
The Red Angel suit may have been the last remaining piece of technology capable of time-travel – if we’re to believe the Federation’s claims that nobody violates the ban! But now that the Guardian of Forever has been rediscovered, the potential for travel through time is once again on the agenda. Whether Burnham explained exactly what happened to Saru, and if she did, whether he will explain it to Starfleet is not clear, but even if they’re the only ones who know about the Guardian, they may have need of its services.
When considering the story of Calypso, particularly how the USS Discovery came to be abandoned in a nebula, the big question is “why.” Why would Saru, Vance, or Burnham feel a need to take the ship back in time and hide it? There is no obvious reason right now, and with only three episodes to go if a major new problem were to emerge it could end up feeling rushed or like a deus ex machina.
Regardless, it’s at least possible that Discovery will travel back in time. And right now, one of the only ways that could happen would be to make use of the Guardian of Forever.
Number 2: The Emerald Chain will attempt to steal the USS Discovery and/or the Spore Drive.
The USS Discovery.
Admiral Vance was incredibly worried about Book’s use of an Emerald Chain signal booster on board Discovery, fearing that the untested technology could cause problems. It seems this macguffin could be a “backdoor” into Discovery’s systems, or perhaps some kind of tracking device that could allow the Emerald Chain to find the ship – and its Spore Drive. Spoiler warning for anyone who missed the promo for episode 11, but it seems that at least one Emerald Chain ship will show up.
Additionally, in The Sanctuary Ryn confided in Tilly that the reason Osyraa – the Emerald Chain’s leader – is so keen to recover him is because he knows their biggest secret: the Emerald Chain is running out of dilithium. This will undoubtedly make the faction more aggressive as it looks to shore up its position, but now that they’ve seen Discovery able to jump to Kwejian, perhaps Osyraa and her people will begin to suspect that the ship has a powerful new method of propulsion.
Admiral Vance told Starfleet’s senior officers about the Spore Drive in Scavengers, and I picked up at least a hint that not everyone was happy about this disruption to the established hierarchy of Starfleet. Could someone within Starfleet – such as Lieutenant Willa – have passed along to the Emerald Chain details of the USS Discovery?
Number 3: The Emerald Chain will attack Federation HQ.
Discovery at Federation HQ.
Obviously this theory and the one above can’t both be true! But if the Emerald Chain is moving, Federation HQ seems a logical target. The Emerald Chain is planning “military exercises,” according to Starfleet. Both Starfleet and Book’s courier friends believe this is code for some kind of larger-scale military engagement.
Clearly the Emerald Chain story thread needs to be wrapped up somehow – by defeating them militarily or coming to a negotiated settlement – so perhaps this is the moment they make their move.
Right now it seems as though the Emerald Chain will go after Discovery, but it’s possible that’s a deliberate misdirect, or that they’re able to wield a large enough force to attack both targets at once.
Number 4: Admiral Vance is going to be killed.
Admiral Vance.
If the Emerald Chain does make a significant move against Starfleet, I wonder if this could see Admiral Vance killed off. Though he returned (in holo-form) in Terra Firma, Part II, his line to Saru in Part I that he and Starfleet would “handle the Chain” in Discovery’s absence feels like something that could come back to haunt him. There was an air of finality to that scene.
We also know that Discovery looks set not to return to the fleet this week, pursuing its investigation of the Burn to the Verubin Nebula. If the Emerald Chain attacks in Discovery’s absence, Admiral Vance may not survive the fight. This could set up an interesting story – let’s look at that now!
Number 4A: Saru will become an admiral, and Burnham will assume command of Discovery.
Burnham & Saru.
As Georgiou prepared to step into the Guardian of Forever’s portal, she told Burnham that Saru is “not the only one suited for the captain’s chair.” Though this is the opinion of one character within the story, it was also very deliberately shown to us as the audience. Perhaps it’s simply to mirror what Prime Georgiou said to Burnham in Season 1 about setting her up for her own command, but there could be more to it than that.
If Admiral Vance and/or other senior Starfleet commanders were killed, as I speculated could happen, perhaps Saru would be offered the opportunity to become an Admiral. His different approach to command that we’ve seen this season could benefit Starfleet, and even if Vance survives, he may ask Saru to join him at the head of Starfleet. Saru, as someone from a different era and as a Kelpien, brings a unique perspective that Starfleet Command would certainly benefit from if they move to begin rebuilding the Federation.
Saru’s promotion would leave yet another vacancy in the captain’s chair of Discovery. Tilly had been appointed acting first officer a few episodes ago, but there’s no way she could assume command of the ship on a permanent basis. Given that this is Star Trek: Discovery, and Burnham has such a prominent role in the series, she is the only candidate.
In my opinion, after Burnham’s awful character regression midway through the season, Discovery will have to work incredibly hard over these final three episodes to make such an appointment feel plausible. However, it can be done, and we’ve seen Burnham do a lot better over the last couple of weeks. Burnham assuming command always felt like a destination the series was trying to reach – could this be the moment it gets there?
Number 5: Dr Issa is a descendant of Saru’s sister Siranna.
Saru with the hologram of Dr Issa.
The revelation that a Kelpien ship was responsible for at least part of the Federation distress signal in the Verubin Nebula was interesting, and had a great effect on Captain Saru. It was the first he’d seen of his people since arriving in the 32nd Century. When Dr Issa – the Kelpien scientist who sent the distress signal – first appeared, I genuinely thought we were seeing Siranna, Saru’s sister who was introduced in the Short Treks episode The Brightest Star and who reappeared in Season 2 of Discovery last year.
The reason for this is that Siranna and Dr Issa are both portrayed by the same actress (Hannah Spear) and thus look very similar. It remains a (remote) possibility that the two characters could be one and the same – either through time-travel shenanigans or perhaps because post-vahar’ai Kelpiens are especially long-lived, but what I think is more likely is that a familial connection will be revealed – Dr Issa will be a distant relation to Saru through his sister.
The reason for this is primarily production-side: why bring back the same actress to portray a Kelpien, and have the characters look practically identical, if there isn’t meant to be a connection? From a story point of view it could give Saru a dilemma – saving the Kelpien ship versus aiding Starfleet, for example – or it could give him a deeper emotional connection to the stranded ship than he would otherwise have.
Number 6: A time-travelling (or parallel universe) USS Discovery is at the centre of the nebula – and may be responsible for the Burn.
The USS Discovery was in an unnamed nebula in Calypso.
Should these next three theories about the Verubin Nebula that I posited a couple of weeks ago be considered debunked? After all, we have the revelation of the Kelpien ship being in the nebula to contend with now, and that could be the beginning of the end for the Burn mystery.
I’m not convinced, though, at least not yet, that there isn’t more going on in the Verubin Nebula. We don’t know anything about the nebula or what’s inside it, and the existence of a Kelpien ship doesn’t rule out the possible existence of the USS Discovery or any other vessel. We know, in fact, that a Starfleet ship was en route to the Verubin Nebula to assist Dr Issa, so there may be at least one more ship in there, and we don’t know the nature of the “dilithium nursery” the Kelpiens were investigating or what became of it.
In the Short Treks episode Calypso, the USS Discovery was found abandoned in an unnamed nebula by Craft. Craft was a soldier in a war against the V’draysh; an alternate name for the Federation in the 32nd Century. Zora, an AI present aboard the USS Discovery, told Craft the ship had been abandoned for almost a thousand years, and not only have we seen the potential creation of Zora earlier this season (from a merger of Discovery’s computer and the Sphere data) but in addition, Season 3 takes place 930 years in the future from Discovery’s original 23rd Century setting. If Discovery had been abandoned at that time, things begin to fall into place.
