There will be two Starfleet ships traversing the universe of CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery, but that doesn’t mean fans have gotten a live-action shot of the titular ship yet. The first trailer for CBS’s Discovery premiered on Wednesday and Trek fans are a bit baffled by the lack of USS Discovery footage.
Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) seem to be aboard the USS Shenzhou in the trailer, as pointed out by Reddit user lalafalafel. And while Georgiou hints that Burnham would be getting her own ship in the near future at the beginning of the trailer, there’s no further evidence of that. Supposedly, Burnham’s ship will be the Discovery, since she’s the main character and the Discovery is the main ship — but the Discovery is nowhere to be found in the trailer.
Also nowhere to be found: Jason Isaacs’s Captain Lorca, who’s set as the official captain of the Discovery in synopses and descriptions thus far.
The USS Shenzhou emerging from the clouds in the 'Star Trek: Discovery' trailer.
Reddit user kayester points out that fans did get a look at the redesigned Discovery on Wednesday, but it wasn’t in the trailer. It was in the key art: “It’s a tiny image, but I’d say the nacelles are a little refined and the secondary hull is a little smaller proportionately.”
The USS Discovery
Some Trek fans are assuming that this war with the Klingons Starfleet is involving itself in will result in the Discovery being destroyed and Isaacs’s Lorca being either killed or put out of commission. Starfleet would then rebuild the Discovery and Burnham would be instituted as her captain. That would certainly work nicely with the show’s synopsis, which details the adventures of Starfleet rather than just one ship:
Star Trek: Discovery will follow the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new lifeforms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself.
In the past, Star Trek has been all about following the adventures of a single ship, but Discovery looks to be taking on a wider angle. It seems fitting for the early time period, but fans might have to wait until the premiere to get any real answers.
Star Trek: Discovery is set to premiere sometime this Fall.
