'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 3 Episode 1 Preview: What does the future of 3188 look like after The Burn?
'Star Trek' has always sought to boldly go where no one has gone before, and that's never been more true, as the Discovery and its crew go beyond just the far reaches of space, and into the far flung future. The future is not quite so bright as the promise of Starfleet would have its officers believe, however, and whatever is left of the Federation has dissolved into a long forgotten dream. A lot has changed in the near millenia since the Discovery made its time jump, and though its crew has survived the journey, the biggest question on everyone's minds is this - what is their place in the universe now?
Last season, in order to defeat a malevolent AI, the crew of the Discovery made a major sacrifice - launching themselves into the future, leaving their lives behind with no way back. To make matters worse, once they'd left, all mention of them was scrubbed from history, with not even a record of them left behind. Even if the Discovery makes it back, they might not have a lot in the past to look forward to. All that's a moot point, however, as until they find a way to go back in time, the future is going to be their home.
Almost a thousand years tends to leave a universe unrecognizable, however, and the galaxy-spanning United Federation of Planets is no more. Something that's been simply called "The Burn" was responsible for ending the alliance of planets, ending the Federation once and for all. Though the Federation has fallen, however, it's not been forgotten, and a fleet of Federation officers from the past may be just the thing to bring its ideals into an era no 'Star Trek' fan has ever seen before.
The Federation fell for a reason, though, and as we've seen in shows like 'Picard', the alliance was already falling prey to the corruption of its ideals. The Discovery crew has a chance to rebuild it from the ground up, and do it their way, hopefully without the mistakes that the Federation made when it was first put together. Only time will tell, but with their ship out of commission and no way home, time is something that the Discovery has no shortage of.
You can watch a trailer for Season 3 below:
This episode of 'Star Trek: Discovery' airs Thursday, October 15, on CBS All Access.