There are two possibilities for how it could be the USS Discovery – which, of course, has not been abandoned – in that nebula: the ship will be sent back in time, or it has crossed over from an alternate timeline or parallel universe.
Number 7: A familiar starship is at the centre of the nebula – and may be responsible for the Burn.
Is Star Trek: Picard’s La Sirena in the Verubin Nebula?
If not the USS Discovery, then who could it be at the centre of the Verubin Nebula? How about one of the hero ships from a past iteration of Star Trek? We could encounter the USS Defiant, the Enterprise-E, Riker’s USS Titan, or Star Trek: Picard’s La Sirena among many others. If such a vessel were caught in a temporal anomaly, that would explain their presence in the 32nd Century – and if time travel is involved, from their point of view the Burn may have only just happened, instead of happening 120 years ago.
It’s more likely, though, that any ship Saru and the crew find in the nebula would be deserted so long after the Burn – either abandoned by its crew or having become their tomb. If it is a familiar ship, we could thus see the ultimate end of a significant character (or multiple characters) from a past iteration of Star Trek.
The one exception to this could be La Sirena. This would be totally out of left-field for the Star Trek franchise, and keeping a lid on a secret this big would be difficult. But it would finally accomplish something I’ve been arguing for for a while: simplifying the Star Trek franchise. If La Sirena were discovered, along with Picard and his crew, Picard Season 2 could join Discovery in the 32nd Century. I don’t consider this likely, but it would be a fascinating way for the Star Trek franchise to go!
Number 8: The Red Angel suit is at the centre of the nebula – and may be responsible for the Burn.
Burnham in the Red Angel suit at the end of Season 2.
Burnham’s Red Angel suit was last seen on Hima when she sent it back in time. She ordered the suit to self-destruct, but as we never saw the destruction on screen, what became of the suit after it sent the final Red Burst is unknown. Was it captured, intercepted, or damaged? Could someone have stolen it with a view to weaponising it? It’s at least a possibility.
The Red Angel suit was known to be incredibly powerful, and in an age where time travel has been outlawed, it may be one of the only ways to travel through time that still exists – making it a lucrative target for all sorts of factions.
If Discovery wants to present the Burn as an accident or disaster rather than a deliberate act, having the Red Angel suit malfunction could be one way of doing that. Rather than requiring a villain, the story of the season could instead see the crew unravelling a scientific puzzle, one which points to Discovery and her crew as the origin of the Burn, but in such a way that they themselves are blameless.
So it’s clear that all three of these Verubin Nebula theories can’t be true. And now that we’ve seen the Kelpien ship, it’s possible that none are true and there won’t be anything else to find if and when Discovery heads to the nebula. I’m not convinced of that yet; the Verubin Nebula and the Burn have been presented as complex puzzles, and I’m sure there will be more twists, turns, and revelations before we uncover the truth about what’s really going on.
Number 8A: The name “Burn” is derived from the name Burnham.
Burnham in Die Trying.
Connected to the theory above, if indeed the Red Angel suit is the source of the Burn, perhaps the name of the event is derived from the name of the wearer of the Red Angel suit – either Michael or Gabrielle Burnham.
The music within the signal emanating from the Verubin Nebula has – somehow – subconsciously embedded itself in people all across the galaxy. We didn’t hear everything Dr Issa had to say – her message was tantalisingly cut short as a result of decades of radiation and decay. If, somehow, Dr Issa was trying to contact Burnham, or was trying to report on her discovery of the Red Angel suit within the nebula, perhaps that could be how the names are related.
I speculated way back when I looked at possible Burn origins before the season premiered that it was, at the very least, an odd coincidence that in a show all about Michael Burnham there’s a disastrous event called “the Burn.” Could these two seemingly unconnected things actually be related?
I stand by what I said a few weeks ago: if it is somehow Burnham’s fault, calling the event “the Burn” sounds way better than calling it “the Ham!”
Number 9:Discovery Season 3 is taking place in an alternate timeline or parallel universe.
The two-part Voyager episode Year of Hell took place in an alternate timeline caused by time-travel meddling.
I’m tempted to retire this theory, especially after the Guardian of Forever referred to Burnham and Discovery as being in the “prime universe” this week. But even if this is the Prime timeline – the one which goes from Enterprise to Picard – it’s still possible that, with the involvement of time travel, this particular version of it has unfolded differently from the way it was supposed to.
If the Burn was caused – intentionally or accidentally – by time travel, surely from the point of view of the Federation, they would want to undo it to restore the “true” timeline. If that’s the case, most of the events of Discovery Season 3 could be wiped from existence – in the same way that the timelines in Yesterday’s Enterprise and Year of Hell were in past iterations of Star Trek.
Whether this would be a good way to go is up for debate. As a one-off story like those mentioned above, an alternate timeline can be fun to explore. But having seen Saru and the crew put in a huge amount of effort over the season so far to build bridges and begin to reunite the fractured Federation, undoing all of that and saying it never happened – or that no one besides Discovery’s crew will remember it – risks making these stories feel hollow and devoid of meaning.
I’m pretty much convinced that Discovery is in the Prime universe. Whether the alternate timeline stuff will pan out is still a possibility, though.
Number 10: The Burn was a superweapon – perhaps one the Federation or Section 31 built.
The Burn.
The discovery of a Kelpien science vessel at the centre of the Verubin Nebula is interesting, but it seems unlikely that such a craft would be carrying a superweapon – if one even existed! However, as discussed, Dr Issa’s craft may not be the only one within the nebula.
The Burn could be a superweapon – one developed by Starfleet or Section 31, perhaps designed to counter a galactic-scale threat like the Borg or the super-synths from Star Trek: Picard.
Both Admiral Vance and Kovich have stated that they don’t know what caused the Burn, and they don’t consider any of the many theories more or less likely than others. Kovich could be lying, but Admiral Vance certainly seemed genuine. However, given how long ago the Burn was, it’s possible the knowledge of what caused it has been lost or deliberately concealed, either by Starfleet, Section 31, or whichever faction was responsible.
It could also have been a revenge attack; some kind of galactic-scale mutually-assured destruction. If the Federation, Section 31, or some other organisation launched an attack against someone, the Burn may be that faction’s retaliation. That would explain the lack of an invader: they were already dead.
We’re edging closer to learning the true nature of the Burn. A superweapon remains on the table as one possibility – but the question it raises is this: were Starfleet and the Federation the target of the Burn, or its perpetrator?
Number 11: There will be a resolution to the story of Calypso (the Short Treks episode).
Craft, the protagonist of Calypso.
We got further confirmation last week that Zora – the AI encountered in Calypso – has been created. Kovich referred to it as “an AI,” and though unnamed right now, Zora herself became involved in the story. It was her intervention that sent Discovery to Dannus V in search of help for Georgiou – having pieced together the Guardian of Forever’s location from a combination of the Sphere data and 32nd Century Federation computer systems.
One thing that’s definitely interesting right now is that the USS Discovery as it appeared in Calypso no longer exists. The ship was retrofitted in Scavengers, and in addition to features like programmable matter interfaces and detachable nacelles, now sports the designation NCC 1031-A.
