Star Trek: In the third season, Discovery will try to rebuild the United Federation of Planets, but it won’t be easy. Even with the new dilithium source allowing travel at warp speed after fire, Discovery and the Federation will face the usual difficulties in bringing in planets. Co-creator and co-host Alex Kurtzman mentioned it during an online panel moderated by Deadline (via Trek Movie). The Federation is coming back, but not quite, Kurtzman said. Thus, we will explore the ongoing mission of including other worlds and meeting the criteria and standards of what it means to be a member of the Federation, but without taking away the identity of other cultures.
Thanks to the efforts of Michael Burnham and the rest of Discovery’s crew, the Federation discovered the cause of the fire and found a new source of dilithium. Burnham became captain of the Discovery after Saru took a year sabbatical to return to Kaminar. Discovery’s new mission is to spread hope and dilithium throughout the galaxy, according to the last entry in Burnham’s diary before Discovery’s capture, published via Star Trek : Discovery Logs Instagram account. Burnham magazine says:
He’s one of the last people I get to call captain. I am incredibly happy, incredibly grateful to be here now, to serve with this team, with this family. My new home… The fire has spread across the universe: Planets cut off from each other, lovers separated, too many lives lost. But we finally have the answers we need …. Now we can regroup. Reconnect. Heal yourself. I am very proud to have been a part of this project and look forward to what we will accomplish in the future. It is up to all of us to put the past behind us, to come out of the darkness and into the light. I think we can do it. We are the Federation, and together I believe we can do anything ….
Star Trek: Discovery presenter Michelle Rye gave a speech ahead of the start of season three. From the creator’s perspective, she talked about what Burnham can expect in Discovery’s fourth season.
I feel like when you put someone like Sonequa [Martin-Green] in the number one role, you’re just waiting for the day she takes over as captain, Paradise said. And we knew from the beginning of the third season that we wanted to get them there at the end of the season. But I think as a captain you don’t have to be accountable to people in the same way, but in a way you still have to be accountable to people. So I think what’s exciting for the Burnham character is that season 3 takes her on this journey away from her rejection of the chair basically in episode 3, when she and Sarah have this conversation to bring her to the end of the 13th.
And then the question: What’s the next step? She has evolved in many ways over these three seasons, and what does that mean for her now? And how can she continue to grow and develop, even as a captain? These are the things we’re learning right now that I’m really excited about.
Star Trek: The fourth season of Discovery is currently being produced in Toronto.
