Star Trek: Discovery recruited Jason Isaacs to play Captain Lorca for the first season of the show, and Lorca seemed like more or less one of the good guys for a lot of the season. Then, Lorca proved that Isaacs was living up to his legacy as a great villainous actor, as he was Mirror Lorca rather than Prime Lorca all along. On top of that, Mirror Lorca was killed by the end of Season 1, so he seemed pretty gone for good.
But this is a sci-fi series we're talking about, and Discovery only introduced one of two confirmed Lorcas. The death of Mirror Lorca may not stick somehow, or Discovery could introduce Prime Lorca. Throw in a bit of time travel, and boom! More Lorca on Discovery. Could it happen? Sure. Will it happen? That remains to be seen.
Jason Isaacs recently revealed that "of course" he would return to the Star Trek universe as Lorca, as he "loved it." After teasing fans that they don't know if he's not already coming back, he shared that he's been talking to producers. Here's how Isaacs put it:
So, I have talked to them plenty. Where and when? Nobody ever dies. There is a Prime Lorca. There are three different shows coming out and multiple seasons, and if I can squeeze back into that eight year-old’s uniform, would do. Who wouldn’t want to do it again? They are timeless stories.
Jason Isaacs dropped his optimistic comments at a panel at Star Trek Las Vegas 2019 (via TrekMovie.com), and his point that CBS All Access has two more Star Trek shows in the works is a good one. On top of Star Trek: Discovery, the streamer will be home to Picard (starring Patrick Stewart and a bunch of other franchise alums) and a Philippa Georgiou-centric spinoff.
Surely there's a spot on one of these shows for either Mirror Lorca (resurrected or in a pre-death point in his timeline) or Prime Lorca returned from the Mirror Universe? I'm not saying I'd be disappointed if Prime Lorca didn't come back from an extended period of time in the Mirror Universe with an Evil Spock goatee, but it would be funny. If Prime Spock got a beard because of all that inner conflict, why not Prime Lorca with an evil goatee as a disguise?
Of course, the twist at the end of Star Trek: Discovery that should prevent any future conflicts with existing Trek canon shot the crew way into the future, far from Lorca's timeline. If Jason Isaacs reprises the role without any time travel in play, it would probably need to be via hallucination or dream sequence.
Jason Isaacs also spoke about his feelings about leaving Discovery after only one season:
I knew going in that I was doing just one season…It felt like a great thing to do and I felt fine about it, but as I got close to everyone and close to and understood the significance of Star Trek and the brilliant storytelling and what it means in the world, I felt the loss of that.
Well, at least it wasn't a surprise to him that his character was going to be killed off! Still, it sounds like Jason Isaacs would have been willing to stick around longer if the opportunity arose. If one of the Trek shows on CBS All Access calls him up and he has the time in his schedule, the odds seem pretty good that he would happily be back in the Lorca suit!
For now, you can relive the glory days of Lorca in Season 1 (including that Mirror Lorca reveal) streaming on CBS All Access now. Jason Isaacs could also be found on streaming thanks to his Netflix series The OA, although that just got the axe this week. At least there are plenty of viewing options coming up this fall!
