Star Trek: Discovery stars on heading into the future in season 3 and welcoming new cast members

It may be another week before the third season of Star Trek: Discovery drops on CBS All Access, but viewers of the series' New York Comic Con panel — moderated by EW executive editor Sarah Rodman — got a sneak peek at an extended clip teasing what's in store for the crew as they jump 930 years into the future.

On hand for the panel (which starts at 24:44 below) were producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise; returning cast members Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Wilson Cruz; and season 3 newcomers David Ajala, Blu Del Barrio, and Ian Alexander.

As always, in an effort to avoid spoilers, the cast and producers were careful about what they revealed, but Martin-Green did allow this: "We land in 3188, I can say that," she said with a laugh. "So it was successful. For me, as Burnham, now it's all about the crew and it's all about getting together and figuring out where we are, what's happened, how are we going to navigate where we are. You know, it sounds simple, but it's so profound. Where are we? What are we going to do? Who are we going to be, what does this future look like?"

That time jump means that the characters are leaving the world they knew behind, which was both an exciting and bittersweet prospect for them, and also that the show is being infused with new life and energy. The panel included a chat with the three newest members of the Discovery family.

Alexander, who joins as Gray, the first trans character in the Trek universe, said, "I'm so excited to bring authentic trans representation to the table, and to be an out and proud trans actor on such a mainstream show." Del Barrio, who is nonbinary, likewise plays Trek's first nonbinary character, Adira, whom they described as "pretty hardheaded as a person and very introverted." Ajala joins as the entry point to the new world as Cleveland Booker, who, as the British actor noted, has much in common with the newcomers to his world in that "he has left his past and is rediscovering his identity in the future, and his purpose." (He had previously worked with Patrick Stewart, who spoke fondly of his time in the Star Trek saga.)

"What we're doing is reflecting the world as it exists, and these are the people who inhabit the world," Cruz said of both the original cast and its newest members. "And so why shouldn't our entertainment and our media reflect that back to us, right?"

While the sneak peek at footage from the first episode surely was a highlight for fans, that moment might have been eclipsed by a surprise visit from Martin-Green's newborn baby daughter, Saraiyah.

Star Trek: Discovery premieres Oct. 15 on CBS All Access.

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