‘Star Trek: Discovery’ S3 Theory: A Familiar Character Will Still Be Around In The 32nd Century

Last week we detailed a theory about “The Burn,” and this week we take on another fan theory that we think has some merit. We’re going to go through it step-by-step, building up to the conclusion we think is a pretty good bet.

NOTE: The following analysis speculates about the third season of Star Trek: Discovery and contains SPOILERS.

Who could we meet in 3188?

Via the magic of time travel, Star Trek: Discovery jumped forward 930 years for season three. During two seasons spent in the 23rd century, we saw a number of familiar faces, but all of them were left behind as they flew into that wormhole. The 32nd century has been touted as a blank slate when it comes to canon, giving Discovery room to maneuver.

But the jump into the future doesn’t mean everything is new. Canon still allows for some potential familiar characters to still be around in the 32nd century. And there are a number of intriguing possibilities, but we have one particular fan-favorite candidate in mind. The trailers released so far have shown a number of familiar races including Andorians, Vulcans, and Orions. But there was one race which is new to Discovery and is our first clue for a character that we think is going to make a come back.

Saru greets a Vulcan in the 32nd century

Discovery season 3 is bringing back the Trill

When the first trailer for season 3 trailer was released at NYCC last fall, there were a couple of shots of a familiar Federation member race, the Trill. A humanoid species, the Trill were introduced in one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and then became fully realized members of the Federation (with some slight changes) on Deep Space Nine, mostly through the experiences of Jadzia (Terry Farrell) and Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer), both “joined” Trill who each carried the Dax symbiont.

At the 2019 NYCC panel, co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman confirmed the show would be visiting the Trill homeworld in season three, noting some of the show’s new characters will have to go there for a “very specific reason.”

Three Trills from the NYCC 2019 trailer

The Trill are a mysterious symbiotic race

So in the 24th century, the Trill were members of the Federation, but it isn’t yet clear if they are part of the “diminished” Federation of the 32nd century we’ll be seeing in season three. Even within the Federation, the Trill kept their secrets, including initially hiding that a rare few of their race hosted symbionts; a special commission decides who gets to be joined, generally choosing from a group of very young adult volunteers.

The symbionts can live outside of hosts in special pools where they procreate and communicate telepathically (seen as zaps of lighting) with each other and with unjoined Trill “Guardians.”

Two Trill symbionts communicating telepathically in DS9’s “Equilibrium”

Two new characters join Season 3, at least one is a Trill

Earlier this month, those “new characters” in season 3 mentioned by Kurtzman were revealed as a non-binary character named Adira (Blu del Barrio) and a transgender male Trill named Gray (Ian Alexander). Gray is described as “empathetic, warm, and eager to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a Trill host, but he will have to adapt when his life takes an unexpected turn.” This means Gray will be introduced as an unjoined Trill. We got our first good look at the character in the Star Trek Day 2020 trailer.

Gray in the Star Trek Day trailer

While Adira appears to be human, they still have some kind of connection to Gray. In an interview with GLAAD, Blu del Barrio talked about working closely with Ian Alexander, saying, “It was a joy having him as a partner.” And at the Star Trek Day 2020 Discovery panel, co-showrunner Michelle Paradise revealed that Adira (who gets introduced in episode 3) and Gray (introduced in episode 4) have a “very unique and specific relationship.”

Adira with Gray

A different take on the Trill, but also “very familiar”

In the Star Trek Day panel, Michelle Paradise talked more about Gray, revealing how the Trill will play a significant part in season three:

Gray is Trill so there’s a whole Trill mythology in Trek that we’re going to be leaning into with this… What’s interesting about being one thousand years ahead is that we can play them in new ways. So you may think that you know a particular species to be a certain way and maybe a thousand years later, they’re a little bit different than you might expect. But at the end of the day, I think it will still feel very, very familiar.

We can see what appear to be symbiont pools in both of the season 3 trailers, likely the Caves of Mak’ala on Trill, first shown in Deep Space Nine. There is also a publicity photo, a nice shot of Michael Burnham in a cave with one of these pools. One detail of note for this image is that Burnham still has her 23rd-century Starfleet badge, so this scene is likely from earlier in the season before she starts wearing the 32nd-century Starfleet badge. A good guess would be it comes from episode 4, which introduces Gray.