My theory is that, if indeed Discovery somehow travels backwards in time this season, the crew will very deliberately un-retrofit the ship first, removing any 32nd Century features to avoid polluting the timeline in case of accidental discovery. Discovery was in a nebula in Calypso – could that be the Verubin Nebula?
Calypso has been an outlier in Discovery’s story since it was broadcast in between Seasons 1 and 2. Having seen some elements from that episode cross over, all that remains is for the mystery at its core – Discovery being abandoned in a nebula – to be resolved. No small task, perhaps, but if this entire storyline from Calypso to Control to the time-wormhole to the Burn has been planned out properly, there’s no reason why we won’t see everything tied up by the end of the season.
Number 12: Tilly is going to go rogue.
Saru and Tilly in Far From Home.
One line which stuck with me from Unification III was when Tilly asked Saru if he chose her to be his first officer because he believed her to be “compliant.” He ducked the question, but it was at least hinted that he does indeed see her as someone who will do as she’s told. Having experienced the Burnham problem, perhaps that’s a knee-jerk reaction from Saru, and one which, if true, would make me question his judgement. But the line carried with it a potentially serious implication – Tilly may choose, at a certain moment, not to comply.
She may do so to assist Burnham in some way, and if Tilly were to disobey orders – as she stated she would in Scavengers when talking with Saru – I would assume it would be for this reason. But there may be something else that causes her to go rogue, following in Burnham’s footsteps. I can’t say exactly what it could be if not Burnham, but we’ve had two lines that can certainly be interpreted to say that Tilly may be less “compliant” than Saru hopes.
Over the few episodes since she accepted the role, we have seen Tilly begin to grow into it. This is undoubtedly a change to her character, but not necessarily a bad one. I still think, however, that there is scope for her to do something significant when faced with a difficult situation, even if that means going against orders.
Number 13: The Spore Drive will become Starfleet’s new method of faster-than-light propulsion.
Discovery makes a Spore Drive jump.
SB-19, whether it caused the Burn or not, was an imperfect way to travel when compared to the Spore Drive. At present, only Discovery is capable of using the mycelial network, but that could change. What the implications of that would be on races like the JahSepp, who are native to the mycelial network, is not clear, but assuming it would be safe to use the network to travel, Spore Drives may yet be installed on all of Starfleet’s ships.
At the moment Discovery relies on Stamets as navigator; without him, accessing the mycelial network is not possible. But if, as was hinted at in Forget Me Not, it’s possible to create a non-human navigator, a major obstacle to other vessels using the Spore Drive melts away.
This theory would allow the resolution to the Burn to keep the current timeline intact – there would be no need to go back in time and undo anything, nor would there be a deus ex machina of a sudden discovery of a huge cache of dilithium. Instead, Starfleet could get back on its feet using the Spore Drive – finally finding a proper use for Discovery’s most controversial piece of technology!
Number 14: A character from a past iteration of Star Trek – such as the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager – will make an appearance.
The Doctor.
Technically this theory was proven in Terra Firma, as the Guardian of Forever returned from The Original Series! But the Guardian of Forever/Carl’s identity had its own entry on the theory list, so we can’t really call this one confirmed. Besides, there are still three episodes left for another character to appear!
Before Season 3 premiered I made the case for Voyager’s Doctor – or rather, a backup copy of him seen in the Season 4 episode Living Witness – being a prime candidate for inclusion. Aside from him, other characters I suggested included Soji (or a synth who looks like her), Lore, Captain Sisko, and Enterprise’s Crewman Daniels – the latter of whom was a 30th/31st Century temporal agent. Any of these could reasonably be alive in the 32nd Century, and characters who have long lifespans or are known to have spent time in the far future are perhaps more likely to appear.
If a starship from a past iteration of Star Trek is somehow within the Verubin Nebula, perhaps that could be how a crossover character is introduced. With time travel, temporal anomalies, and technobabble at their disposal, the writers could find an excuse to bring back practically anybody!
Having seen a tie-in with Picard via the appearance of the Qowat Milat, and the aforementioned Guardian of Forever return from The Original Series, it gives me hope that Discovery will find more ways to tie itself to the wider Star Trek franchise. A character crossover is a spectacular way of doing that, and as The Next Generation showed with episodes like Relics, the passage of centuries is no barrier to such a crossover in a sci-fi world. Until the credits roll on the season finale, I’ll keep advocating this theory!
Number 15: The ships at Federation HQ represent the majority of Starfleet’s remaining vessels. And they’re all 120+ years old.
Discovery and a couple of other starships at Federation HQ.
How many ships were present as Discovery arrived at Federation HQ? Ten? Twelve? It wasn’t much more than that, that’s for sure. In a post-Burn environment, one where the Federation has shrunk considerably and where dilithium is in short supply, it’s possible that these ships are all that remain of the once-mighty Starfleet.
In That Hope Is You, Mr Sahil noted two Federation ships in flight, so perhaps we can say from his comment that there are at least two more! But I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that we’ve seen the bulk of Starfleet. Certainly the Federation seems incapable of either building any more ships nor fielding a large armada right now, which is perhaps one of the reasons why they need to keep their base cloaked.
Because of the catastrophic nature of the Burn, it also seems highly likely that shipbuilding facilities would have been damaged, destroyed, or would be inaccessible. That may mean that the Federation’s fleet entirely consists of ageing vessels, each one over 120 years old and probably not designed for being in service this long. In addition, without fuel what would be the point of expending a lot of resources building a new ship?
If the Emerald Chain really is on the warpath, the Federation may find itself outnumbered if these ships really do comprise the entire fleet.
Number 16: Burnham’s Red Angel suit has been stolen.
Burnham’s Red Angel suit – this was the last we saw of it.
As mentioned above, the Red Angel suit – and possibly Burnham or her mother – could be responsible for the Burn, and could be waiting for Discovery at the centre of the Verubin Nebula through parallel universe or time travel shenanigans!
This has been a theory I’ve been pushing since Burnham sent her Red Angel suit back into the wormhole in That Hope Is You right at the beginning of the season. I was struck by a line in Die Trying: Admiral Vance described the Red Angel suit as being “inaccessible.”
Burnham goes on to say she set the suit to self-destruct, but all this did for me is reinforce the fact that we didn’t see the suit’s destruction with our own eyes. The finale of Season 2 confirmed that Pike and Spock received the final red burst in the 23rd Century, but beyond that we simply do not know what became of the suit.
Number 17: The Dax symbiont is still alive.
Ezri Dax.
This one is looking increasingly unlikely, because the two locations where Dax could have appeared have both seemingly come and gone without them: most notably the Trill homeworld in Forget Me Not, but also Federation HQ in Die Trying. However, there are hints at a lifespan for Trill symbionts that may be exceptionally long, in which case Dax could very well still be alive in the 32nd Century.
Obviously we won’t see Ezri Dax (barring some bizarre time travel/stasis storyline) but the symbiont itself could have lived this long. When Adira “met” the Tal symbiont’s former hosts in Forget Me Not, one was wearing a Star Trek: Picard-era uniform, hinting that Tal may have lived 700+ years. There are production-side explanations for this Easter egg, and as stated the fact that two of the best opportunities so far to meet Dax have come and gone most likely means it won’t happen this season. But I’m sticking to my guns on this one: Dax is alive!
Number 18: The ban on time travel is being flouted – possibly by secretive elements within the Federation.
The USS Enterprise travelled back in time in The Original Series second season episode Assignment: Earth.
