The second season of the American television series Star Trek: Discovery is set a decade before Star Trek: The Original Series in the 23rd century and follows the crew of the starship Discovery. With the crew of the USS Enterprise they investigate seven signals that were sent by a time traveler to prevent a rogue artificial intelligence from destroying all sentient life. The season was produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Alex Kurtzman serving as showrunner.
Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, first officer of the Discovery, along with the returning Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Shazad Latif. They are joined by former recurring guest star Wilson Cruz, and by Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike of the Enterprise. The season was officially ordered in October 2017, and introduced the Enterprise and its crew—including recurring guest star Ethan Peck as Spock and guest star Rebecca Romijn as Number One—to help align the series to the larger Star Trek franchise, as those characters originated on The Original Series. Designs for the Enterprise and its uniforms were updated to match Discovery more modern style. Filming took place in Toronto, Canada, from April to December 2018. Co-creator Kurtzman chose to use anamorphic lenses on the season to make it more cinematic, and he took over as showrunner from the first season's Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts after they were fired during production. The season connects to the companion shorts series Star Trek: Short Treks.
The 14-episode season was released from January 17 to April 18, 2019, on the streaming service CBS All Access. Many critics found it to be an improvement on the first season, praising its lighter tone, cast (especially Mount and guest star Tig Notaro), and high production value. The season's attempts to align with existing Star Trek continuity received mixed reviews. It won a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for its prosthetic makeup, and received several other awards and nominations. A third season was ordered in February 2019, and after a spin-off series starring Mount, Peck, and Romijn was called for by fans and critics alike, CBS All Access ordered Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in May 2020.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham Doug Jones as Saru Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly Shazad Latif as Voq / Ash Tyler Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber Anson Mount as Christopher Pike
Recurring Mia Kirshner as Amanda Grayson Tig Notaro as Jett Reno Bahia Watson as May Ahearn Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou Alan van Sprang as Leland Rachael Ancheril as Nhan Jayne Brook as Katrina Cornwell Ethan Peck as Spock Sonja Sohn as Gabrielle Burnham / Red Angel
Notable guests James Frain as Sarek Mary Chieffo as L'Rell Kenneth Mitchell as Kol-Sha and Tenavik Rebecca Romijn as Number One Hannah Spear as Siranna Melissa George as Vina Rob Brownstien as the Keeper Kenric Green as Mike Burnham Yadira Guevara-Prip as Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po
Production Background On November 2, 2015, CBS announced a new Star Trek television series to premiere in January 2017, "on the heels" of Star Trek: The Original Series 50th anniversary in 2016. In February 2016, Bryan Fuller, who began his career writing for the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, was announced as the new series' showrunner, and co-creator alongside Alex Kurtzman. CBS did not have a plan for what the new show would be when Fuller joined, and he proposed an anthology series with each season being a standalone, serialized show set in a different era, beginning with a prequel to the original series. CBS told Fuller to just start with a single serialized show and see how that performs first, and he began further developing the prequel concept. By the end of 2016, Fuller had left the series due to conflicts with CBS and other commitments. He had hired Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts to act as co-showrunners with him, and they took over after his departure. In June 2017, Kurtzman said that he and Fuller had discussed plans for future seasons before the latter's departure.
Development In August 2017, before the series premiere, executive producer Akiva Goldsman stated that though the series is not an anthology as Fuller first proposed, "it's kind of a hybridized approach. I don't think we're looking for an endless, continuing nine or 10 year story. We're looking at arcs which will have characters that we know and characters that we don't know." Kurtzman elaborated that the Federation-Klingon War story arc of the first season would not continue in a second. However, he was not interested in a full anthology series because "I wouldn't necessarily want to throw [the characters] away at the end of the season for a new show", and instead felt that the aftereffects of the first season would be felt moving forward: "The results of the war are going to allow for a lot of new storytelling", with "the casualties, the things that have grown in Starfleet as a result of the war" carrying over to the next season. By the end of the month, Berg and Harberts had developed a road map for a second season. After the series premiered, Kurtzman said a "big idea" had been proposed mid-way through production on the first season which became the "spine" of the second, with the writers' "emotional compass" having pointed them to using that idea. He added that the series' producers wanted to avoid announcing release dates for future seasons just to delay them as happened on the first season, but he hoped a second season would be available in early 2019 as long as the quality and scope of the series was not compromised to achieve that.
