In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is now Captain of the Discovery. After solving the mystery of The Burn and saving the Federation in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Captain Burnham and her crew face their greatest test yet as a gravimetric anomaly threatens the entire galaxy when Paramount+'s flagship Star Trek series returns on November 18.
Screen Rant took part in a press roundtable with Star Trek: Discovery's Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Captain Burnham, and showrunner Michelle Paradise. They discussed the themes of Star Trek: Discovery season 4, the challenges of making each season more epic, and how Michael will adjust to the responsibilities of the Captain's chair.
Michelle, Star Trek: Discovery season 3 had overarching themes of hope and family. Is there one main theme you'd identify for season 4?
Michelle Paradise: There are a few, actually. Hope and family continue. Those to me feel like the bedrock of Star Trek and optimism. We're also dealing a lot with uncertainty in season 4, which you might have gathered from the trailer and this new threat that's coming. But that doesn't overshadow everything. There are still all of the good things as well.
Sonequa, last season, Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) referred to Burnham as a 'responsibility hoarder'. Is she prepared now to have all of the responsibility as Captain of the Discovery or will this be a learning process for her?
Sonequa Martin-Green: I think the answer is a double yes. Burnham was a responsibility hoarder in the beginning of the series but a lot of that was because of self-fulfilling behavior. Behavior that was self-oriented even though Burnham didn't realize it. There was a lot of overcompensation happening there. There was a lot of putting an image out there to gain approval or to gain absolution.
So much healing has happened since then. Now there's space for Burnham to take the responsibility the way that she should. Not hoard it but just carry it healthily. But at the same time, the other yes to your question, there is still lots to learn. [Being Captain] is a new role and it's a big one. Everybody's gotta learn when you first take that seat, and Burnham definitely does and will.
Screen Rant: Every Star Trek Captain has a distinct and even famous style of command. Kirk was very different from Picard, for example. Can you give us some hints on how Captain Burnham runs her ship now that she's in the big chair?
Sonequa Martin-Green: I wish I could! Actually, Michelle said something earlier that I thought was really perfect for this: You will see as we go. Because just like the journey to the chair, you also get to journey through the chair with Burnham. You get to see her continual learning process. You see that playing out. I wish I could tell you [more], but I can say that everything you already know about this woman, everything you've already seen this woman do and learn, is implemented [as Captain] one thousand percent.
Michelle, going into season 3, you had a blank canvas since Star Trek: Discovery is no longer a prequel. How is it exploring this even farther future world as you go into season 4?
Michelle Paradise: The really cool things we got to explore in season 3 - Who are the species that we meet? How do they feel different in this new future? The technology we developed. What does the world, for lack of a better term, look like? - All of those things we still look at in season 4.
We always have the canon that's established and season 3 is now canon as well. We're always looking for new ways to build on that. What are the species that we haven't explored yet? Where are the planets we haven't visited? What's the technology that's new? How can we continue to push forward to what feels new in this future but is very much in this vein of Star Trek, and Discovery, specifically?
Each season, Discovery seems to become increasingly more epic in scope. Does it become increasingly more difficult to write as the stakes keep ratcheting up season after season?
Michelle Paradise: It feels like there are two questions in the question. There's the story version and there's the production version. To answer the second one first, we always try to make each season bigger and more epic than the last on every level. We try to make every episode feel like a movie. We do that in the storytelling, in the visual effects, in the look and feel of the show. It is always a challenge from that perspective to continue pushing forward and to continue exceeding audience expectations.
In terms of the storytelling itself, there's always the epic thread of the season, but [we ask] how can we push our characters more? How can we get deeper with them? How can we expand and grow what we know about them? How can we deepen their relationships? Every season, we're looking at all of those things. Certainly, coming into season 4, that is as much a focus as it was coming into season 3. That's something that we look at at the start of every season.
Sonequa, in your performance as Michael Burnham, you are able to exhibit the cool, calm logic of her Vulcan upbringing but also the raw, fiery emotion Michael has from her human upbringing. How do those upbringings affect Michael's role in the Captain's chair?
Sonequa Martin-Green: So much! In ways that Burnham realizes and maybe in ways that I don't even realize as Burnham. It's such a big part of who I am as Burnham just as anyone's upbringing is. It filters into every single decision, every thought, every word, every deed. I do believe there's a synergy there now, though, that I have found as Burnham. It was a sort of trial by fire. A lot of falling forward. And a lot of deep, moral mistakes. But also a lot of deep, moral victories.
That led me as Burnham to a place where I can finally accept all that is. My humanity as well as my Vulcan nurture and find where they flow depending on the moment. There was such a denial of my emotionality for so long and that's not the way to go. If you have the sort of dichotomy that Burnham does, you have to accept both equally and then they can flow together as needed. I appreciate that [about Burnham] and that journey is going to continue. There is a synergy there that we haven't seen before and it definitely flows right into the Captaincy.
Star Trek: Discovery season 4 premieres November 18 on Paramount.
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