Admiral Vance clearly believes that the ban on time travel is intact and being followed. Kovich indicated that he does too – but I’m not sure how far I trust him. Is he an agent of Section 31?
Even if the ban had been obediently followed thus far, the arrival of Discovery – and more importantly, the Red Angel suit – could have changed that if someone were able to get their hands on it. We know from what Zareh said in Far From Home that Discovery’s arrival in the future did not go unnoticed, and that anyone with a decent sensor array would have been able to detect time travel. Could someone – possibly even someone within the Federation – have tracked down the Red Angel suit or entered the time-wormhole before it closed?
It’s impossible to un-invent a powerful, useful, weaponisable technology, no matter how hard you try. Considering how crappy the 32nd Century seems to be, are we convinced that nobody at all is using time travel to try to give themselves an advantage? Not the Dominion? Not the Borg? Not Section 31? Seems unlikely to me, though for production-side reasons of wanting to keep the timeline intact and to avoid overcomplicating the plot we might be told this is true!
The reappearance of the Guardian of Forever – although it remains a secret only Burnham knows for now – could mean that future time travel stories are on the agenda, even if this theory isn’t correct.
Number 19: Kovich is an agent of Section 31.
Kovich.
Who is Kovich? He doesn’t wear a normal Starfleet uniform, and doesn’t appear to hold a Starfleet rank. Yet he wears a Starfleet combadge and is clearly a high-ranking intelligence officer as he undertook Georgiou’s debriefing and has access to classified files that pertain to time travel and parallel universes.
It is at least possible – if not outright likely – that this mysterious character works for Section 31. Since we now know he hasn’t just disappeared and may well be coming back, perhaps we’ll learn more about him. We know he has an interest in the Mirror Universe and Terran society, expressing almost an admiration for Georgiou and her way of doing things.
Though his two appearances so far have both been connected to Georgiou, David Cronenberg has stated that Kovich may return in Season 4, and it’s possible we’ll see more of him before the end of this season too. It’s a shame we won’t get to see him and Georgiou have another conversation, because the way they talked around each other was truly fascinating. But there are many other ways Kovich could contribute to the story – or any future story. If, as speculated above, the Burn is somehow connected to Section 31, perhaps he could play a role in the way that mystery is resolved.
Number 20: We haven’t seen the last of Zareh.
Zareh.
Despite being quite content to kill all of Zareh’s goons, Saru balked at the idea of killing the man himself in Far From Home. Instead, he and Georgiou let him go, sending him out into the wilds of the Colony – despite being told by the locals that that’s a death sentence. However, we didn’t see Zareh die. And in stories like these, characters like Zareh tend to pop back up looking for revenge. His association with the Emerald Chain could bring him back into the story if they plan to make a move against Starfleet and/or the USS Discovery.
So that’s it. We’ve reduced the number of theories from last week ever so slightly! As we head into the final three episodes that was bound to happen, and with the Georgiou storyline now resolved, Discovery has three episodes remaining to either resolve the mystery of the Burn or set up a cliffhanger on that subject! Just because the first two seasons saw relatively self-contained stories that doesn’t necessarily mean the same will be true this time too, and if the Burn is as complex as has been suggested, perhaps three episodes – which also have to deal with the Emerald Chain – won’t be enough time to fully explore it. A season-ending cliffhanger is thus a real possibility!
Ever since we learned about the Verubin Nebula I’ve been itching for Saru and Discovery to get there. It looks like we’re finally about to see that happen, and I cannot wait! If you’re in the United States you’ll be able to see episode 11 in a matter of hours; those of us in the rest of the world have to wait a little longer!
Please remember that these theories are just a bit of fun. Some may seem plausible – or even highly likely – but that doesn’t mean that this is the way the story will unfold. I’m just a guy with a website, I’m not claiming to have any “insider information,” nor am I saying that the theories postulated above will come true. No fan theory is worth getting so invested in that the actual story becomes disappointing or upsetting. Personally, as much as I love feeling like I predicted something that later appeared on screen, I also truly love being surprised by Star Trek and other franchises. That doesn’t mean writers should make silly or arbitrary decisions purely for shock value, but it does mean that when a theory of mine falls flat on its face, far from getting upset I revel in that. If we could all remember to take fan theories with a healthy pinch of salt, maybe there’d be a little less toxicity in certain areas of the fandom.
Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream on CBS All Access in the United States, and on Netflix in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The Star Trek franchise – including Discovery and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3, Star Trek: Picard, as well as for other iterations of the Star Trek franchise.
After a couple of episodes that I wasn’t especially impressed with, Discovery came roaring back this week with The Sanctuary, a busy episode that had plenty going on. It managed to tell both a semi-standalone story as Book returned to his homeworld as well as throw into the mix several ongoing storylines.
In terms of theories, The Sanctuary gave us a lot – certainly the most movement we’ve seen in several weeks. There are two theories being retired, two more being debunked, three brand-new ones, and several significant advancements.
Debunked theory #1: There will be some kind of tie-in with the Deep Space Nine Season 2 episode Sanctuary.
Major Kira in Sanctuary.
When I postulated this theory last week I called it a “total stab in the dark,” and I’m not surprised to see it fail to pan out. Having looked through the episode a couple of times I saw no hint or reference to the Skrreeans, their mythical planet of Ketanna, or their new homeworld of Drayon II.
Because Discovery had used Unification III a week earlier to connect to the two-part episode from The Next Generation, I considered it at least possible that there might’ve been some kind of reference or callback to Deep Space Nine. It was just a thought, though, and has no real impact on the show going forward!
Debunked theory #2: The music Burnham keeps noticing is indicative of having crossed into a parallel universe.
Adira plays the melody on their cello.
We learned this week that the recurring music is connected to the signal coming from the Verubin Nebula. How, exactly, the signal managed to convey a piece of music subconsciously to half the galaxy is unknown, but it’s clearly not connected to being in a parallel universe.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to abandon the idea of Burnham and Discovery having crossed into a different universe, but it does mean that the music is not indicative of that.
So those theories were debunked. Next we have two theories that I’m choosing to retire. While it isn’t fair to call either “debunked,” as there was no on-screen confirmation, the way the story has moved on is now strongly suggesting that neither will pan out.
Retiring theory #1: Booker is a Coppelius synth.
Book and Kyheem use their empathic abilities.
Though never stated outright, the origin of Book seems to be that he’s a Kwejian native. Why he chose to adopt a human name is unclear, as is what the exact nature of a Kwejian native is! Are they descended from humans or a human colony on that world? Are they a different race entirely? Book’s empathic abilities seem to imply the latter, but The Sanctuary didn’t really go into too much detail. Perhaps we’ll learn more on another occasion.
Regardless, it’s looking more and more likely that Book’s abilities are in no way meant to be indicative of a synthetic origin. While it’s technically possible we could learn, in a later story, that the civilisation on Kwejian is synthetic, I doubt it right now. And thus we can officially retire this theory.
As a side note, I don’t feel the storyline we got with Book’s background actually accomplished very much. Though Book had demonstrated his empathic abilities in his first appearance, everything else about him seemed to be human, and though learning the nature of his abilities was something I think a lot of us were curious about, the ultimate resolution to them being “he’s just a new kind of alien from a new planet” doesn’t feel especially interesting. If this was Book’s ultimate destination, why not just have him be up front with Burnham in That Hope Is You about his origins? Why go to the trouble of making us think he could be human only to change it later? It wasn’t like Book’s homeworld or race were significant to the main story of the season; if anything the scenes on Kwejian in The Sanctuary felt like a standalone story, as I noted in my review. I’m not upset about what we learned, but the way in which this story thread unfolded is just a little odd.
