Short Star Trek anthology series to debut alongside Discovery

If you need more Trek to tide you over until the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery season two, good news: CBS has made it so.

Announced at the network’s San Diego Comic-Con panel for Star Trek: Discovery season two, franchise mastermind Alex Kurtzman announced plans for a mini-anthology series that would delve into various pockets of Discovery lore. Think of it as the show’s webisode spinoff, airing exclusively on CBS All Access, the network’s streaming service. While Discovery season two is expected to arrive in early 2019, the anthology shorts will premiere later this year.

As revealed in an interview with Trek Movie, Short Trek will also include an adventure with a brand new character, played by actor Aldis Hodge (Hidden Figures). He’ll star as Craft, who finds himself the long survivor aboard a deserted ship. The episode will be written by acclaimed author Michael Chabon.

While Saru will earn his own Short Trek side quest, the panel also revealed that we’ll get to see the Kelpien home planet. “Who’s the prey? Who’s the predator? All these questions will come into play,” said Doug Jones.

Kurtzman also revealed that Spock will appear on Discovery in season two, opening up whoever plays the Vulcan in the series to appear in one of the Short Treks — or perhaps get one his own down the road.

Also joining this season are comedian Tig Notaro in an unspecified role, Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, the U.S.S. Enterprise captain before Captain Kirk, and as announced at the panel, Rebecca Romijn as “the first Number One.”

With all the crossovers and potential conundrums Discovery poses for Trek history, Alex Kurtzman answered one of the most burning questions at the panel’s end:

Cue your second Mirror Universe theories.