Is Star Trek: Discovery hinting at more potential time travel?

Star Trek: Discovery is coming to a close this year, and in a matter of days we'll see how the beginning of the end starts. The show is promising a grand season, one fitting of a wonderful send-off, but with the up-and-down writing of the show, some fans are pessimistic that Discovery can stick the landing.

That said, there is potential here for the show to end on a high note. Set in the 32nd century, Discovery has the chance to explore ideas and avenues never before discovered. This isn't just a marketing pitch, either, as the show itself is hinting at where the show goes.

According to Michelle Paradise in a recent edition of SFX magazine (via TrekMovie), the 9th episode of Discovery and the penultimate one of the series run will take the crew to somewhere new. Paradise goes on to tell the publication;

"“Discovery in a location where you’ve never seen her before.”"

So what could this mean? The Mirror Universe comes to mind, and considering how involved the show was early on with that Trek concept, it makes sense. It could also mean a new part of space, like some aspect of the Delta or Gamma Quadrant not yet explored, or maybe something even more so beyond that, like a whole new universe.

That said, our thinking is that it's going to be a new place and time. Maybe the show goes back in time to the days of the first NX-01 Enterprise and they meet Jonathan Archer, now 20 years older. Maybe they go back to see James Kirk's last breath, or somewhere in between.

It seems likely that the show does something with time travel to close things out, and having it end where it began in the past seems like a logical idea.