Retiring theory #2: Lieutenant Detmer is going to die.
Detmer in control of Book’s ship.
After a narrative that tried to touch on the broad issues of post-traumatic stress and mental health, it seems as though Detmer’s first real storyline has come to an end. The Sanctuary saw her regain much of her confidence as she took the helm of Book’s ship, and as of the end of the episode seemed happier and much more settled.
In truth we’d been seeing movement away from this theory for several weeks, but after there had been so much hinting at a possible unpleasant end to Discovery’s helmswoman in Far From Home I wanted to wait and see how it panned out before striking it from the list. We could certainly still see Detmer killed in some way, perhaps by Osyraa extracting revenge for the attack on her vessel, but if that’s going to happen it would be unconnected to her initial injuries earlier in the season. Since my theory was based on the idea that Detmer was suffering some kind of undiagnosed injury or implant-related condition, I’m now retiring it. I’m not sure how much more we’ll see of her this season now that her arc appears to have been resolved, but as above, if we get new information that again points to this being a possibility, I can always bring the theory back at that point.
So those theories have been retired. If the storyline of the season changes again, it’s possible they could come back. But as of right now they seem to be so unlikely as to no longer warrant inclusion on the official theory list. Speaking of, let’s get into the main list, beginning with those theories that are new or saw major movement this week.
Number 1: A time-travelling (or parallel universe) USS Discovery is at the centre of the nebula – and may be responsible for the Burn.
The USS Discovery in a nebula in the Short Treks episode Calypso.
This is the first of three ideas I have for the source of the Federation signal at the centre of the Verubin Nebula, and it gets to go first because I consider it to be the most likely.
Just to briefly recap, after using a combination of Starfleet black boxes and the data from a secret project codenamed SB-19, Stamets, Adira, Tilly, and Saru traced the Burn’s point of origin to the Verubin Nebula. Something within the nebula is emitting a signal, part of which was a familiar piece of music that many people in the 32nd Century are familiar with, but hidden deep within the signal was a “Federation distress signal.” Adira began the task of decoding the signal, but as of the end of The Sanctuary, the message was still hidden.
In the Short Treks episode Calypso, the USS Discovery was found abandoned in a nebula by Craft. Craft was a soldier in a war against the V’draysh; an alternate name for the Federation in the 32nd Century. Zora, an AI present aboard the USS Discovery, told Craft the ship had been abandoned for almost a thousand years, and not only have we seen the potential creation of Zora earlier this season (from a merger of Discovery’s computer and the Sphere data) but in addition, Season 3 takes place 930 years in the future from Discovery’s original 23rd Century setting. If Discovery had been abandoned at that time, things begin to fall into place.
There are two possibilities for how it could be the USS Discovery – which, of course, has not been abandoned – in that nebula: the ship will be sent back in time, or it has crossed over from an alternate timeline or parallel universe – it could have even crossed over from the prime timeline if Season 3 is itself taking place in an alternate reality!
Time travel and parallel universe stories quickly get complicated, so Discovery will need to work hard to pull this off – if indeed the story is headed in this direction.
Number 2: A familiar starship is at the centre of the nebula – and may be responsible for the Burn.
Could the Enterprise-E be hiding at the centre of the nebula?
If not the USS Discovery, then who could it be at the centre of the Verubin Nebula? How about one of the hero ships from a past iteration of Star Trek? We could encounter the USS Defiant, the Enterprise-E, Riker’s USS Titan, or Star Trek: Picard’s La Sirena among many others. If such a vessel were caught in a temporal anomaly, that would explain their presence in the 32nd Century – and if time travel is involved, from their point of view the Burn may have only just happened, instead of happening 120 years ago.
It’s more likely, though, that any ship Saru and the crew find in the nebula would be deserted so long after the Burn – either abandoned by its crew or having become their tomb. If it is a familiar ship, we could thus see the ultimate end of a significant character (or multiple characters) from a past iteration of Star Trek.
The one exception to this could be La Sirena. This would be totally out of left-field for the Star Trek franchise, and keeping a lid on a secret this big would be difficult. But it would finally accomplish something I’ve been arguing for for a while: simplifying the Star Trek franchise. If La Sirena were discovered, along with Picard and his crew, Picard Season 2 could join Discovery in the 32nd Century. I don’t consider this likely, but it would be a fascinating way for the Star Trek franchise to go!
Number 3: The Red Angel suit is at the centre of the nebula – and may be responsible for the Burn.
Dr Gabrielle Burnham’s Red Angel suit.
Of note was the fact that Tilly described the distress signal coming from the Verubin Nebula as being of “Federation” origin, not Starfleet origin. This could mean that we won’t find a Starfleet vessel there, but rather some other Federation entity.
Burnham’s Red Angel suit was last seen on Hima when she sent it back in time. She ordered the suit to self-destruct, but as we never saw the destruction on screen, what became of the suit after it sent the final Red Burst is unknown. Was it captured, intercepted, or damaged? Could someone have stolen it with a view to weaponising it? It’s at least a possibility.
If Discovery wants to present the Burn as an accident or disaster rather than a deliberate act, having the Red Angel suit malfunction could be one way of doing that. Rather than requiring a villain, the story of the season could instead see the crew unravelling a scientific puzzle, one which points to Discovery and her crew as the origin of the Burn, but in such a way that they themselves are blameless.
Obviously all three of these Verubin Nebula theories can’t be true! If I had to put money on it I’d pick the USS Discovery, but Season 3 has been an unpredictable ride, and it could easily be something entirely different that I’ve failed to predict. What I would say, though, is having set this up as something mysterious, there’s a risk the resolution could feel anticlimactic if it turns out to be a random starship with no connection to anyone on Discovery.
Number 3A: The name “Burn” is derived from the name Burnham.
Burnham in Unification III.
Connected to the theory above, if indeed the Red Angel suit is the source of the Burn, perhaps the name of the event is derived from the name of the wearer of the Red Angel suit – either Michael or Gabrielle Burnham.
As noted above with the music, the signal emanating from the Verubin Nebula has – somehow – subconsciously embedded itself in people all across the galaxy. They first heard the music that way, so what if they also heard part of the distress signal? Present in the signal could be the name of the person issuing it – Burnham. If the distress signal is connected to the Burn’s origin, at the exact moment the Burn occurred, people could have subconsciously heard the name and connected the two events.
The signal could also be the suit – or its occupant – attempting to contact Burnham.
I speculated way back when I looked at possible Burn origins before the season premiered that it was, at the very least, an odd coincidence that in a show all about Michael Burnham there’s a disastrous event called “the Burn.” Could these two seemingly unconnected things actually be related?
I stand by what I said a few weeks ago: if it is somehow Burnham’s fault, calling the event “the Burn” sounds way better than calling it “the Ham!”
Number 4: The Burn was a superweapon – perhaps one the Federation or Section 31 built.
The Burn.
The presence of a Federation distress signal at (or very close to) the source of the Burn would seem to suggest the cataclysmic event was triggered by that starship or person. While that could certainly have been an accident, it may not be. The Burn could be a superweapon – one developed by Starfleet or Section 31, perhaps designed to counter a galactic-scale threat like the Borg or the super-synths from Star Trek: Picard.
