Star Trek: Discovery, the first new Star Trek series in over twelve years, will make its debut on CBS this fall, with new episodes soon to follow on CBS’ streaming service CBS All Access. We also know it’ll change some Roddenberry mandates. Ok, we’ve known all of that for awhile, as well as the time period of the show (ten years before Kirk, Spock and the U.S.S. Enterprise), but aside from that, there have been few details about the actual plot line of the series.
Will they be “Seeking new worlds and new civilizations” like the original series did, or will this be a more layered, complicated show, like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine? The folks at Entertainment Weekly got a chance to chat with the series showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg, who managed to reveal some new plot info, as well as something quite interesting – Discovery will be the first Trek show to feature two starships on a regular basis, the titular ship and the U.S.S. Shenzou.
We already knew from trailers and pre-release info that Sonequa Martin-Green’s character would start on the Starship Shenzou, captained by Michelle Yeoh’s character of Captain Phillipa Georgiou, but it looks like both ships will be part of the series from the pilot going forward. Deep Space Nine back in the ’90s had action on the Starship Defiant and the space station, but having two Federation starships on the regular is new ground for the franchise.
Other tidbits were dropped by the producers in the interview, like the revelation that Sonequa Martin-Green’s character of Lt. Michael Burnham is a character that was the very first human to ever be allowed into the Vulcan Science Academy, under the tutelage of Sarek, Spock’s father, played by Orphan Black star James Frain. As revealed in previous interviews, the character of Lt. Burnham will be the first non-Captain to be the lead on a Star Trek series.
When the producers were asked which previous Trek series would serve as inspiration for this new show,  the duo didn’t hesitate, saying “There’s a hint of all of them, but in the writers’ room people are so in love with The Original Series and Next Generation, and they talk about the family aspect of those cast members.” Citing TOS and TNG is not surprising ,as they were easily the most popular of the Star Trek shows. They also cited staff writer Nicholas Meyer’s films, specifically Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, often seen as the high point of the film series. In terms of the visual look, they went for something more cinematic, saying that CBS allowed them to shoot in an aspect ratio of 2:1.
Are you more excited for Star Trek: Discovery based on these new tidbits of information? Be sure to let us know down below in the comments.
Images: CBSÂ
