What We Know So Far About Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery
Image Source: Blastr

Star Trek: Discovery is set to hit our screens in just a few days, and we’re slowly finding out more and more about the latest addition to the Star Trek universe, which’ll be airing on CBS. Below you can find our guide on how/when to watch the new series, and what we know so far about the new characters who we’ll be introduced to in Star Trek: Discovery.

HOW TO WATCH

Sonequa Martin-Green as First Officer Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery might be the first time in a long time that Star Trek has been on our television screens, but that doesn’t mean that CBS has made it terribly easy for you to actually watch it. The first episode of the new series will air on CBS this Sunday, September 24, at 8:30 PM ET/5:30 PM PT, assuming there are no NFL-related delays. However, after this, you’ll need to subscribe to CBS’s streaming service–CBS All Access–in order to watch the rest of Star Trek: Discovery. It’s a bit of a bummer for those already trying to juggle their streaming subscriptions, but it might be welcome news for non-US fans who can’t access CBS, as the streaming service is due to go global in 2018. However, Star Trek: Discovery will also reportedly stream via Netflix outside of the US, so that may be a better option for some viewers. The first series is reported to consist of fifteen episodes total, according to IMDb.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

The new Star Trek logo
Image Source: screencrush.com

Though not all the secrets of Star Trek: Discovery have been revealed to us so far, we can tell you that the show will follow Lt. Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), a First Officer who, interestingly, was raised on Vulcan. Other crew members aboard the Discovery include Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), Lt. Saru (Doug Jones), Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) Lt. Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Dr. Nambue (Maulik Pancholy), Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) and more.

The series will revolve around the Federation as it wars with the Klingons, and the official description for the first episode teases the idea that Burnham is in for a tough ride:

While patrolling Federation space, the USS Shenzhou encounters an object of unknown origin, putting First Officer Michael Burnham to her greatest test yet.

If you’re confused about why there seems to be two ships–the USS Discovery and the USS Shenzhou–you’d be right to be confused! Fans are still questioning quite why the crew appears to be split across two ships, but have been speculating that the Shenzhou will most likely not fare very well, looking at all of the promotional info which talks about the struggles that Burnham will face on-board it. Some people think that the ship will be destroyed in the first episode, and others think that they’re actually the same ship, and that the Shenzhou will be repaired and renamed the Discovery. Whatever the outcome, it looks like we’ll be in for a bumpy space ride.

HOW DOES IT FIT INTO CANON?

Star Trek: Discovery poster

If you’re a casual fan, the Star Trek canon can get pretty confusing pretty quickly. To put things in their simplest form, Star Trek: Discovery is set in what’s known as the “Prime” timeline. This timeline is the one that features all of the television series and their related films, but not the more recent J.J. Abrams films like Star Trek: Beyond. (Those ones are set in something called the Kelvin universe, where everything is similar but features less clothing and more lens flares.) So, Star Trek: Discovery will be set in the same timeline as everything that happened in the original television episodes, but not the newer movies. Interestingly, Discovery is also set ten years before The Original Series, which means we might find out some new interesting histories of Star Trek’s most well-known characters.

Are you looking forward to Star Trek: Discovery? Let us know in the comments below!

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