It could also have been a revenge attack; some kind of galactic-scale mutually-assured destruction. If the Federation, Section 31, or some other organisation launched an attack against someone, the Burn may be that faction’s retaliation. That would explain the lack of an invader: they were already dead.
Both Admiral Vance and Kovich have stated that they don’t know what caused the Burn, and they don’t consider any of the many theories more or less likely than others. Kovich could be lying, but Admiral Vance certainly seemed genuine. However, given how long ago the Burn was, it’s possible the knowledge of what caused it has been lost or deliberately concealed, either by Starfleet, Section 31, or whichever faction was responsible.
The Federation distress signal strongly hints at Starfleet’s involvement. So the question is this: if the Burn was a superweapon, were they the perpetrator or the target?
Number 5: The Emerald Chain will attempt to steal the USS Discovery and/or the Spore Drive.
Ryn explains the Emerald Chain’s dilithium problem to Tilly.
Ryn confided in Tilly that the reason Osyraa – the Emerald Chain’s leader – is so keen to recover him is because he knows their biggest secret: the Emerald Chain is running out of dilithium. This will undoubtedly make the faction more aggressive as it looks to shore up its position, but now that they’ve seen Discovery able to jump to Kwejian, perhaps Osyraa and her people will begin to suspect that the ship has a powerful new method of propulsion.
This connects with a theory I’ve been talking about for a couple of weeks, that Discovery’s Spore Drive will not remain a secret. Admiral Vance told Starfleet’s senior officers about the Spore Drive in Scavengers, and I picked up at least a hint that not everyone was happy about this disruption to the established hierarchy of Starfleet. Could someone within Starfleet – such as Lieutenant Willa – have passed along to the Emerald Chain details of the USS Discovery?
Even if none of that happens, with Discovery jumping all over the galaxy – to Earth, Trill, Ni’Var, Federation HQ, and the location of the USS Tikhov – how long until some other faction notices? Sensors still exist, after all, and must be pretty good and have decent range by this time period. The Ni’Var learned about the Spore Drive as well, and they are no longer Federation members. Will they keep Starfleet’s secret?
Number 6: Mirror Georgiou has been tampered with by Section 31.
Georgiou in The Sanctuary.
Surely it isn’t a coincidence that Georgiou was perfectly fine until her encounter with the mysterious Kovich in Die Trying. After undergoing a medical examination for her hallucinations/blackouts, Georgiou hacked into Discovery’s medical database and, upon seeing the results, jumped to the conclusion that she is dying.
Dr Culber told her things may not be quite that simple, and for production-side reasons I’m confident that she will survive the season – she’s due to be the main character in the upcoming Section 31 series, after all! But what caused her ailment and why it’s manifested itself now is currently unknown.
Though we only have timing to back up this theory, Kovich stated that he has a fascination with Terrans and Terran physiology, so if anyone we’ve met so far was capable of harming Georgiou, he’s our prime suspect. His uniform was different from anyone else we met in Starfleet, as was his demeanour, and I think it’s possible that he’s an agent of Section 31.
Perhaps Section 31 came to the conclusion some centuries ago that Terrans are irredeemable troublemakers, and the only thing to do is kill them. Or perhaps Kovich/Section 31 had another aim with Georgiou, such as some kind of torturous interrogation, that went awry. Or the hallucinations could have been planted deliberately so Georgiou could be manipulated into working for Section 31. There are myriad possibilities!
Number 7: Mirror Georgiou will travel back in time.
Georgiou has been hallucinating and experiencing blackouts.
One circle that needs to be squared is how Georgiou could be included in the upcoming Section 31 show – which supposedly takes place in the 23rd Century – given her presence aboard Discovery. I’ve been speculating for weeks that she might travel back in time, and perhaps now we’re getting closer to finding out why – and how.
Kovich told us that the Mirror Universe and the current universe have “drifted apart” over the centuries, and crossing over may no longer be possible. If Georgiou wanted to return to the Mirror Universe – or needed to for some reason, such as to cure her ailment and save her life – she would therefore need to travel back in time.
If she took the USS Discovery with her, this could link up with the mysterious ship in the Verubin Nebula as well as the Short Treks episode Calypso. She may even take Kovich with her; he expressed an appreciation for the Mirror Universe and may want to visit for himself.
Number 8:Discovery Season 3 is taking place in an alternate timeline or parallel universe.
“An alternate reality?”
In the past couple of weeks we’ve seen two key elements of this theory fall away: the absence of Dr Gabrielle Burnham and the mysterious music. The presence of the planet Vulcan – now known as N’Var – also removed any possibility that Season 3 is taking place in the Kelvin timeline. However, there are still reasons to think this theory may be borne out.
Burnham mentioned during her debrief that unexplained “gravitational waves” in the time-wormhole pushed her and Discovery off-course, which is why they didn’t arrive at the planet Terralysium. The acknowledgement of problems within the time-wormhole may indicate that they crossed over into a different universe or reality.
There are also hints from past iterations of Star Trek – including Enterprise and Voyager most prominently – that the Burn did not occur in the prime timeline. Discovery could ignore these as they’re all rather ambiguous, but it’s worth acknowledging their existence as we consider these things.
The second half of this theory is that the Burn happened due to the interference of a time traveller or time travelling faction. From Starfleet’s point of view, the timeline in which the Burn occurred is not the “true” timeline, and thus part of the resolution to the Burn may be travelling through time to undo it.
In previous weeks I considered the first half of this theory – the parallel universe part – more likely. The re-emergence of Dr Burnham has shaken that up, however, and now both are about equal in terms of likeliness.
So those theories are new or saw movement this week. As always, to keep everything in one place I’ll now recap the other theories that are still in play. If you want to see any of these in their original theory posts, a complete archive can be found on my dedicated Star Trek: Discovery page.
Number 9: There will be further tie-ins with Calypso (the Short Treks episode).
NCC-1031.+
I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of the Calypso tie-ins after we seemed to get the creation of the Zora AI a couple of weeks ago. However, one thing that’s definitely interesting right now is that the USS Discovery as it appeared in Calypso no longer exists. The ship was retrofitted in Scavengers, and in addition to features like programmable matter interfaces and detachable nacelles, now sports the designation NCC 1031-A.
This is important because, as you can see above, we got a clear look at Discovery in Calypso, and not only were the ship’s nacelles very much attached to the hull, the designation clearly lacks the -A addition. So how will this circle be squared? That is very much up for debate right now!
My theory is that, if indeed Discovery somehow travels backwards in time this season, the crew will very deliberately un-retrofit the ship first, removing any 32nd Century features to avoid polluting the timeline in case of accidental discovery. As mentioned, the biggest indication that this theory may be true right now is the existence of a Federation signal within the Verubin Nebula. Discovery was in a nebula in Calypso – so could this be the way the two stories intersect?
Number 10: Tilly is going to go rogue.
Tilly with Captain Saru and Adira in The Sanctuary.
One line which stuck with me from Unification III was when Tilly asked Saru if he chose her to be his first officer because he believed her to be “compliant.” He ducked the question, but it was at least hinted that he does indeed see her as someone who will do as she’s told. Having experienced the Burnham problem, perhaps that’s a knee-jerk reaction from Saru, and one which, if true, would make me question his judgement. But the line carried with it a potentially serious implication – Tilly may choose, at a certain moment, not to comply.
