Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Sneak Peek: Captain Burnham Hangs Outside A Ship At Warp Speed

At the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con, Paramount brought along several clips of their upcoming "Star Trek" shows. As of this writing, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is nearing the end of its second season, and "Star Trek: Lower Decks" will likely debut its fourth season sometime later in the summer. The second and final season of "Star Trek: Prodigy" will air in the winter of 2023, and the fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" will air in the early months of 2024. 

Paramount revealed a five-minute clip of an upcoming episode of "Star Trek: Discovery," and it looks to be as high-octane as the show has been to date. "Discovery" is notoriously far more violent than the Trek shows that preceded it, and it has a higher action quotient than most of the other new "Star Trek" shows. As such, the slip features a firefight, a sudden plunge through the vacuum of space, a warp-speed starship chase, and a bitter argument as to how to handle the situation. A lot is crammed into the five-minute clip. 

In the clip, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is stalking the hallways of a darkened ship. She confronts a mysterious pair of bad guys, clearly up to no good. They have in their possession a mysterious polyhedral widget that they clearly aren't supposed to have. Right before they escape via transporter, they toss a weapon at Burnham's feet. It instantaneously bores a hole through the floor, and Michael is sucked out into space. Luckily, because the show takes place in the 31st century, she has a high-tech space suit that magically forms around her. 

Michael lands on the outer hull of the enemy ship, activates her magnetic boots, and walks around on the ship's exterior. The ship then jumps to warp speed. Eep. In "Star Trek," though, this is possible, as ships form a warp field around themselves. Anything on the hull would also be within the warp field. No, Michael would not be ripped to shreds by the speed. She is in communication with Mr. Saru (Doug Jones) back on board the U.S.S. Discovery. Also on board is Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg, who has a truly fascinating acting career), a character returning from the show's previous season. She is also in communication with a second Federation starship that has captured the enemy vessel in a warp-speed tractor beam. While Michael Burnham torches through the enemy vessel's hull in an attempt to damage their engines, the Federation ship clings on. Michael and the unseen captain of that ship bicker about the right course of action.

Michael eventually manages to slow the enemy vessel down, is flung off the hull, and starts barrelling through space toward the Discovery. The transporters lock on and bring her right onto the bridge where she removes her helmet and takes a seat. A badass moment for the captain. 

"Discovery" has always been a frantic show. The characters are always cranked to 11, screaming, weeping, or doing acts of violence. There are no episodes that slow down, focus on moral dilemmas, or depict ordinary, everyday life on board the ship. It's all movement, all the time. It seems that this mere five-minute clip promises that the tone of "Discovery" will remain consistent. Michael Burnham will ride on the back of a starship, then transport onto the bridge and get back to work. 

According to the Paramount press materials, the villains in question are Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis). The mystery of the object they're stealing will have to wait until the show airs. Whether or not these characters will be central villains or power players in the fifth season of "Discovery" remains to be seen. It's likely, however, that they are important to the plot, as "Discovery" has adhered to season-long story arcs throughout its life. 

There is also some mention that the Federation vessel with the tractor beam is operating with technology still hurt by the Burn. One might recall that the third season of "Discovery" was about a galaxy-wide cataclysm that caused all dilithium crystals — vital for space travel — to spontaneously explode. It seems that the Federation, once in hiding, is still learning to expand and operate with burnt-out technology. 

No further character twists were revealed. There weren't cameos from any known Discovery crew members, nor mention of where they might be. It is, after all, an action sequence; there was little time for exposition. 

"Star Trek: Discovery" will debut its final season in early 2024.