The big bad for Star Trek: Discovery season 4 is a gravitational anomaly, and the stars of the show tease their characters' reactions to it.
The stars of Star Trek: Discovery season 4 reveal how their characters will react to the strange anomaly threatening the galaxy. After dealing with the show's longest hiatus yet, Star Trek: Discovery returns for season 4 in November after its shortest. Production commenced last year amid the coronavirus pandemic and wrapped in August. With its upcoming season, Discovery remains Paramount+'s longest-running Trek show and, based on comments from the showrunner, could continue to be so with a potential season 5.
For now, all eyes are on season 4. After taking the Star Trek franchise farther into the future than ever before with season 3, Discovery will take a unique approach to its next batch of episodes. Instead of introducing a big bad who is an alien or a human, the USS Discovery's crew will find themselves grappling with a gravitational anomaly. Stretching five lightyears across, this anomaly has the potential to debilitate starships and move anywhere within the galaxy. After spending the past three seasons coping with more familiar threats, the characters of Star Trek: Discovery will find themselves in unfamiliar territory.
Because of that, fans are interested in how each character will respond to the gravitational anomaly. Several cast members from Star Trek: Discovery appeared at New York Comic-Con this past weekend and offered some insight into how their alter egos will act in the face of this faceless enemy (via TrekMovie.com). Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), and Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber) all had this to say:
Sonequa Martin-Green: I think I can speak for all the characters when I say I don’t think any of us were expecting to have a threat this big so soon after jumping to this future. Because that was huge. I know at least for Burnham, it’s a lot. Like, ‘Man, here we are again with a threat of great, great magnitude.’ And so of course, these people in this story being the honorable people that they are, their true character comes out at that moment of greatest pressure and beautiful stuff comes out as hard as it might be.
Anthony Rapp: Stamets is a scientist, first and foremost, and he cares about the health of the bioforms in the galaxy. So he’s driven to stay up all night every night to solve this mystery. And the fact that it is really difficult to solve affects him in a very particular way.
Mary Wiseman: Tilly is great at science, so that helps. I think that Tilly has begun to move up in leadership and is feeling more and more responsibility and a little bit more of the pressures [of being] responsible for people. That in combination with all the events of the third season, similar to the way this pandemic experience has affected us all, really kind of forced her to like reinvestigate herself and her motivation. So it kind of spirals her off into this personal journey, actually. Which was very fun to play with.
Wilson Cruz: For Dr. Culber, he’s taking on double duty. He’s not just the medical officer, but he’s also the ship’s counselor. And with an anomaly that’s creating such anxiety for people because of the uncertainty that it presents and the danger that it presents, people need some help… Throughout this season, I really thought about all of our nurses and all of our doctors, and all of our therapists who have helped us through this incredibly uncertain moment in time, and who are struggling themselves. How do you stay professional and do your job and help other people while still taking care of yourself and your family and stay healthy? That is the arc of Culber.
A common thread through some of these answers, particularly in the case of Wiseman and Cruz's, is how the gravitational anomaly almost reflects the current state of the world with the coronavirus pandemic. Discovery season 4 was created amid the pandemic, so there's a chance these parallels were intentional. Even if they were not, it still shows that this season's conflict might hold some extra relevance for audiences. As fans deal with the uncertainty of the pandemic in the real world, the characters of Discovery will grapple with an unseen villain they understand little about on television.
Real world connections aside, the gravitational anomaly in Star Trek: Discovery season 4 can test its characters in new ways. The show is a decent way into its run now, and in order to keep things fresh, it's best to push the characters into new situations so they can continue to grow. In that sense, the anomaly presents both unique story opportunities and new character arcs. Fans should definitely be excited about what lies ahead.
Star Trek: Discovery season 4 premieres November 18 on Paramount+.
Source: NYCC (via TrekMovie.com)
