David Ajala nightflies into Star Trek: Discovery for Season 3 and a 1,000-year time jump

The Star Trek universe is growing faster than ever, with the possibilities of the franchise multiplying like a pack of tribbles in heat. A major part of this Trek resurgence is due to the success of Star Trek: Discovery, which airs on CBS All Access. 

At the end of Season 2, the show truly took the Discovery and her crew where no Trek show has gone before — they are no longer in the timeline of the original shows, but flung further into the future than any show has gone before. They're now playing in a sandbox far past the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, and further than the upcoming spin-off series Star Trek: Picard. We don't know where they've gone exactly, but we know that they've gone there boldly. 

Fans got an update on what is in store for Star Trek: Discovery's Season 3 during the "Star Trek Universe" panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and SYFY WIRE ramped up its spore drive to be there and get the full briefing. 

The admiral of all things Trek, Alex Kurtzman, took the helm and let us know what we can look forward to, joined by producers Heather Kadin and Michele Paradise. The biggest news by far was the announcement that David Ajala, recently seen on SYFY's Nightflyers, will join the show for Season 3. His character is named Cleveland Booker, but he'll usually be referred to as Book. 

Credit: Lars Niki/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly

Alaja was also on the panel, as was Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham). According to Kurtzman, Season 3 will be going 1,000 years into the future. He added, ”Every conversation about how we create Star Trek is filtered through Roddenberry's essential vision of optimism, because it is the soul of Star Trek for us.”

That said, he mentioned that there will be “lots and lots of changes” in Season 3. “Things you recognize, things you won't recognize. We're shaking up canon — we're not erasing anything, but we're shaking it up quite a bit. I want to assure you all first and foremost that it is still Star Trek, and it will be Star Trek the way Roddenberry wanted it.”

Ajala then talked about his new character, saying, ”He’s gonna break the rules a little bit. It's always fun to break the rules and we're going to do that right from the start.” He’ll apparently have some scenes with Burnham, as a photo was shown of the two characters walking along a rocky shore wearing heavy coats. 

Sonequa Martin-Green then revealed that Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker himself, frequent Discovery director) said that Season 3 reminded him of Star Trek: The Next Generation. "There's this sense of brewing passion, fire, and heart, and we're really excited for the next stage of what we're doing,” she said.

Kurtzman teased that the Discovery is going to have some issues right from the start, saying, ”When they get out of the other end of the wormhole, they have some big problems." It was also made clear that though the captain’s chair of Discovery was left (somewhat) unfilled at the end of Season 2, it is something that will be determined at the beginning of Season 3.

Click here for SYFY WIRE's full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2019, including up-to-the-minute news, exclusive interviews, and videos.