On October 23, a 13-episode second season was officially ordered by CBS All Access. CBS Interactive President Marc DeBevoise cited the increased subscriptions for All Access since the series' debut, as well as critical acclaim and fan interest, when announcing the renewal. In June 2018, during production on the season, CBS Television Studios fired Berg and Harberts. The studio and network were pleased with the scripts and early cuts of already filmed episodes, but the first episode had gone significantly over budget—to the point that the budgets for later episodes would have to be reduced—and the pair were allegedly abusive towards the writing staff, with multiple writers becoming uncomfortable working with them. Some had apparently been threatened by Harberts after stating their intention to file a formal complaint. Kurtzman was made sole showrunner in their place, and was described as the "glue holding Discovery together". Kurtzman took over the role because he felt Berg and Harberts had been forced to "pick up the pieces" following Fuller's departure and he did not want to make someone else do that again. Despite not planning to showrun Discovery, Kurtzman felt as co-creator of the series that it was his responsibility to make sure it was working.
With the change in showrunner came news that Goldsman had not returned as executive producer for the second season, after serving as Kurtzman's "right-hand man" on the first, because he had a "management style and personality that clashed with the writing staff". At the end of June, James Duff joined as an executive producer to help Kurtzman run the writers room. Olatunde Osunsanmi, who served as a director and co-executive producer during the first season, became a full executive producer and was set as producing director for the rest of the season. Additionally, Jenny Lumet, who joined as a consulting producer at the beginning of the season, was promoted to co-executive producer. In July 2018, the season was confirmed to premiere in January 2019. Star Anson Mount revealed in December that the season had been extended to 14 episodes to amortize the cost of production delays following the showrunner change.
Writing The series' writers began work on the second season in December 2017, and were considering "science vs. faith" as the main theme. Harberts said the season would be "jam packed" with things that they were not able to do in the first. In March 2018, he clarified that the series would not just be looking at religion, but also "patterns in our lives. It means connections you can't explain. Who enters your life and who leaves your life and these indelible impressions people make ... that is one of our biggest ideas now and it is threading through all of our characters' lives." Something that Kurtzman felt the best Star Trek series had was examinations of the real world at the time of their creation, and so this season would address "building walls around ourselves, literally, to keep people out" and how that can "chip away at our essential understanding of Starfleet doctrine, and what it means to assume diversity". Mount felt the season was able to "get back to those big questions" because it was no longer questioning the leadership of the Discovery as was done with Captain Gabriel Lorca in the first season. Kurtzman noted that religion is a controversial topic among Star Trek fans, and the series' study of faith was "never about picking on religion as much as it was about faith in each other and in themselves". He felt that protagonist Michael Burnham wrestles with faith because she was not raised with it, but is rewarded for finding it. He interpreted this as saying, "If you believe in yourself, ultimately, the best outcome presents itself."
Without the first season's Federation–Klingon War storyline, Kurtzman said there would be less focus on the Klingons in the second season and far fewer Klingon-only scenes, but Klingon characters would still appear. He added that the Klingons would grow their hair back to show that they are no longer at war, something he said was always intended and not a response to fan criticisms of the bald Klingons in the first season. The second season has a single serialized story like the first season had, but the writers moved towards a more episodic feel by having a central character or question for each episode. The second season begins where the first season ended, with the arrival of the USS Enterprise. This ties into a larger story that is the main arc for the second season, involving seven mysterious signals and a mysterious "red angel" figure. Harberts wanted to explore the character Christopher Pike, captain of the Enterprise, feeling that he had not been seen much in the franchise. Burnham's adoptive brother Spock is also a crew member of the Enterprise, but Harberts was less interested in exploring him given his many appearances throughout the Star Trek franchise. Harberts was also reluctant to have an actor other than Leonard Nimoy or Zachary Quinto portray the character. However, Spock was confirmed to be included in the season in April 2018, and his relationship with Burnham became the most important part of the season for Kurtzman. The writers wanted to tell a new story with Spock that would show him become closer to the Nimoy and Quinto versions over time, visually signified by having the character shave his beard at the end of the season to look more like them. The season also reveals that it was Burnham's relationship with Spock that allowed him to "fully actualize himself" with James Kirk in the original Star Trek series, which was an important development for Kurtzman to explore when telling this part of Spock's life.