After the Season 2 finale of “Star Trek: Discovery,” the show’s flagship is perfectly placed to live up to its name.
The CBS All Access show wrapped up storylines to align with the historical canon of the original series, and then pushed the time-traveling USS Discovery into new franchise territory more than 900 years into the future.
“I found it exhilarating. We are boldly going where no one has gone before — come on!” series star Sonequa Martin-Green tells The Post, referencing a section of William Shatner’s monologue from the 1966-89 series’ opening credits.
“Everything is going to be new to Discovery,” adds Martin-Green, who plays once-disgraced Commander Michael Burnham.
The show has been renewed for a third season, though filming hasn’t started and no premiere date has been set. But Martin-Green says she enjoyed conveying both Burnham’s desire for redemption and her “pendulum swing” from a logical, Vulcan-influenced person in Season 1 to a more emotional one in Season 2. And she looks forward to what’s in store. “It’s going be interesting to see who I am as a woman, when I can just be and not have to prove myself,” she says.
In the meantime, the show settled several significant plot points.
Artificially-intelligent entity Control was neutralized by Captain Philippa Georgiou (played by Michelle Yeoh, whose character is set for a spinoff series). Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) recommitted to life with his partner, Lt. Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp). After a passionate goodbye kiss with former flame Burnham, Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) was promoted to Section 31 commander. The battle-scarred Enterprise was rebuilt to continue exploring under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). And Starfleet officers proclaimed the Discovery crew dead and took a vow of silence regarding their true fate.
Sonequa Martin-Green plays Michael Burnham in “Star Trek: Discovery.”CBS
But, most significantly, Burnham found peace with her foster brother, Spock (Ethan Peck), with whom she joined hands in a Vulcan salute before departing for the worm hole that would take the Discovery crew into the future, leaving Spock and the Enterprise crew behind in a timeframe a decade before the original series. In a particularly touching scene, Spock tells her “Nen lókdwenzish” — “I love you,” in Vulcan; it was one of several scenes that were difficult for Martin-Green, as Peck is among the performers who may not return for Season 3.
“Those moments were really beautiful and fulfilling for us as actors,” she says. “I love everybody … It was very sad saying goodbye.”
Some franchise fans also likely caught their breath with the finale’s closing scene. Throughout the season Spock battled inner demons while donning a scruffy beard that matched his mood but was at odds with the clean-shaven character first played by Leonard Nimoy. Spock finally showed up on the Enterprise sans facial hair and wearing a classic, sleek blue uniform of Starfleet days gone by.
Martin-Green herself enjoyed watching the scene unfold on set during filming. “I felt moved when I saw him walk out on that Enterprise bridge — yay, Enterprise!” a bubbly Martin-Green says. “To see him come out like that and show people that you can trust us, that we do remember where we come from, I thought that moment was very powerful.”
But does she prefer shorn Spock or the shaggy version, which took a bit of getting used to this season?
“Clean-shaven — for what that moment meant,” she says, adding, “though bearded Spock was great.”
