Star Trek: Discovery’s second season may deal with Klingon war aftermath

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

As we learn more and more about Star Trek: Discovery, it's becoming clear that the first season of the upcoming series will be dealing with a conflict with the Klingons. Star Trek: Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman confirmed that a Klingon war would be the major plot arc of the first season while speaking with Digital Spy, but said that it may not continue beyond the first year. Instead, the second season of Star Trek: Discovery would deal with the aftermath of the war, as well as new stories.

Each season needs to be about a different thing. I wouldn't necessarily want to bring the Klingon War into season two. However, the results of the war are going to allow for a lot of new storytelling that will be the result of everything that happens and the people that are left behind; the casualties, the things that have grown in Starfleet as a result of the war. That's what we'll inherit in the second season.

Dealing with the aftermath of a war, especially over the span of an entire season, isn't something which Star Trek has tackled much before; the Dominion War came to an end at the close of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which didn't give us much of a chance to explore its effects, so I'd be curious to see just how much Discovery's second season will devote to the impact of the war. At this time, Star Trek: Discovery has not been renewed for a second season, but I'd be shocked if the series didn't return. Alex Kurtzman has also hinted that we could be seeing more Star Trek series being developed further down the line, including a possible anthology series, which was Bryan Fuller's original pitch for Star Trek: Discovery before he departed the project.

I think that's totally possible. It was a really cool idea, but it wasn't necessarily an idea that everyone immediately agreed with… It's a cool idea, but at the same time, I've now fallen in love with the characters on this ship [Discovery]. I like seeing them. I like being with them. And I wouldn't necessarily want to throw them away at the end of the season for a new show. I would not want to limit our storytelling, especially given the topics that we're bringing up this season. It's not just one season's worth of television.

Star Trek: Discovery will debut on CBS on September 24, 2017 before moving to CBS All Access.