Star Trek: Discovery's callbacks to the Star Trek franchise don't end with Tribbles and wine apparently, as the new series is perhaps looking to bring a popular storyline from the universe into Season 1. A longtime actor and director for theTrek franchise, Jonathan Frakes, became "Number 1" for spoilers when he recently revealed to fans that the Mirror Universe would be making its return. And even more recently, executive producer Gretchen J. Berg didn't deny the claims, so it appears Star Trek: Discovery actually is set to boldly go where only a few Star Trek shows have gone before.
As most Star Trek fans are already aware, Jonathan Frakes is directing an episode of Star Trek: Discovery, which is likely how he came into knowing this privileged information, which he shared at the Continuing Voyage Tour in Chicago. Although Gretchen J. Berg does not explicitly confirm to Trekmovie that Frakes' supposed spoiler is legit, she also doesn't say anything that appears to deny the Mirror Universe appearing in the series:
We've certainly been inspired all of the series and going back to your question on canon, we are existing in the world of the other series. So, there will be a lot of nods to things that seem familiar to fans of Trek.
For Star Trek: Discovery fans unfamiliar with the Mirror Universe, this is a parallel universe first introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series, and has since been featured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise. The Mirror Universe that Star Trek: Discovery would likely visit is under the control of the Terran Empire, which uses its Imperial Starfleet to rule all areas that are under its control. In short, they're basically the opposite of the Federation, which almost makes them like the Galactic Empire from Star Wars.
How this world could directly play into the serialized storyline of Star Trek: Discovery remains to be seen, though, and it's still early enough in these season that it's hard to predict a lot of things. Star Trek: DS9 did around five episodes that involved the Mirror Universe in some way, but there's a difference between visiting a location this important in episodic format versus the highly serialized narrative that Star Trek: Discovery is utilizing. Obviously, the writers have extended plans in mind, and we can only hope that their story involving the Mirror Universe is as cool as bearded Spock:
Star Trek: Discovery is currently airing new episodes on CBS All Access. For more on the subscription service and what else it has to offer beyond Star Trek: Discovery, be sure to check out our episode of The Cord Cutter Podcast. For a look at what else television has to offer this fall season, visit our fall premiere guide.
