Sonequa Martin-Green on going beyond canon on Discovery

At San Diego Comic-Con, Sonequa Martin-Green spoke about Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 and going from respecting canon to building it.

“Canon” is a word that the cast and crew of Star Trek: Discovery will probably be very happy if they never hear uttered again.

From the moment it was announced that Discovery would take place roughly ten years before the events of The Original Series, fans wanted to know where it fit in within the Star Trek canon. And usually they weren’t happy with the answers they got.

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Why didn’t Spock ever mention his foster sister Michael Burnham? How come nobody ever talked about the Discovery and the Spore Drive? Why was there no mention of Discovery and any of her crew through decades of Star Trek history?

Now, thanks to “Such Sweet Sorrow,” the epic Season 2 finale of Discovery, we all have the answer. The ship and her crew travelled 900 years into the future to try and save humanity.

It puts the writers of the third season of Star Trek: Discovery in a very unique position. Now instead of having to worry about respecting canon and where everything fits in the larger Star Trek tapestry, they are now creating canon. Discovery is now further in the Star Trek timeline than any series has gone before and it really is a whole new world to explore.

The actors working on Discovery are well aware of this and are looking forward to the freedom that brings.

During San Diego Comic-Con, after the Star Trek Universe panel, some of the cast of Discovery and Short Treks did a mini press tour with a number of different outlets, including the Los Angeles Times. During the discussion, the subject of the series heading into new uncharted territory came up and Sonequa Martin-Green talked about just how new everything will be in Season 3.

"“The beauty of going into the future – boldly, I might add – is that everything is new. Everything you will see will be new. We were able to shoot in Iceland for the first episode of season three and you are going to see a world we have never seen before. We are not in Terralysium. We did not end there like we planned. So, now we have to figure out where we are, who we are and when we are, at this point now. It is very enervating to be able to build canon moment to moment.”"

Martin-Green also talked about just how excited everyone who works on Discovery is with their newfound freedom.

"“We were excited before, but now we are more excited than ever. Now, you have so much more room to create. But again, we always have the same foundation. So, I thought it was genius. Because we get to be who we are, but we get to boldly go and do what we never thought we would be able to do. I think everybody across the departments feels that way.”"

One of the biggest knocks on Discovery from the haters and gatekeepers was that the show didn’t “feel” like Star Trek. Well, they shouldn’t have anything to complain about now since Discovery is soon to go where no one has gone before, in true Trek fashion.