Well, Star Trek: Discovery finally debuted its first two episodes last night, and the sci-fi drama is promising to be a wild ride. Many fans were likely shocked during the second episode of the show, when Michelle Yeoh's Captain Philippa Georgiou died at the hands of ostensible Klingon leader T'Kuvma, as she and Sonequa Martin-Green's First Officer, Michael Burnham, were trying to capture him in an effort to stop the Klingon/Starfleet war before it went any further. Now, it looks like we might not have actually seen the last of the USS Shenzhou's former captain as the series continues its freshman season. Executive producer Alex Kurtzman has opened up about what might be ahead for the character, and, when asked if the plan was always to only have her appear in the first two episodes, said:
The first thing that I'll reiterate, which was also said at Comic-Con, is: Have patience with us. Let's wait and see what happens.
So, it sounds like we might get to see some posthumous viewings of Georgiou during the course of Season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery. This wouldn't be far-fetched, either. As it was made pretty clear that the captain had played a very large part in Burnham's life for the past seven years leading up to what we saw at the beginning of the series. Burnham's surrogate father, Sarek, brought her to Georgiou and the Shenzhou after she had been trained as a scientist on Vulcan. He clearly thought Burnham needed the captain to mentor her, and that's exactly what happened. And, during the premiere, Georgiou even told Burnham that she thought the first officer was finally ready to helm a ship of her own.
As Alex Kurtzman spoke with TVLine, he clearly didn't commit either way to us seeing Michelle Yeoh and Georgiou again, but it does sound like those behind Discovery are considering ways to make it work for the serialized story that they plan to tell this season. Since Burnham was a part of Georgiou's crew for seven years before the captain's death (and the near destruction of her ship), it would seem pretty easy to have Burnham flashback to happier times with her mentor. This is especially true, because the war that Georgiou went to the Klingon vessel to stop, started because of a stupid mistake that Burnham made during Episode 1. There's no way she doesn't feel responsible for the death of her mentor/mother figure.
Aside from the possible flashback angle, it also sounds like there might be another option for how they bring back Georgiou. Kurtzman also said:
Well, I think Burnham is going to be tested in many ways, as is the rest of the crew. Old ghosts may come back to haunt her over the course of the season.
So, is it possible that Burnham will have visions of Georgiou, or actually imagine herself talking with her deceased mentor to figure out how to proceed in difficult situations as the season goes on? It sounds like that might happen, but to be sure we'll just have to check out Star Trek: Discovery weekly on CBS All Access, Sundays at 7:30 CST. For everything else you can catch on the small screen in the coming months, bookmark our fall premiere guide.
