Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 finally premiered, and with its arrival came some big surprises about the final chapter in the series. It's also an exciting time in the franchise in general, as the recent confirmation that the upcoming Star Trek series Starfleet Academy will take place in the 32nd century ensures Discovery characters can appear in the new show. I asked Tilly actress Mary Wiseman about the project, and her response to me was all I needed to hear.
I've theorized Mary Wiseman would have a role in Starfleet Academy ever since her character took a teaching job at the school, and Season 4 featured what felt like a backdoor pilot to the spinoff. At the same time, I recognized that if Wiseman was involved in the spinoff, she likely couldn't tell me since the series' place in the timeline was not publicly known when I spoke to her at the junket for Star Trek: Discovery. As such, I mentioned how interesting it was that Season 5 established that she was still teaching at the academy, considering the spinoff was in development. I tried to get a response about her involvement by presenting a hypothetical about returning to Trek. After a short pause, Wiseman said the following:
Man, don’t try to get me. Don’t you try to get me. We can be friends or we can be enemies [laughs].
Mary Wiseman didn't confirm or deny anything with her statement, and it should be stressed that her tone was more in jest than serious. Essentially, the way the question was worded made it hard to answer without acknowledging the possibility of her involvement. While I thought I could get her to comment on returning to Star Trek ahead of the possibility of it happening, she hit me with that instead. Touché to the actress, though; wouldn't she just say she wasn't involved if it wasn't on the table?
It would be a missed opportunity not to include any Star Trek: Discovery character in Starfleet Academy, and there isn't a more obvious character to include than Sylvia Tilly. As mentioned, the show has firmly established her as an instructor at the academy, and she has strong bonds with just about everyone on the crew. It's easy to justify anyone from Michael Burnham to Saru popping in to check on her in the show without it feeling forced or inorganic.
Previous seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription have shown she can step away to aid the crew when they adventure. As such, it makes more sense for her story to continue on Starfleet Academy rather than Michael Burnham leaving Discovery to become headmaster or something of that nature. With Alex Kurtzman telling CinemaBlend that surprises are coming up regarding Star Trek, I'd sooner see Sonequa Martin-Green's character out traversing the stars in case a movie is on the table.
While we don't know for sure whether Mary Wiseman is in Starfleet Academy, the hope of Star Trek: Discovery stars appearing in the spinoff makes the ending of the series feel less bittersweet. I wrote that Season 5 feels like Voyager in a way, but in fairness, Voyager never had a true spinoff. I'm keeping my fingers crossed Wiseman will be the connective tissue to the series, and we'll see more cast added down the line.
Of course, we shouldn't worry too much about Starfleet Academy when Star Trek: Discovery airs new episodes of its final season on Thursdays on Paramount+. Tune in to see this crew's "last ride" and more inspiring moments from Captain Michael Burnham.
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