STAR TREK: DISCOVERY
HOW DISCOVERY S2 BEAMS UP SOME ICONIC CHARACTERS…
On the set of the show’s second season, where we chat klingons, Spock and the ship’s “true captain”.
Anson Mount’s chair isn’t quite right. “I need an armrest here!” the actor declares, settling into a different seat on the set of Star Trek: Discovery’s sophomore season. “You catch yourself performing clichés. The first time I started sitting in the chair I caught myself doing the Shatner,” he says, leaning into a classic James T. Kirk pose. “It’s funny! But also a reminder of how much it’s in my bones.”
A fan since age eight, the 45-yearold’s now donned a familiar yellow tunic to take charge of the USS Discovery, as a significant figure in Trek history. When Trek’s first pilot wrapped, Enterprise’s captain was Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter. A second pilot saw William Shatner supplant him. A later story recycled footage from that first pilot, reframing Pike as Kirk’s predecessor.
“These writers are very smart,” says Mount. “They thought a lot about Pike’s leadership style, and you’ll see that in play from the very first scene on the bridge. He asks people to sound off their names, then goes around the circle again giving orders – there’s a Filofax in his brain! He’s a sharp character, but also humble.”
This new captain is light years from Season 1’s Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), whose maverick nature was explained when he was revealed to hail from Trek’s dark Mirror Universe. “It’s like night and day!” says actor Anthony Rapp, aka astromycologist Paul Stamets. “He’s the true captain. ‘I want to make sure my crew’s going to be safe. Is your idea going to work? What can you do to ensure our safety?’ Lorca wouldn’t give a shit! It’s totally the opposite. He’s like, ‘I don’t know – what do you think?’ in the great tradition of Jean-Luc Picard.”
SEEING RED
Pike’s iconic status is dwarfed by a second newcomer: his science officer, Spock, whose visions of a “red angel” connect him to this year’s arc plot: the mystery of seven pulses of red light that spread across the galaxy. Expect his arrival mid-season. As breakthrough roles go, it’s a daunting one for Ethan Peck, grandson of Hollywood legend Gregory.
“I’ve really tried to capture his spirit,” says the 32-year-old, before explaining that his Spock is at a different life phase from Leonard Nimoy’s. “We see Spock pre-Kirk, so he’s in a place where we might not fully recognise him, but he will eventually become the Spock that we know. So that pressure’s off a little bit. I’m not recreating or mimicking what Nimoy’s done.”
The relationship between Spock and his foster sister – first officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) – will be central. Why are she and Spock estranged? Martin-Green is tightlipped. But she’s happy to discuss how the redemption arc that saw Burnham welcomed back is not over. “A lot of people have forgiven her,” she says.
“But Michael Burnham has to forgive Michael Burnham. That’s a big one, probably the hardest one. So that’s a journey that is going to continue.”
HAIR APPARENT
As well as additions to Discovery’s crew, there have been architectural changes – as we see when we tour the set at Toronto’s Pinewood Studios. What was Lorca’s ready room is now a science lab. Engineering’s been opened up to reveal the warp drive. They’ve also rearranged the mess hall. But hang on… how’s that possible?
“We have multiple mess halls,” explains our guide, art director Jody Clement. “It’s the mess hall on deck five, instead of the mess hall on deck two!” Cunning.
‘we see spock pre-kirk, where we might not fully recognise him’ ETHAN PECK
Another new development should placate some traditionalists who were up in arms last year: the klingons are no longer bald. “We always knew there was a reason,” showrunner Alex Kurtzman explains. “And that reason was because they shaved their hair during wartime. We probably should have said that a bit more loudly in S1! But that was always the idea.”
“They literally sew it into the back of my head every day,” laughs Mary Chieffo. She plays L’Rell, who’s now striving to win respect as the klingons’ new chancellor – no easy task. “There are real jerks at the top in some of the klingon houses!” She’s assisted in that struggle by Shazad Latif’s Ash Tyler, the PTSD-afflicted crewman eventually revealed to be the surgically altered klingon Voq (formerly L’Rell’s lover). Everyone keeping up? “He’s my sech qengwI’,” Chieffo says. “Which means my torchbearer – it’s an adorable klingon word!”
The aftershocks of Tyler’s romance with Burnham are still being felt. “It’s like a new character again,” explains Latif of his evolving role. “It’s more Tyler, but he can access Voq’s memories. Now it’s more about the aftermath. L’Rell’s feelings towards me are affected by the fact she knows what happened between me and Burnham, so it’s still there. It’s a love triangle, really.” “Well, we say our love rhombus,” Mary Chieffo interjects, “Because technically…” Latif finishes her gag, “I’m, like, seven people!” Ian Berriman
Star trek: DISCOVERY S2 BEGINS on netflix on 18 January.