How Star Trek Discovery Will Connect to TOS Despite the 930-Year Time Jump
Star Trek: Discovery star Doug Jones reveals how the show will still find ways to connect to The Original Series, even though they're now well over 900 years apart. In 2017, Discovery kicked off the next generation of Star Trek shows on CBS All Access and became a hit for the streamer. The show was initially set ten years before The Original Series and focused on a brand new crew and starship. Discovery season 2 then established some deeper ties to the very first Star Trek show, introducing characters like Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and Spock (Ethan Pike).
For the first time ever, though, Discovery is putting quite a lot of distance between itself and The Original Series. Following the game-changing cliffhanger at the end of season 2, Discovery season 3 has sent its main characters to the 32nd century, 930 years into the future. This is the farthest the Star Trek franchise has gone timeline-wise, and fans are quite curious to see how the series will explore this unexplored territory. At first glance, it might seem as though there aren't any opportunities to connect to what came before, but that isn't the case at all.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowIn a new interview with Collider, Doug Jones (who plays the Kelpian officer Saru) delved a bit into what this massive time jump means for Discovery's future. Jones first acknowledged that, when the show was set within ten years of The Original Series, the writers were bound by canon to a certain extent. By moving into the future, they "have freedom to create from the ground up." Still, though, they will find a way to connect to the world of TOS. Jones said:
Discovery is in an interesting position, in that it can reflect on the events of previous Star Trek canon with a future lens. As Jones pointed out, season 3 can still supply some nostalgia for the past by bringing back certain species (as it already has with the Coridanites), but it could also dig a little deeper and show how they might have changed over the years. Through its time jump, Discovery can reframe past events in new ways.
Already, Discovery season 3 is off to a promising start. It has already established some intriguing mysteries and a potentially satisfying plot (through Michael Burnham's plan to revive the Federation), leaving fans feeling more optimistic about the future than ever. Now audiences also know they should keep their eyes out for some familiar figures; there might be an Easter egg or two from The Original Series. It's nice to know that, even impossibly far into the future, Discovery still remembers its roots.
Star Trek: Discovery season 3 continues Thursdays on CBS All Access.
Source: Collider
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