‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Mary Wiseman on Tilly’s Protective Side, Ultimate Goal, and Finale Ending

Where No One Has Gone Before

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 6 “Whistlespeak.”]

Just as Tilly’s (Mary Wiseman) questioning herself when it comes to teaching, an away mission puts her in a position to showcase just why she made the right career move as Star Trek: Discovery‘s final season continues.

Former roommates Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Tilly head off to collect the next clue to the puzzle that will lead them to the Progenitors’ power—the ultimate goal of the season and something they really don’t want to fall into the wrong hands—and in doing so, the latter is put in a position to take one of the younger people on the planet they’re on under her wing.

After that, we can’t help but notice that Tilly seems to operate best under pressure as a teacher, like here and the Season 4 episode with the cadets that led her to leave Discovery. That does tie into her time as part of the crew before she move over to the Starfleet Academy, says Wiseman.

“Being able to problem solve on your feet is definitely an important quality in someone on a starship. I also think that maybe a sort of protective mode brings a certain side of Tilly out that is highly competent,” she tells TV Insider.

Michael Gibson / Paramount+

Each mission is taking them closer to the ultimate power, with each piece hidden by a scientist in the past. And each mission also includes a lesson, so what did Tilly learn about herself with this one? “I think Tilly learned how to really listen to younger folks and hear what they’re telling you and let them lead and be a supportive hand on the shoulder,” suggests Wiseman.

Though Tilly is questioning if she’s giving her cadets what they need—one is planning to leave the academy for a position on a cargo vessel—that doesn’t mean she’s questioning her plan. “She’s totally cool to be on Discovery for the moment to help out with this very important mission, but her ultimately goal is to end up back at the academy,” says Wiseman.

This episode gave us something we always love: plenty of Tilly and Michael. “It was so peaceful and fun to be with Sonequa. It was really fun. We had a blast. It’s been a while since we had a big away mission together,” Wiseman says. “There were lots of opportunities for both friend lovey times and friends joking around times and just the shooting of it was really, really freaking fun to get to be in the forest and spend all that time together. … That park is insanely beautiful, and it was so nice to get to work there.”

Looking ahead, there’s “more adventure, more jumping headlong into the unknown, getting to the bottom of this big, beautiful mystery,” she teases. That’s all leading up to the finale, which “already had a pretty good ending,” she shares. “It kind of naturally felt that way. There’s a lot of closure.” But then they returned after learning the show was canceled, “and the coda that they added on is really heartfelt and loving and I think does justice to the five seasons we’ve been doing this.”

The last time we see Tilly, there’s “gratitude and joy and being at home in herself and her own body.” And while we can’t help but note that she’d be the perfect character to move over to the new Starfleet Academy series, Wiseman says she doesn’t know if she’ll appear in the Trek universe again.

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Looking back on the season, she enjoyed filming the scene were Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) had everyone cycle through and gave them 20 words as his way of meeting them. “So many people came through, and it was just a really good setup,” Wiseman recalls.

Furthermore, we got some great stuff with Tilly calling Rayner out on his behavior in that episode as a result. “Rayner really pushed a very particular button in Tilly when she witnessed him shutting down everyone she works with and then finally shutting down someone who she saw being particularly vulnerable in that moment in Stamets [Anthony Rapp],” says Wiseman. “That kind of brings the little mama bear out of her, and she was just really fed up. Tilly is so attuned to what people are feeling and so sensitive, and I think being around people who seem to her to be disregarding other people’s feelings is just really frustrating for her. So she got a little snippy with her superior officer, which I think he was pretty forgetting and understanding of. Luckily that’s the language he speaks.”

That ties into what she’s enjoying most about her character this season: “She feels settled in herself and she’s not apologizing for existing, isn’t insecure. I got the opportunity to watch some old stuff recently, and yeah, she was so self-conscious in the earlier seasons and a lot of that has evaporated. She’s still quirky and silly, but is a bit more self-possessed. I think the writers have thread the needle with that really well.”

Looking back, Wiseman “will remember Tilly as a life-changing character and a person who I learned so much with and probably the longest character I’ve ever played continuously, and I probably will just look back with a lot of gratitude and fond memories.” And “it’s been okay” for her saying goodbye, “because it’s Star Trek, there’s just this sense that the legacy lives on and new people come to the show and see these stories. We will see all the fans at conventions and yeah, it doesn’t feel like an ending the way other things feel like an ending.”

How are you hoping the series ends for Tilly? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Star Trek: Discovery, Thursdays, Paramount+