Well, to be fair, I think her chances to make captain are the same even if there's a 32nd century Starfleet. Her entire knowledge is, like, a thousand years obsolete. It would be like taking a sailor from a medieval Hanseatic Cog, putting him on the bridge of the USS Nimitz and telling him to take it to Norfolk. That being said, I really hope the show actually addresses this and shows her having a crisis of faith over it until she finds a new niche for herself.
If Discovery is the only starship left, Tilly's going to have to wait till pretty much everyone else is dead before she makes captain...
Now I want to see a heartfelt scene in which she's visited by the ghost of Ensign Kim to warn her about her life choices. ... we only have to figure out who the ghosts of Ensign Present and Ensign Future should be. EDIT: Wait, scratch that. Travis is the Ghost of Ensign Past. Kim is Ensign Present.
She might stumble upon a "galactic dark age" society only to find that their everyday "dark age tech" is still superior to 23rd-century tech, and that they still possess a fundamental knowledge of that tech that Tilly does not. That lack of knowledge could cause a crisis of faith in her as you mentioned -- until she realizes that knowledge ≠ intelligence, and she is still an intelligent person who can solve problems...in any era. Unless there is some attempt to restore the Federation and have a new Star Fleet. In which case there would be a demand for people with command training.
With all the time traveling Voyager did, there's probably no need for ghosts. He's probably there in the flesh.
And these story hooks are kind of the reason why I think the most natural and rewarding path of character development for her would be an eventual realization that this whole "I'm gonna be a captain someday." spiel actually stems from her still-unresolved mommy issues, most importantly a subconscious need to make her mother proud... and at the end, she could finally stand up and proudly state that first and foremost, she's a scientist.
Sounds very Andromeda-like. Which was, of course, Gene Roddenberry's other show, developed after he'd died using some material found by Majel. I would be okay with them trying this concept again as long as it's not too similar to what we saw in that show.
Assuming Discovery (or just its crew) eventually returns to the 2270s, the future would be altered anyway. If they find the Federation has fallen you could well imagine them spending a season of figuring out 'why' and then returning to the 'present' to course correct whatever eventually went wrong. i.e. - it's important not to judge this new season too harshly at the start if we see the Federation gone, destroyed, imploded or corrupted. It might all be fixed by the end of the show. This may well be the season arc.
That is already impossible. She was already promoted, from Cadet to Ensign. Harry never got a promotion. Tilly is already a leg up on him.
...... Even if would just create yet another grandfather paradox, I'd love it if they returned to their own time and spearheaded the efforts to preserve the Federation's knowledge and ideals for the upcoming millennium, eventually founding the same Foundation-style secret society they've met and assisted in the future.
Burnham voiceover during theme: "The long night has come. The United Federation of Planets, the greatest alliance of civilizations in history, has fallen. But now, one ship, one crew have vowed to drive back the night and rekindle the light of civilization. On the starship Discovery, hope lives again." Oh, wait. It's the 3rd season that's coming up. Let me rephrase... Burnham voiceover during theme: "The universe is a dangerous place. But in our future, my crew and I fight to make it safe. I am Michael Burnham, a Starfleet officer who may or may not end up becoming Captain of the Discovery, and these... are our adventures."
Which was done BEFORE the series began. Tilly started the show as a Cadet. I still say she has a leg up on him.
To be fair, it would be just so like Harry if he was actually born as an adult Starfleet Ensign and lived his whole life as one.
I imagine any future we've seen up to this point will be off the table. Or Discovery becomes an enemy to this group who has no real interest in who the Federation actually was.
I really like that idea. The group, who claims to be working to rebuild the Federation from its ashes, but actually only caring about their own material gain and obtaining power, getting into a conflict with the starship that actually represents what the Federation truly was and should be. And not even because Discovery uncovers an inconvenient truth about the Federation for them, but simply because it's in their way of their efforts to control the Alpha Quadrant.
Me I am more than fine with the Federation being gone. I think it's important though that humanity itself to have a positive future. That is why I still like my idea that humans have evolved to be more like the Q. Which is something that happened on "Babylon 5" or the Ancients on "Stargate." Maybe all the older races are gone so the Vulcans and Klingons etc have also evolved in their own ways. It's now up to the newer races to sort of learn from the past and make the universe into something positive on their own right. Jason