‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Sonequa Martin-Green on Showcasing Burnham’s Series-Long Journey

Where No One Has Gone Before

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 “Face the Strange.”]

The crew’s latest encounter with Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) sends two of its members on quite the timey wimey trip—including to Star Trek: Discovery‘s past and (hopefully not) future.

Their foes planted a time bug on Adira’s (Blu Del Barrio) sleeve in the previous episode, and as a result, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her Number One, Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), go jumping through time. At one point, Burnham even encounters herself—the Season 1 version, fresh off being a mutineer and not trusted by any of the crew (including Airiam!).

Revisiting the past version of her character and fighting her as the present-day one “was one of my favorite moments,” Martin-Green raves to TV Insider. “We had such an amazing time shooting it, and I loved being able to see the contrast between who Burnham used to be and who she is now because I think it can be easy to forget how far she came over the course of the series, but you really see it right in front of your face. I love that they gave me that, and I love that they gave Burnham that as well, where her maturation was cemented because of that storyline, in my opinion.”

Figuring out which past events to revisit wasn’t too hard. “That was one of those that we really had to thread the needle on because we had the present-day story that was happening that they were exploring via these past incidents, and so it felt like we hit the things that we wanted to hit,” explains executive producer Michelle Paradise. “We thought it would be neat to see Airiam again.”

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The focus, the EP continues, “is about Burnham recognizing how far she has come. She has started the series as a mutineer and became captain, and that is quite a trajectory. To give our Burnham the chance to see who she used to be and just how far she’s come was really the heart of that entire episode. And so we just wanted to make sure that any past time we visited was supporting that goal.”

Due to Stamets’ (Anthony Rapp) tardigrade DNA, he lives outside of time and therefore was aware of what was happening around him, thusly a vital source for Burnham and Rayner—and aware that he’d already lived events like the Season 2 finale and Season 1. “I had such a good time getting to kind of live in both worlds, also as an actor, as a person reflecting back on that experience, which was from the first season,” Rapp shares. “It was a really special experience. It’s hard to separate in a way, Stamets’ experience from my own experience. There was very little difference between the two of us in a way because we were both revisiting something that was very impactful and having a lot of fun doing it.”

Rennie calls it “a bonding episode,” filled with Star Trek and Discovery history, for his and Martin-Green’s characters. He also enjoyed what we saw of Stamets and Rayner, who has been doing the bare minimum to get to know the crew but volunteers to help the former.

“We had a funny dynamic on set in person, and so then some of that plays into the work,” Rennie says. “You’re learning who’s going to go off on you and who’s not and how much. If you really want to get things done on this, you really have to learn how to communicate better. And with him is just one of those moments.”

But will Rayner take any of what he’s learned in this episode, especially the importance of getting to know his crew, going forward? “I think once you’ve gone through a considerable battle that seemed way out of control and you’ve fought a crisis, you’ve been in the trenches, there’s a respect built all around,” says Rennie.

What did you think of Discovery‘s trip through time? What was your favorite part to relive? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Star Trek: Discovery, Thursdays, Paramount+