Spoilers How will Season 2 work from a character continuity perspective?

[Sakonna]

Not sure if it would be post-Nemesis but I also kind of think we might see a time jump on the show.... I could see them going to a post TOS movie time period. It's a mostly unexplored time period yet still close enough you could in theory still see some TOS characters show up.

That's something else I was thinking about. Wasn't it reported that Bryan Fuller's original pitch for the series was anthology seasons moving through unexplored periods of Trek history, with the first season being a TOS prequel and the second season post TOS movies, and then it was CBS that insisted on introducing a continuing crew to carry from season to season? But they could conceivably have still kept the idea of moving through different Trek timeframes.

 

[Jayson1]

That's something else I was thinking about. Wasn't it reported that Bryan Fuller's original pitch for the series was anthology seasons moving through unexplored periods of Trek history, with the first season being a TOS prequel and the second season post TOS movies, and then it was CBS that insisted on introducing a continuing crew to carry from season to season? But they could conceivably have still kept the idea of moving through different Trek timeframes.

From what I understand that was Fuller's idea. I could also see them staying true somewhat to the orginal concept. Even in terms of character changes. I think you are going to see the show become more "Walking Dead" than old school Trek shows with it's cast and you will see more turnover. I think Tyler and the 2 Klingons are gone for good and sadly I also think Lorca won't be back. That opens the door up for several new series regulars. I think in the end the only sure lock is Burnham for each season. I think you might see a couple of other characters also feel like core people you don't want to get ride of. I think those would be Stamets,Tilly and Saru but even one or two of them might not last the entire run. You never know when they will introduce a Captain Negan.

Jason

 

[eschaton]

From what I understand that was Fuller's idea. I could also see them staying true somewhat to the orginal concept. Even in terms of character changes. I think you are going to see the show become more "Walking Dead" than old school Trek shows with it's cast and you will see more turnover. I think Tyler and the 2 Klingons are gone for good and sadly I also think Lorca won't be back. That opens the door up for several new series regulars. I think in the end the only sure lock is Burnham for each season. I think you might see a couple of other characters also feel like core people you don't want to get ride of. I think those would be Stamets,Tilly and Saru but even one or two of them might not last the entire run. You never know when they will introduce a Captain Negan.

I could have sworn I've seen the showrunners say something like "only the first season is Burnham's story" implying that they plan to have the protagonist be someone else - say Tilly, Saru, or someone new entirely - when the show heads into its next season.

 

[SJGardner]

Deep Space Nine managed to have half of its main cast separate from the rest for a six-episode arc in season 6, so this could definitely be done on Discovery as well. The remnants of Fuller's original pitch are probable responsible for every main character currently being on a path that could easily result in their exit but not necessarily... I think any combination of them may be reassembled for the second season, including none of them, even if that one is a much less probable outcome.

Should the Klingon War arc be wrapped up completely at the end of the season, I see few storyline reasons for Voq to stay, and I wouldn't bet on Lorca's survival either (being a MU native or not, I see a probable heroic sacrifice at the end for him). Needless to stay, it's just as possible they would stay in the main cast, nothing is set in stone until the Season 2 premiere.

 

[Jayson1]

I could have sworn I've seen the showrunners say something like "only the first season is Burnham's story" implying that they plan to have the protagonist be someone else - say Tilly, Saru, or someone new entirely - when the show heads into its next season.

I haven't heard that. I wonder if they mean that each season will focus specifically on a different character or if it just means they will take a more ensemble aproach in the later seasons. Also we might see more world building as well. Do the "DS9" thing and expand your reacurring cast and make the ship fill like it's not just a ghost ship with only the regulars and the few bit players from the Bridge and Culver being on the ship. This show is sort of making me kind of have some of the feelings I had with "Stargate:Atlantis" were I wanted them to spend some time exploring the city. I would like to see the show expand what we know about the ship and the entire crew.


Jason

 

[F. King Daniel]

Responding to angry fans, CBS will freeze all character developement before the end of season one and season two will consist entirely of 42-minute reset Planet of the Week™ adventures where nobody suffers any lasting consequences for anything.

 

[Ovation]

Responding to angry fans, CBS will freeze all character developement before the end of season one and season two will consist entirely of 42-minute reset Planet of the Week™ adventures where nobody suffers any lasting consequences for anything.

That is all.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

This is easy.

Ash dies

Lorca dies

Michael wins the war and is promoted to queen

Stamets is the new q

Tilly is the new wesley and stays on the discovery

Culber remains uninteresting and no one notices.

 

[Irvy]

I think it depends very much on when and where they go after their attempt to get home. Saru has already suggested that they may have swapped places with the ISS Discovery. If they're going to try to get home via Defiant's way in, they could conceivably pop in at the point Defiant left - in the Tholian web with Kirk's Enterprise nearby, but in an altered timeline where the ISS Discovery was there and Starfleet never broke the Klingon's cloak. It could be Kirk's era, but very different.

