With the start of the third season of Star Trek: Discovery, everyone on the crew of the Discovery is feeling the stress of being shunted into the far future, when everything they’ve ever known is long gone. The long-held dynamic of the Star Trek universe — an orderly crew that’s largely on the same page — is visibly fraying at the edges, and if you as a viewer like that idea, you probably aren’t surprised that Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Wil Wheaton loves it. In a conversation with Discovery‘s Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz, Wheaton brought up the fractured dynamic and in particular a certain scene in the new season that feels like a deeply dysfunctional family dinner.
It isn’t just Wheaton, either. Rapp and Cruz were clearly excited to have a chance to talk about the dynamic he observed, and what’s next for the crew as they find themselves deep in uncharted territory.
“I think one of the things that our writers have done such a beautiful job of is giving us all inner lives and things to sort of really dig into,” Rapp said. “Yeah, we’re all on duty, we all have jobs that we do, but not neglecting the fact that we’re people, and people going through something as profound as letting everything you know behind is going to have an effect. You can still be good at your job, you can still be professional, but inevitably there are going to be jagged edges that come out. So it felt very satisfying to us that we were given the opportunity to explore that, and then the manner that it is explored feels very authentic and real.”
You can check it out below.
Introducing such a different dynamic to the characters, especially one that matches up with the very different take on the universe of Star Trek following the insane events of last season’s finale, is something that’s bound to keep people talking.
Here’s the official synopsis for the season:
After following Commander Burnham into the wormhole in the second season finale, Season three of Star Trek: Discovery finds the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery landing in an unknown future far from the home they once knew. Now living in a time filled with uncertainty, the U.S.S. Discovery crew, along with the help of some new friends, must work together to restore hope to the Federation.
Seasons one and two are now available to stream on CBS All Access. New episodes are released on Thursdays.