Star Trek: Discovery Producers Talk Season 3

Saturday in New York City at the “Enter the Star Trek Universe” panel at this year’s NYCC both the cast and the producers from Star Trek: Discovery took to the stage to talk about all things Discovery season 3.

First up at the mega 90-minute panel, the series actors Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, and newcomer to the show David Ajala. Along with producers Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, and Michelle Paradise took to the stage to discuss what to expect from Discovery season 3 now we have jumped 930 years into the future.

NYCC Discovery Panel, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, and newcomer to the show David Ajala. Along with producers Heather Kadin, and Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman

The first question for Kurtzman was, about moving the show 930 years into the future, and now that they are now set so far ahead, are they not tied to canon as much as before,

“Yes it is true, the beauty of the promise of what we did at the end of the last season was that, if we don’t deliver you something that is completely surprising and unexpected then we will have failed.”

Canon, however, is wildly important to us, and it is not like we are tossing canon out the window we’re saying, canon existed, we are not rewriting canon, we’re not changing it, there is no timeline adjustments, and the events of canon have absolutely informed what has happened in the future.

But the future is really not at all what they expected when they get to the other side”

Moving on to Co-showrunner and Executive Producer Michelle Paradise, when talking about the new direction the show is to take (moving it into the 32nd century) and how it will boost the creativity of the show going forward, she had this to say:

“Yeah it is super exciting, but as Alex said, we are married to canon, we honour and respect all of that, so even though we are beyond that we are looking for ways to push the show and to push our characters, to see what will happen in this new future which is not quite what they expected it to be.

It is an incredible opportunity to get to do those things, to try those things, and we know that going 930 years into the future the audience has high expectations of what that might look like and feel like.

So we want to make sure we deliver on that from a character and production level, every episode feeling like a mini-movie”

(CBS) Producers Heather Kadin, and Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman

Along with Kurtzman and Paradise, Heather Kadin was also asked a similar question about what is exciting about this new future, how relates to other shows and where the show could be going forward.

“What has been nice about this show, in general, is that you did not have to know canon to come into the show, but especially now and because our cast is so magnetic, that people can just come in and you do not need to know what came before”

Moving on to the topic of what the producers hope to explore, Kurtzman had this to say:

“Well, one of the great joys of this is you take everything you assume about Trek, about the species, the planets, the federation and put it in a blender.

Obviously, time changes everything, we are talking almost 1000 years in the future, it can’t possibly look like it did when they jumped.

We often talk about how ‘Star Trek’ is a mirror that holds itself up to the world as it is. And we look around and we see a lot of disillusionment, a lot of confusion, and a lot of disconnection. Many of the things that we long for–hope, understanding, compassion, and empathy, those things seem to be waning more and more.

Trek is the ultimate beacon of hope, so if you go into the future that doesn’t quite look like what you imagined it to be ‘Trek’ is always the anchor to bring you back to what’s possible and who we are at our best. And ‘Discovery,’ as they enter into that future becomes this beacon that reminds people what’s possible and what hope means.

We’re looking to have something to say about the world as it is now presented on screen.”

(CBS) Cast Members Cruz, Jones, Sonequa Martin-Green, Wiseman, Ajala, and Rapp.

After the main section of the panel, the fans present were able to ask the panel some questions, in response to one fan who asked about the format of the show and whether it will continue with its serialized format or if it will feature standalone episodes, Michelle Paradise answered:

“We have a serialized story that will take us from the beginning to the end. Within that we will have some episodes that focus more fully on one or other of the characters, but we’ll always be teasing that larger story through.”

Another fan asked Kurtzman if the show would return to the 23rd century, while not dismissing it out of hand, he did have this to say:

“I don’t know that we have plans on Discovery to return to the 23rd century.

But obviously there are many shows in the works now, and they are indifferent timelines… so anything is possible.

As I said we take canon very very seriously and we are not looking to negate anything that has happened and the great and amazing work that many so many generations of writers have done for over 50 years”

Season 3 of Discovery will launch in 2020 on CBS All Access in the USA, CTV SCi-Fi/Crave TV in Canada and Netflix for the rest of the world.

You can watch the season 3 trailer below.

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