No Captain Kirk on Discovery for the foreseeable future

For those fans hoping for Captain Kirk to make an appearance on the second season Star Trek: Discovery, Alex Kurtzman has bad news.

From almost the moment is was revealed that Star Trek: Discovery would take place roughly a decade prior to the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, fans started asking when we would see the crew of the Enterprise.

It’s not an outlandish request either. Some of the best remembered episodes of The Next Generation included appearances by the cast of the original show. And with Discovery already fighting an uphill battle with some fans, a little goodwill towards then might go a long way.

Alas, even with the revelation that series focus Michael Burnham (played by Sonequa Martin-Green) was in fact Spock’s adopted sister, an appearance of the crew of the Enterprise was not meant to be. At least, not yet.

The all changed the moment the U.S.S. Enterprise showed up in the final episode of Discovery‘s first season. With it came the sure knowledge that Captain Christopher Pike and most likely Spock would be playing a key part in Discovery Season 2.

However, what about James T. Kirk?

At this point in the timeline, Kirk is still a long way from taking over command of the Enterprise. In fact, he could very well still be at Starfleet Academy, trying to figure out how to defeat the Kobayashi Maru. But that hasn’t stopped fans from expressing an interest in seeing Kirk show up alongside Spock and Pike.

Unfortunately, according to Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman, it isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

More from Star Trek: Discovery

• Will Star Trek: Discovery feature a satisfying ending to the series?
• When is Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth and final season coming?
• Sonequa Martin-Green talks about how Star Trek’s Michael Burnham changed her life
• Star Trek: Discovery’s final season may have some of the series’ best villains so far
• Star Trek’s mysterious “Galactic Barrier” (un)explained

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kurtzman shot down any notion that Kirk would be showing up on Discovery, and did so pretty definitively.

"“There’s a 10-year gap between where we are in Discovery and Kirk’s arrival on the Enterprise. There would [have to] be a major time jump if we were going to do something like that. What Kirk was doing at this particular time is another question, but we don’t have any immediate plans [for the character]. I have not spoken to Shatner about it.”"

While that is sure going to disappoint fans, it makes a lot of sense from a storytelling standpoint. Plus, if Discovery is ever going to stand on its own it needs to find its own voice and style. The first season was a great step in that direction and Season 2 looks like it will further make Discovery a worthy addition to Star Trek cannon.

An appearance by Kirk would do nothing but hurt that progress to try and win over a small fraction of the fanbase who irrationally hate Discovery. Which would make no sense.

A Kirk-free Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 arrives on CBS All Access on January 17.