‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Spock Confirmed for Season 2 as CBS Sets January Return, Plus a Series of Short Films
The second season of CBS All Access’ “Star Trek: Discovery” will not return until 2019, but when it does, it’ll come back with not one, not two, but three familiar characters.
During the show’s panel at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, the previously cast Anson Mount appeared as Captain Christopher Pike, while executive producer Alex Kurtzman not only announced when Season 2 would appear, but confirmed that the character of Spock will be in the new episodes.
As IndieWire recently calculated, Spock should be serving on the Enterprise at this period in time in “Trek” canon: The trailer screened for the panel revealed adult Spock has taken leave from the Enterprise when the season begins, but as director Jonathan Frakes may have revealed earlier this year, viewers could be seeing flashbacks to a young Spock in Season 2.
In addition, Mount announced that Rebecca Romijn (“X-Men,” “The Librarians”) will play the character of Number One, a role originated on “TOS” by the iconic Majel Barrett.
Kurtzman announced that the show would not return until January 2019, but for fans disappointed by the delay, there is some good news. While “Star Trek” is typically about long-term space missions, CBS All Access will debut a series of short films (entitled “Short Treks”) in late fall 2018. The official description of these 10-to-15 minute stand-alone short films, per CBS:
Each short will be an opportunity for deeper storytelling and exploration of key characters and themes that fit into STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and the expanding “Star Trek” universe.
Rainn Wilson will return to play Harry Mudd in a short he will also direct, and Aldis Hodge will star in another as Craft, a man who finds himself the only human on board a deserted ship. Additional episodes include a deep dive into Saru’s (Doug Jones) backstory as the first Kelpien to join Starfleet, and Tilly’s (Mary Wiseman) journey aboard the U.S.S. Discovery and her friendship with an unlikely partner.
In addition — and as promised by the producers — the love story between Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Stamets (Anthony Rapp) will not end with Culber’s untimely death in Season 1. Cruz, on the panel, asserted his belief that gay love will save the world.
Upcoming guest star Tig Notaro proved to be a charming and disarming moderator for the panel, even demonstrating some of her skills at “space talk” (a.k.a. technobabble). Get a first look at her character of Chief Engineer Reno, as well as other new and familiar faces, in the images below.
