OCTOBER 9, 2022 - This weekend is New York Comic Con and DSTN was there on Saturday for the Star Trek Universe panel. First up was Star Trek: Discovery, featuring Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman, Rod Roddenberry, and Michelle Paradise; Anthony Rapp (Stamets); Wilson Cruz (Culber); and Sonequa Martin-Green (Burnham), who, due to her shooting schedule, appeared virtually. The first thing attendees were treated to was the first look at Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

One of the biggest takeaways from the trailer is that there are some new faces. “We have three new friends joining us this season,” Paradise revealed. Those “friends” include Callum Keith Rennie (Jessica Jones; The Umbrella Academy) as Captain Rayner, who “is a bit of a gruff captain, and he’s got some things to learn.”

“Callum himself is gruff,” Rapp said. “He’s a ‘loveable teddy bear’ gruff, but it’s like a wonderful new piece of the recipe for this show.”

Also joining the show is Eve Harlow (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Titans) as Malinne Ravel and Elias Toufexis as L’ak former couriers, the pair are “a bit of a Bonnie and Clyde kind of character,” according to Paradise.

When asked about the theme of the season, Cruz said, “Every season we have a bit of a shift in tone, and this season, even more so. We’re on an adventure, and you really see everybody step up and use their strengths in order to solve a mystery…What I love most is just this quest that we’re on and how we come together as a team to solve it.”

“Everybody is meeting themselves,” Martin-Green added. “There’s a confrontation that’s happening with all of us…that we’re having to make those tough decisions about who we really are and who we really are together because of this mystery and because of this adventure in a new way and in a deeper way and a more profound way than we’ve ever seen.”

According to Rapp, in season 5 Stamets is “trying to figure out [his] new path of scientific exploration. For him science is not just about, ‘Oh, cool ideas,’ it’s actually his reason for being. So, searching for the thing that will plug him into the next passionate course of his life is a really cool thing to be a part of.”

Star Tek: Discovery season 5 is expected to premiere in early 2023. In the meantime, you can catch up on all the adventures on Paramount+. And stay tuned to DSTN as we roll out more reports and interviews from NYCC throughout the coming week.