Or Stamets might take them home, but get it wrong (although I think we're going to see Stamets leave under his own power and head off into the multiverse with Culber.

Or, as people have suggested, they may reboot and go back to the first episode of the season, but this would make the entire first season "a dream" and that didn't work well on Dallas. It would mean the entire first season never happened, and the second season would be an alternate first season. That's my least favourite possibility.

I can't see them leaving us without a cliff hanger, so that suggests that we won't just see them pop back home, send the Klingon cloak data to Starfleet and off they boldly go. That would be boring too.

 

[Cyrus]

A truce will be signed with the Klingons. Tyler stays as a human Klingon hybrid, and changes his name to Toq.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Lorca dies

If Lorca dies we riot.

 

[lursa]

If Lorca dies we riot.

Lorca becomes Emperor and we riot, so the writers pull a DS9, where he can pop in at any time with his handy multidimensional transporter. Isaacs guest stars in 4 episodes where the Disco Krew helps him sort out various problems he comes across while trying to reform the Terran Empire. Disco Krew is strangely OK with this for some reason.
(Completely joking, that plot device always bugged me in DS9.)

 

[Beyerstein]

I do think there's gonna be some kind of reset. Lorca will be revealed as mirror lorca. When discovery exits the mirror universe they'll go back but at an earlier time, before the battle of binary stars. Burnam will be able to negoeate with the Klingons this time, like she was asking mirror voq how to do. The season ends with Burnham getting command of the Discovery.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

I do think there's gonna be some kind of reset. Lorca will be revealed as mirror lorca. When discovery exits the mirror universe they'll go back but at an earlier time, before the battle of binary stars. Burnam will be able to negoeate with the Klingons this time, like she was asking mirror voq how to do. The season ends with Burnham getting command of the Discovery.

So, essentially, she found a wesley crusher rabbits foot?

What you say sounds likely. It also sounds lame as hell.

 

[Ovation]

I do think there's gonna be some kind of reset. Lorca will be revealed as mirror lorca. When discovery exits the mirror universe they'll go back but at an earlier time, before the battle of binary stars. Burnam will be able to negoeate with the Klingons this time, like she was asking mirror voq how to do. The season ends with Burnham getting command of the Discovery.

That...would suck.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

That...would suck.

Like a kirby fighting a dyson, suck all over the place.

 

[Takeru]

If they want to keep the entire cast, they can.

Burnham - gets a pardon after ending the war (and saving Cornwall helped too)

Saru - no reason why he would leave in the first place

Tilly - graduates from the academy, joins Discovery as an officer

Stamets - changes his mind about wanting to leave

Lorca - not from the MU, works with Cornwall to get over his issues, doesn't lose his command after making a deal with her that she stays in board while treating him.

Ash - He's not just Voq in disguise, the real Ash Tyler's organs, flesh, skin etc. were grafted onto Voq, Tyler's memories are in there, it's not like Voq fooled them by pretending to be Tyler, Tyler's personality was actually there. They have a starfleet officer who was tortured and mutilated, they might want to save him because he is a victim.

 

[DigificWriter]

Doing an Anthology series was Fuller's original (read: first) idea, but it didn't ultimately survive and has zero bearing on the show in its current form.

 

[Donker]

I do think there's gonna be some kind of reset. Lorca will be revealed as mirror lorca. When discovery exits the mirror universe they'll go back but at an earlier time, before the battle of binary stars. Burnam will be able to negoeate with the Klingons this time, like she was asking mirror voq how to do. The season ends with Burnham getting command of the Discovery.

I think this is the case as well, There are a few moments in Episode 12 I think setting up for it as well and it's actually what I hope for. This first season is an absolute mess and needs to be reset.
Season 2 I hope to god they get the writer to watch S3 and 4 of Enterprise and Watch DS9 over and over to understand how you actually do serialised story telling with a Star Trek show. Hour long episodes, with self contained stories, but they contribute to a larger serialised plot.
In Pale Moonlight is a great example, you can literally pick out that episode and watch it as a one off episode over and over, you can give it to someone as their first Star Trek episode, it's an absolutely fantastic self contained story, that guess what, contributes massively to Deep Space Nine's wider serialised story arc.
Honestly, Serial story telling peaked with DS9. This modern TV trend of "12 hour long movies built around TWEEEESTS" is getting really old, fast.

 

[Bgt]

After watching the latest episode I think we are going for the BIG RESET BUTTON or the "almost a brand new cast for the next season" one.
Actually I think they telegraph it, as they have done with all of their "twists".
Not sure if they had this in mind from the beginning.
Where I think they failed, is to make us care for the characters so all this to have any impact on us.