She may do so to assist Burnham in some way, and if Tilly were to disobey orders – as she stated she would in Scavengers when talking with Saru – I would assume it would be for this reason. But there may be something else that causes her to go rogue, following in Burnham’s footsteps. I can’t say exactly what it could be if not Burnham, but we’ve had two lines that can certainly be interpreted to say that Tilly may be less “compliant” than Saru hopes.
Number 11: The Spore Drive will become Starfleet’s new method of faster-than-light propulsion.
Discovery makes a Spore Drive jump.
SB-19, whether it caused the Burn or not, was an imperfect way to travel when compared to the Spore Drive. At present, only Discovery is capable of using the mycelial network, but that could change. What the implications of that would be on races like the JahSepp, who are native to the mycelial network, is not clear, but assuming it would be safe to use the network to travel, Spore Drives may yet be installed on all of Starfleet’s ships.
At the moment Discovery relies on Stamets as navigator; without him, accessing the mycelial network is not possible. But if, as was hinted at in Forget Me Not, it’s possible to create a non-human navigator, a major obstacle to other vessels using the Spore Drive melts away.
This theory would allow the resolution to the Burn to keep the current timeline intact – there would be no need to go back in time and undo anything, nor would there be a deus ex machina of a sudden discovery of a huge cache of dilithium. Instead, Starfleet could get back on its feet using the Spore Drive – finally finding a proper use for Discovery’s most controversial piece of technology!
Number 12: A character from a past iteration of Star Trek – such as the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager – will make an appearance.
Robert Picardo played the Doctor in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager.
As the season drags on, I must admit that there are fewer chances for this theory to come true. However, as Burnham and Discovery race to the source of the Burn, we have absolutely no idea what they’ll find. If it’s a temporal anomaly of some kind, they could encounter practically anyone from Wesley Crusher to Sybok. There have been subtle hints that the Burn may be connected to time travel, and if it is, that opens the door to practically any past Star Trek character to appear – either with their original actor or, as we saw with Dr Maddox in Picard, having been recast.
As mentioned above, if the source of the distress signal is a ship from a past iteration of Star Trek, that could introduce one or more legacy characters – dead or alive.
Before Season 3 premiered I made the case for Voyager’s Doctor – or rather, a backup copy of him seen in the Season 4 episode Living Witness – being a prime candidate for inclusion. Aside from him, other characters I suggested included Soji (or a synth who looks like her), Lore, Captain Sisko, and Enterprise’s Crewman Daniels – the latter of whom was a 30th/31st Century temporal agent. Any of these could reasonably be alive in the 32nd Century, and characters who have long lifespans or are known to have spent time in the far future are perhaps more likely to appear.
Having seen a tie-in with Picard via the appearance of the Qowat Milat, it gives me hope that Discovery will find more ways to tie itself to the wider Star Trek franchise. A character crossover is a spectacular way of doing that, and as The Next Generation showed with episodes like Relics, the passage of centuries is no barrier to such a crossover in a sci-fi world. Until the credits roll on the season finale, I’ll keep advocating this theory!
Number 13: The ships at Federation HQ represent the majority of Starfleet’s remaining vessels. And they’re all 120+ years old.
Discovery docked at Starfleet HQ.
How many ships were present as Discovery arrived at Federation HQ? Ten? Twelve? It wasn’t much more than that, that’s for sure. In a post-Burn environment, one where the Federation has shrunk considerably and where dilithium is in short supply, it’s possible that these ships are all that remain of the once-mighty Starfleet.
In That Hope Is You, Mr Sahil noted two Federation ships in flight, so perhaps we can say from his comment that there are at least two more! But I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that we’ve seen the bulk of Starfleet. Certainly the Federation seems incapable of either building any more ships nor fielding a large armada right now, which is perhaps one of the reasons why they need to keep their base cloaked.
Because of the catastrophic nature of the Burn, it also seems highly likely that shipbuilding facilities would have been damaged, destroyed, or would be inaccessible. That may mean that the Federation’s fleet entirely consists of ageing vessels, each one over 120 years old and probably not designed for being in service this long. In addition, without fuel what would be the point of expending a lot of resources building a new ship?
Number 14: Burnham’s Red Angel suit has been stolen.
Burnham’s suit departs Hima.
As mentioned above, the Red Angel suit – and possibly Burnham or her mother – could be responsible for the Burn, and could be waiting for Discovery at the centre of the Verubin Nebula through parallel universe or time travel shenanigans!
This has been a theory I’ve been pushing since Burnham sent her Red Angel suit back into the wormhole in That Hope Is You right at the beginning of the season. I was struck by a line in Die Trying: Admiral Vance described the Red Angel suit as being “inaccessible.”
Burnham goes on to say she set the suit to self-destruct, but all this did for me is reinforce the fact that we didn’t see the suit’s destruction with our own eyes. The finale of Season 2 confirmed that Pike and Spock received the final red burst in the 23rd Century, but beyond that we simply do not know what became of the suit.
Number 15: The Dax symbiont is still alive.
Ezri Dax.
This one is looking less likely, because the two locations where Dax could have appeared have both seemingly come and gone without them: most notably the Trill homeworld in Forget Me Not, but also Federation HQ in Die Trying. However, there are hints at a lifespan for Trill symbionts that may be exceptionally long, in which case Dax could very well still be alive in the 32nd Century.
Obviously we won’t see Ezri Dax (barring some bizarre time travel/stasis storyline) but the symbiont itself could have lived this long. When Adira “met” the Tal symbiont’s former hosts in Forget Me Not, one was wearing a Star Trek: Picard-era uniform, hinting that Tal may have lived 700+ years. There are production-side explanations for this Easter egg, and as stated the fact that two of the best opportunities so far to meet Dax have come and gone may mean it won’t happen this season. But I’m sticking to my guns on this one: Dax is alive!
Number 16: The ban on time travel is being flouted – possibly by secretive elements within the Federation.
Could Section 31 be engaging in illicit time travel?
Unless Admiral Vance was straight-up lying to Saru and Burnham in Die Trying, he believes that the ban on time travel is still in effect. But while he’s the head of Starfleet, he may not be in total control. Section 31 was known to be rogue, and Kovich, who interviewed Georgiou in that episode, may well be a Section 31 agent.
It’s impossible to un-invent a powerful, useful, weaponisable technology, no matter how hard you try. Considering how crappy the 32nd Century seems to be, are we convinced that nobody at all is using time travel to try to give themselves an advantage? Not the Dominion? Not the Borg? Not Section 31? Seems unlikely to me, though for production-side reasons of wanting to keep the timeline intact and to avoid overcomplicating the plot we might be told this is true!
Number 17: We haven’t seen the last of Zareh.
Zareh.
Despite being quite content to kill all of Zareh’s goons, Saru balked at the idea of killing the man himself in Far From Home. Instead, he and Georgiou let him go, sending him out into the wilds of the Colony – despite being told by the locals that that’s a death sentence. However, we didn’t see Zareh die. And in stories like these, characters like Zareh tend to pop back up looking for revenge.
So that’s it. Those theories remain in play as we get ready for the two-part episode Terra Firma. The introduction of a Federation distress signal inside a nebula seems to tie in with what we know from Calypso – an episode which has already seen elements from its story incorporated into Season 3. The smart money has to be on the USS Discovery being in that nebula – somehow. Perhaps Mirror Georgiou took it back in time and left it there for the crew to find? But if she did that, what caused the Burn?
