Now that the Star Trek: Discovery season 2 finale is in our rear view mirror it’s time to start theorising about season 3! It’s been confirmed by executive producer Alex Kurtzman that the show will continue to exist 930 years in to the future putting some serious distance between the USS Discovery and… well… the entire of Star Trek cannon.
Crossover potential
According to official Trek timelines Discovery exists around 125-130 years before the vents of Star Trek: Voyager. But that means there’s still a clear 750-800 years between the two. It’s unlikely that we’ll see an ageing Admiral Janeway welcoming Michael Burnham in to the future timeline.
We could see some extremely distant relatives of previous characters appear but our best bet would be an Android relic like B4 (Brent Spiner) still in active duty or in a museum somewhere.
This is likely on purpose to finally allow the series to breathe. During the height of Star Trek on our screens we barely ever saw the series intersect with each other. Why should Discovery be any different?
Future setting
Although we have had brief glimpses of the future in previous Discovery episodes we know nothing of the timeline in which they have arrived. Those glimpses were of the future that Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and co. were working to avoid.
With Control destroyed by Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) by the end of the last episode the future has now completely changed. It may not be for the better but now all bets are off as to what that future might look like.
Cleverly the finale, “Such Sweet Sorrow” (reviewed here), did not show the ship arriving in their new home. The writers have barely had time to break story ideas for season 3 so this was the best idea they could have had at the time.
They now have the summer break to hone in on a narrative arc for season 3 and create the best version of 930 years in the future that the story could ask for.
It could be a universe ravaged by Borg. Maybe Tribble’s now rule the Earth. The possibilities are endless and it really opens up the potential for Discovery to tell some unique stories moving forwards.
Our alien friends?
There’s no telling which alien species from the franchise could be lurking all the way in the 33rd century. The prequel setting limited Discovery in the number of stories it could tell outside of the Klingons, Romulans and other pre-existing aliens of the period.
The writers no doubt have learnt from Enterprise’s attempt to weave in the Borg that they are perhaps left in the future. I hope/pray/expect that their presence will loom large over this future timeline. Even if it is simply to say we beat them back to the Delta Quadrant where they are regrouping. By this stage they could even be fairytale villains, often discussed but never seen.
It’s more likely that Discovery will invent whole new species for us to meet in the future. There’s no doubting that the writers will enjoy the peace of mind to run with original ideas now that the confines of cannon have been removed.
If we were to have a wish list (and we do) you can bet that Species 8472 would be high on that list to appear. It’s a safe bet that some faction, ticked off by Janeway and the actions of Voyager, found their way to the Alpha Quadrant to exact some revenge.
Our fingers are firmly crossed!
Starfleet circa 32,000
One question which lingers is: what will the status of Starfleet in this future timeline?
In Voyager we met the Temporal Prime Directive and a whole branch of Starfleet which was something new and exciting.
As it has now been established that Discovery is firmly in that same timeline it goes without saying that some form of the organisation still exists somehow.
The Federation of Planets may be less united but there’s doubting that some serious plot devices could be dug up by the USS Discovery returning home to San Francisco and unravelling the mysteries of the past.
Regardless of where the series ends up it can only be a benefit that the writers are no longer bound by their setting or the time period.
When the series returns either later this year or early in 2020 it’s going to be a genuinely exciting time for Trek fans.
Star Trek: Discovery is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Alex Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout, Bryan Fuller’s Living Dead Guy Productions and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller, Heather Kadin, Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts, Akiva Goldsman, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth serve as executive producers.
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