NOVEMBER 23, 2020 - The next installment of Star Trek: Discovery premieres this Thursday, November 26th on CBS All Access. And if you weren’t already excited, now you’ve got a few more reasons to be.

Let’s start with the name: “Unification III”. This is a clear reference to “Unification I” and “Unification II”, the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter that featured the return of Leonard Nimoy as Spock. It was (and continues to be) one of the highest-rated Star Trek episodes of all time. Will “Unification III” feature Vulcans and/or Romulans?

Next reason for excitement: this week’s early press dump only has 5 stills. The last few weeks have been over 10 stills each in the early dump…which could imply that the rest of the show is so full of spoilers that they didn’t want to share. (For context, CBS usually releases one group of stills on Monday and another on Thursday after the episode airs. The Thursday stills typically contain spoilers!)

And the final reason for excitement: the U.S.S. Yelchin. In the preview clip in The Ready Room (cued up below), Tilly mentions that the first black box that Burnham found was from a ship called the U.S.S. Yeltsin. Could be a coincidence, but given the rate of Easter eggs in Discovery, probably not: the ship is likely named for the late Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek films.

Excited yet?

Browse the preview stills below, and scroll down further for this week’s preview clip. And be sure to tune into Daily Star Trek Views this Friday at 1pm PT on our YouTube channel, for a LIVE take on this week’s Star Trek: Discovery, “Unification III”.