As you can see, some of these theories can be made to fit together… kind of. But there are holes in any story I try to construct, as well as a lot of unknowns! The Federation are connected to the Burn somehow, but beyond that we simply don’t know. For all we know, the distress signal could simply be from another Starfleet vessel that was investigating the Burn rather than being connected in any way to its cause. I love how unpredictable Discovery is even as we get deeper into the season. The story could go any one of a number of different directions, and I have no doubt there are more surprises in store.
One final note: no fan theory, no matter how plausible it may seem, is worth getting upset or disappointed over. I put these lists together for fun, and as an excuse to spend more time in the Star Trek galaxy, and that’s all. If something goes completely the opposite way I was expecting, far from being annoyed or upset I revel in that. That doesn’t mean writers should make arbitrary and silly decisions, but it means I like being surprised! If we could all remember to take fan theories with a healthy pinch of salt, there’d be less conflict in fan communities.
Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream on CBS All Access in the United States, and on Netflix in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The Star Trek franchise – including Discovery and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Spoiler warning: spoilers ahead for Star Trek, including both seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. If you haven’t seen Discovery yet and don’t want to see any spoilers, you’re better off reading another article and coming back when you’re caught up.
Just to get this out of the way, more Star Trek on our screens is always going to be a good thing. Even when it’s at its worst – like some of the episodes in TOS season 3, or that weird TNG clip show in season 2 – it’s still better than having no Star Trek at all. When Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled in 2005 I really felt disappointed. I wasn’t around through the dark days of the 1970s when it seemed like Star Trek was gone forever, so to me this was the first time I’d really seen it off the air. I’m not sure if you remember, but before JJ Abrams picked up the franchise for his reboot film, Star Trek really did look dead.
I also don’t like the expression “nobody asked for this”. A lot of films and series that nobody seemed to be asking for have turned out to be absolutely fantastic. And honestly, in today’s insular fan communities, a lot of what people seem to be asking for or think would be good would either turn out to be just god-awful, or at the very best a niche product that would be a commercial failure.
So with those two big caveats out of the way, I’m not really sold at the moment on the idea of a Star Trek series based around Section 31.
There are some interesting ideas within that concept, which, if properly executed, could work well. But there are some issues with the Section 31 show as currently envisioned that make me feel it might not be the best direction to take the franchise.
First is the timeframe. With Star Trek: Picard and Lower Decks returning to the late 24th Century and beyond, as well as Discovery‘s third season heading into an unknown future, I’m just not sure that the franchise needs to have three different eras on the go simultaneously. Aside from the fact that it’s convoluted to the point of being offputting for new viewers – people who CBS needs to hook in and retain if Star Trek is to survive long-term – it’s just not a good way to split up the narrative of the franchise. Personally I’ve been going back and forth on my pet theory that Discovery either doesn’t go as far into the future as was suggested last season, or that somehow its time travel narrative crosses over with Picard. It just makes more sense to me to do it that way; tying shows together when they’re set in the same universe and being produced at the same time makes a lot of sense. Look at how the Marvel films cross over with one another successfully. But that’s just one point.
The 23rd Century has been explored a lot recently, and Star Trek has been busy with prequels, reboots, and mid-quels (or whatever Discovery is) since the turn of the millennium. I don’t want to say it’s entirely devoid of storytelling potential, but Star Trek has primarily been about moving forward, looking to the future, and where it’s been arguably at its least successful from the point of view of its story is when it’s been looking back at its own history and tying itself in knots. After four seasons of Enterprise, three reboot films, and two seasons of Discovery, it’s going to be great to see Star Trek finally moving into the future again, and the Section 31 series taking place in the 23rd Century seems more than a little regressive when looking at Picard, Lower Decks, and Discovery‘s future.
The next issue is with the two main characters, or rather, the two characters returning from Discovery around whom the show is currently being built.
Ash Tyler – or Voq – has had his story fairly well explored already in his appearances in Star Trek: Discovery. Without inventing more backstory for him, it’s hard to see where he’d go and how he’ll be able to have a satisfying character arc. Having started out as a victim of Klingon manipulation, Tyler fought hard against his programming and fell in love with Discovery’s protagonist, Michael Burnham, who helped him overcome what had been done to him in what was a very interesting and inspirational rape analogy. Star Trek, for me, is at its best when it uses its sci-fi setting to tackle real-world issues, and the issue of under-reported male sexual abuse is something Ash Tyler’s story touched on perfectly. And in his second season role as an agent of Section 31, he overcame his Klingon heritage, had a child, gave up his child, and finally dealt with his feelings for Burnham – and hers for him. He’s been on a rollercoaster over the last two seasons, but what he’s been through has concluded, and while there may be lingering feelings left over from that, as a story arc it’s essentially done. Because of how much of him we’ve seen and how much he’s been through, he wouldn’t make for the best protagonist.
So that leaves the Mirror Universe version of Burnham’s old captain, Philippa Georgiou. Michelle Yeoh has been announced as the lead actress of this series, so her character would be central to the Section 31 show. But… what character is there, exactly? In terms of modern Star Trek, Mirror Georgiou is about as one-dimensional as it gets. She seems to like being evil for the sake of being evil – a 23rd Century Heinz Doofenshmirtz, perhaps, but with less backstory. No, Mirror Georgiou is the Star Trek equivalent of a villain from a bad direct-to-video kids’ film, the kind of person who wants to steal a puppy from a child or tries to shut down a sweet shop so she can bulldoze it to build an office block. She just isn’t interesting in the slightest.
I like Michelle Yeoh. As a supporting actress in Danny Boyle’s 2007 film Sunshine, she did a great job. But she’s unproven as a lead actress in a major series like this, and the character she’s set to play just isn’t one a lot of fans find interesting or relatable.
While there are positives to consider from a Section 31 series, such as exploring how the organisation changed and went entirely underground between its appearances in Discovery and Deep Space Nine, as well as the potential to see Star Trek cross over into the mystery/thriller genre, I’m just not convinced right now that it’s the right way to go.
Section 31 was announced too early. If CBS had waited to see how Discovery’s second season was received, then the obvious choice by far for a spin-off was an Anson Mount-led series, which would probably be set on the Enterprise. That would be the fan favourite choice for a 23rd Century spin-off at the moment. You can see the desire for such a series at conventions and panels, and whenever Alex Kurtzman and others are interviewed, it’s the one question that keeps coming up. Conversely, when was the last time you heard anyone asking about how the Section 31 show is progressing?
It is actually a really great time to be a Star Trek fan at the moment. There are three series scheduled to premiere in 2020 – Picard‘s first season, Discovery‘s third season, and the first season of Lower Decks which already has a second on order. And in addition, a fourth Kelvin-timeline film is in the works, and beyond that, a possible Quentin Tarantino-directed Star Trek film. More Star Trek on our screens is always going to be a good thing, and while I don’t want to say I don’t want Section 31, it’s just not at the top of my list right now. I want it to do well, and to be successful, because I want Star Trek as a franchise to succeed and carry on into the future. So while I remain more than a little cautious about approaching this new show, I wish it well and I will certainly tune in when it premieres. Perhaps in 2021?
Live Long and Prosper!
Star Trek: Discovery and all other Star Trek series and films are available in the United States on CBS All Access, and in other countries on Netflix. Star Trek: Picard premieres on CBS All Access in January 2020 and on Amazon Prime in other countries. All copyrights belong to Paramount and CBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 