Star Trek: Discovery season 2 trailer reveals Captain Pike

The first trailer for Star Trek: Discovery season 2 is here.

The action-packed video above teases the season premiere return of the CBS All Access series and was revealed at the show’s Comic-Con panel on Friday.

Front and center in the trailer is the introduction of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), who is leaving the U.S.S. Enterprise and taking command of the Discovery to investigate some mysterious “red bursts.” There’s also a tease that Mr. Spock could be appearing later in the season as well. The debut season of Star Trek: Discovery concluded with the crew answering a distress call from the Enterprise (roughly a decade before the time of Captain Kirk).

What’s perhaps most striking about the trailer, however, is its tone, which is more upbeat and playful (much of it is set to Lenny Kravitz’s “Fly Away”) than how the first season was promoted. In fact, that mandate is seemingly right in the trailer’s dialogue: “Wherever our mission takes us, we try to have a little fun along the way,” Pike assures. The change could be partly due to a behind-the-scenes shakeup on the show, since Alex Kurtzman has taken over as showrunner from Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg on the new season.

The video confirms the show won’t be back until “early 2019.”

CBS also announced the creation of Star Trek: Short Treks, a quartet of 10-15 minute additional episodes that will roll out monthly this fall. Rainn Wilson will return to play Harry Mudd in a short he will also direct, and Aldis Hodge will star in another as Craft, “a man who finds himself the only human on board a deserted ship.” Additional episodes include a deep dive into Saru’s (Doug Jones) backstory as the first Kelpien to join Starfleet, and Tilly’s (Mary Wiseman) journey aboard the U.S.S. Discovery.

“Each episode will deliver closed-ended stories while revealing clues about what’s to come in future Star Trek: Discovery episodes,” showrunner Alex Kurtzman says. “They’ll also introduce audiences to new characters who may inhabit the larger world of Star Trek.”

The trailer was one of the highlights of the show’s appearance at Comic-Con on Friday, where a packed Hall H crowd whooped at the sight of Pike relaying Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) news of her foster brother Spock.

That name, naturally, brought a big cheer, and a bigger one followed when Kurtzman confirmed what many suspected when they spied the iconic USS Enterprise at the end of season 1: “Yes, you will be seeing Spock this season,” said Kurtzman, of the classic Vulcan character played by the late Leonard Nimoy on the original series. (There’s no word yet on who will be playing the logic-minded, pointy-eared fan favorite.)

Although everyone was playing it close to the vest with spoilers for the show, which is expected to return in Jan. 2019, a few other tidbits emerged from the panel, hosted by comedian and season 2 cast member Tig Notaro and featuring Kurtzman, fellow showrunner Heather Kadin, and stars Martin-Green, Mount, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman, Shazad Latif, Doug Jones, and Mary Chieffo.

-Mount revealed that Rebecca Romjin will play “Number One”— a second-in-command character from the original series’ unaired pilot — and seen briefly in a later episode, played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry. (The wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, she went on to play other roles in the various iterations of the series.)

-The crowd got a glimpse of Notaro’s character Reno, who looks like she may serve as comic relief for Discovery.

-Cruz, whose character Dr. Hugh Culber “died” in the first season, confirmed that he will be back, but wouldn’t give away how that might come to pass beyond what’s already known about his connection to the mycelial network. (It’s complicated.) He did revel in the fact that his relationship with Lt. Paul Stamets, co-star Rapp, played a role in saving the day in the first season. “This gay love has saved all the universes, you’re welcome,” said Cruz with a smile.

-We will get to visit the home planet of Kelpien character Saru in the Short Treks series, played by the incomparable Jones — who also played the fish monster in the Oscar-winning “The Shape of Water” — and he’s very excited.

-On a sweet note, Mount noted that Chris Hunter, the son of Jeffrey Hunter who originated the role of Pike, had come to Comic-Con “just to shake my hand and tell me he thinks his father would’ve been happy with this casting.”

Said Kurtzman: “We know we owe you a lot of answers, and you’ll get them, just not the way you expected.”

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