The second season of the American television series Star Trek: Discovery is set a decade before Star Trek: The Original Series in the 23rd century and follows the crew of the starship Discovery. With the crew of the USS Enterprise they investigate seven signals that were sent by a time traveler to prevent a rogue artificial intelligence from destroying all sentient life. The season was produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Alex Kurtzman serving as showrunner.
Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, first officer of the Discovery, along with the returning Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Shazad Latif. They are joined by former recurring guest star Wilson Cruz, and by Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike of the Enterprise. The season was officially ordered in October 2017, and introduced the Enterprise and its crew—including recurring guest star Ethan Peck as Spock and guest star Rebecca Romijn as Number One—to help align the series to the larger Star Trek franchise, as those characters originated on The Original Series. Designs for the Enterprise and its uniforms were updated to match Discovery more modern style. Filming took place in Toronto, Canada, from April to December 2018. Co-creator Kurtzman chose to use anamorphic lenses on the season to make it more cinematic, and he took over as showrunner from the first season's Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts after they were fired during production. The season connects to the companion shorts series Star Trek: Short Treks.
The 14-episode season was released from January 17 to April 18, 2019, on the streaming service CBS All Access. Many critics found it to be an improvement on the first season, praising its lighter tone, cast (especially Mount and guest star Tig Notaro), and high production value. The season's attempts to align with existing Star Trek continuity received mixed reviews. It won a Primetime Emmy Award for its prosthetic makeup, and received several other awards and nominations. A third season was ordered in February 2019, and after a spin-off series starring Mount, Peck, and Romijn was called for by fans and critics alike, CBS All Access ordered Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in May 2020.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main
Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham
Doug Jones as Saru
Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets
Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly
Shazad Latif as Voq / Ash Tyler
Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber
Anson Mount as Christopher Pike
Recurring
Mia Kirshner as Amanda Grayson
Tig Notaro as Jett Reno
Bahia Watson as May Ahearn
Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou
Alan van Sprang as Leland
Rachael Ancheril as Nhan
Jayne Brook as Katrina Cornwell
Ethan Peck as Spock
Sonja Sohn as Gabrielle Burnham / Red Angel
Notable guests
James Frain as Sarek
Mary Chieffo as L'Rell
Kenneth Mitchell as Kol-Sha and Tenavik
Rebecca Romijn as Number One
Hannah Spear as Siranna
Melissa George as Vina
Rob Brownstien as the Keeper
Kenric Green as Mike Burnham
Yadira Guevara-Prip as Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po
Production
Background
On November 2, 2015, CBS announced a new Star Trek television series to premiere in January 2017, "on the heels" of Star Trek: The Original Series 50th anniversary in 2016. In February 2016, Bryan Fuller, who began his career writing for the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, was announced as the new series' showrunner, and co-creator alongside Alex Kurtzman. CBS did not have a plan for what the new show would be when Fuller joined, and he proposed an anthology series with each season being a standalone, serialized show set in a different era, beginning with a prequel to the original series. CBS told Fuller to just start with a single serialized show and see how that performs first, and he began further developing the prequel concept. By the end of 2016, Fuller had left the series due to conflicts with CBS and other commitments. He had hired Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts to act as co-showrunners with him, and they took over after his departure. In June 2017, Kurtzman said that he and Fuller had discussed plans for future seasons before the latter's departure.