Star Trek: Discovery – New season 2 trailer and NYCC recap

Get your first glimpse of young Spock and find out what’s in store for the crew in season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery.

The highly anticipated second season of Star Trek: Discovery has been given an additional boost with the release of an extended trailer and updates from the cast at the New York Comic Con.

The trailer includes glimpses of new storylines and crewmembers, including Rebecca Romijn as a yet unknown character, a bearded young Spock, played by Ethan Peck, as well as other canon characters from the original Star Trek series.

Michelle Yeoh is also set to return, but there is no confirmation as to which Philippa Georgiou she will be playing. Additionally, it was revealed that show lead, Sonequa Martin-Green’s husband, Kenric Green, will be appearing on the show.

During the panel discussion at NYCC, Doug Jones, who plays the Kelpian commanding officer Saru, mentioned that his character will discover something new about himself and will turn to Michael Burnham (Martin-Green) to help him through it.

This is evidenced by the scene in the trailer where a tearful Burnham appears to be at Saru’s side saying ‘you are my family’. This will be quite an about-turn for the two characters’ relationship, which has been tenuous from the start.

However, they did warm to each other by the end of season one. Viewers will also visit Saru’s home planet, Caminar, for the first time and meet his sister.

Star Trek Discovery / Image: CBS

Burnham’s story appears to be closely linked to that of her foster brother’s in season two. As per the trailer, Spock has been seeing a vision he calls ‘the red angel’, and while Burnham is investigating the seven mysterious distress signals that have appeared on Discovery’s radar, she explains to her mother that she had seen this vision as well.

The cast did not elaborate on who or what this ‘red angel’ was, but we can speculate that it could be an alien or something connected to Vulcan telepathy.

For those who have caught up with the first episode of CBS All Access series Star Trek: Short Treks, Mary Wiseman’s Ensign Sylvia Tilly is in command school and part of her story arc in the second season will see Tilly trying to fit in there. We are rooting for you, Tilly!

Star Trek Discovery Sylvia Tilly / Photo by CBS

Wilson Cruz, who plays Doctor Culber, one-half of the first male gay couple in Star Trek – along with Anthony Rapp’s Paul Stamets – has been coy about revealing any details about his character.

Culber was killed by a confused Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) partway through the first season, but as Cruz has remained part of the season 2 promotional circuit, one can assume that his character will return in some form or other.

He has also reiterated to fans on Instagram that he will be appearing in the second season. Though he didn’t tease anything about the show during the panel, he did give a passionate speech reminding people to vote in the upcoming mid-term elections.

Latif’s character Ash Tyler has been conspicuously absent from all the season 2 promotional material, but at the panel, he explained that Tyler and L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) will be trying to maintain peace with the Klingons after the events of the first season. These two characters also have a tumultuous relationship, and it will be interesting to see how both of them work together.

Viewers will see L’Rell in charge and her arc will have her embracing her femininity – her character will grow her hair now that the war with Starfleet is over, as Klingons shave their heads during wartime in this iteration of Star Trek. L’Rell’s arc will also see her dealing with the men who don’t want her in power.

Klingon chauvinism was at its height during Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but hopefully, the writers of Star Trek: Discovery will deal with it as per modern sensibilities.

During the panel, it was also revealed that much of the inspiration for the Star Trek: Discovery Klingon storyline was inspired by The Next Generation season six episode, ‘Rightful Heir’ – that is perhaps why the Klingons invoked Kahless so often as the figurehead for the war.

Hopefully, in the upcoming season, the Klingons will look and act more like the ones fans had become accustomed to seeing in later seasons of The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.

Star Trek: Discovery has gone a long way in preserving the essence of inclusivity and the socio-political messages of the original series.

Now, with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) on board and an ever-growing supporting cast, fans can possibly look forward to a show that embraces some of its quirky science-fiction fun as well.