‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Explains Trailer’s Vulcan Relationship
Star Trek: Discovery at last provided us with a September premiere, but more than a few details of the series itself remain hazy. The trailer seemed to imply some Vulcan origins for Sonequa Martin-Green’s leading role; now explained by the Walking Dead alum herself.
As previously revealed, Martin-Green will take the role of First Officer Michael Burnham, serving under Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Philippa Georgiou aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. The trailer didn’t actually show the Discovery itself, or Burnham’s likely subsequent Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs), but perhaps more curious were scenes of Burnham’s Vulcan upbringing and relationship with Spock’s father Sarek (James Frain).
The implied Vulcan parentage isn’t intended as a misdirect, according to Entertainment Weekly, but rather that Burnham will have something of a mirror path to Spock’s:
We can tell you that Burnham is fully human (not half-Vulcan as some have speculated) and is the first human to attend the Vulcan Learning Center as a child and then the Vulcan Science Academy as a young woman. She has a close relationship with Sarek (James Frain), the father of Spock. For the past seven years, she’s been serving on the U.S.S. Shenzhou.
Martin-Green herself also played up some of the character’s inner-conflict:
I have an inner war and it’s a journey of self discovery and finding out what it means to be alive, to be human, to be a Starfleet officer, what it means to be a hero … I have the Vulcan conflict in my life from Sarek and Amanda so there’s always going to be that inner conflict with me. But I think it’s relatable because we all have some kind of inner conflict going on — who we are versus who we present ourselves to be. There’s a lot to be discovered.
Discovery will stream the first two episodes on CBS All-Access Sunday, September 24 (the first will actually air on CBS), pushing the second half of Season 1 to January 2018. We’ll likely see more from the new Star Trek soon, so stay tuned.