The first season of Star Trek: Discovery had a mixed reception from fans. Fortunately, season 2 was generally agreed to be an improvement, delving deep into classic Trek lore and introducing iconic characters into the mix. It also ended on a real barnstormer of a cliffhanger, in which the ship jumped 950 years into the future. This indicates we’ve got some fresh and exciting stories ahead of us and that the third season won’t interfere too much with established canon.
Right now, they’re prepping to begin shooting season 3, and showrunner Alex Kurtzman recently made an appearance on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast to update us:
“Picard is in the middle of shooting, we’ve broken the season and I am so happy with the scripts. We are on episode five of Season Three of Discovery. We’re far along. ‘Picard’ is [filming] here in Los Angeles and Discovery is in Toronto, and future Trek shows I believe will be in Toronto.”
The time-jump puts the Discovery further into the future than any Trek story has ever gone, which should allow for some neat spins on species and settings. Kurtzman spoke to THR back in April about how excited they were with this new territory, saying:
“We love playing within canon. It’s a delight and a privilege. It’s fun to explore nooks and crannies of the universe that people haven’t fully explored yet. That being said, we felt strongly that we wanted to give ourselves an entirely new energy for season three with a whole new set of problems.
We’re farther than any Trek show has ever gone. I also had experience working on the [J.J. Abrams] films where we were stuck with canonical problems. We knew how Kirk had died, and we wondered how we could put him in jeopardy to make it feel real. That’s what led us to go with an alternate timeline; suddenly we could tell the story in a very unpredictable way. That’s the same thought process that went into jumping 950 years into the future. We’re now completely free of canon, and we have a whole new universe to explore.”
Despite the time jump, things won’t be entirely disconnected from established Trek lore, though it’s explained that major events seen in the TV shows and movies will be “a very distant memory.”
However it turns out, it sounds like CBS are extremely happy with the way things have gone to date. Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President of original content at CBS All Access, explained that:
“The massive success of Star Trek: Discovery’s second season launch exceeded our expectations in both driving subscriber growth and generating a phenomenal response from Star Trek fans. With Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise at the helm, we look forward to continuing Star Trek: Discovery’s journey, growing the Star Trek franchise on CBS All Access and bringing fans new Star Trek stories for many years to come.”
Between this and Picard, the next year or two should be bright spots for fans. And then, of course, there’s the tantalizing unknown factor of Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek project. Suffice it to say, there’s much to look forward to.