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham looks at a Trill symbiont pool

Trill symbionts can be very old

It has been established that the third season of Discovery will be set in the year 3188, with the crew jumping 930 years into the future via a wormhole. This also sets the show over 800 years after the TNG era.

Unjoined Trill appear to have lifespans similar to humans. However, while it was shown they can be vulnerable without being joined or within their special pools, there is no established limit to the lifespan of Trill symbionts if properly cared for. In 2367 when Jadzia was joined with the Dax symbiont it was 349 years old, and it was then transferred to Ezri seven years later. Ezri was Dax’s ninth host.

A symbiont uses telepathy to help Jadzia Dax remember one of her other past hosts

Conclusion: Gray Dax! (or maybe Adira Dax)

So we have an unjoined Trill who wants a symbiont who will be introduced early in the season. The only announced name for that character is “Gray,” with no second name. (Joined Trill take on the symbiont’s name after joining.) Gray is also in the age range that the Trill prefer for hosts. We have a visit to the Trill homeworld and the pools where symbionts live. We have the promise of something “very familiar.” And we have no known upper limit on the age of symbionts.

What does that add up to? Gray will become host to the Dax symbiont.

It has also been suggested that even though Gray is the one who has dreamed of being joined, somehow it is Adira that joins with Dax. It’s possible that even though Adira appears human, they are partially Trill or in some other way able to join with Dax. And like with Gray, the character was only announced with one name. There may also be a hint to this twist with that original announcement, which noted Gray will have to “adapt when his life takes an unexpected turn.” That turn could be Dax joining Adira.

The latest season three trailer also shows a young person that could be either Gray or Adira in one of the Trill pools, surrounded by those telepathic zaps of the symbionts.

Gray or Adira in a symbiont pool

Dax is our tie to canon past

All the pieces are in place to join Gray (or Adira) and Dax on Discovery. Of course, there is no definitive proof, that is why this is a theory. However, just like there was a narrative reason behind the theory for “The Burn,” the same is true for bringing back Dax.

Jumping into the 32nd century was done to free the show from the constraints being a prequel. Over the first two seasons, the show often ran into conflicts with established elements of 23rd-century canon, although in both seasons, the creatives on the show reintroduced many canon characters, including Sarek, Amanda, Harry Mudd, Captain Pike, Spock, Number One, and Vina.

The show has always wanted the freedom to do their own thing but also get the benefits of playing with familiar elements of Trek canon, including characters. Assuming they don’t want to entirely give this up, then choices become a bit more limited in the 32nd century, with the exception of immortals like Q (or perhaps some longlifers like Guinan, although we don’t know just how long El-Aurians live).

One of the few possibilities would be Dax. Jadzia and Ezri Dax are very popular characters and the whole nature of the Trill allows for a single character to help tie the past to the new future via the memories of their past hosts. Deep Space Nine often used this narrative device to help fill in elements of Dax’s past lives and introduce us to her past hosts.

Jadzia Dax talks to Sisko about her memories of the 23rd century in “Trials and Tribble-ations”

There are even multiple ways to allow for the new host to meet past ones. This introduces the possibility of guest-star appearances by either Terry Farrell or Nicole de Boer, so Jadzia Dax or Ezri Dax could meet Gray (or Adira) Dax.

Ezri Dax has a vision of Joran Dax in “Emergence”

Dax has already appeared in Discovery (sort of)

If we go beyond the television show to the extended universe, then bringing Dax into season 3 would actually be a return for the character. Emony Dax, the gymnast and third host to Dax, was a major character in the latest Star Trek: Discovery novel, Die Standing, by John Jackson Miller. In the novel set in between seasons one and two, Admiral Cornwell pairs Emony up with Section 31 operative Phillipa Georgiou. Over the course of the novel, the former Terran emperor figures out that the Trill are a joined species, something that was still a secret during the 23rd century and wouldn’t be known to other members of the USS Discovery crew.

Of course, the extended universe of Star Trek books are not official canon, but it is worth noting that Star Trek: Discovery: Die Standing was released in July, which is likely around the time that season three was originally planned before the pandemic slowed down post-production.

Emony Dax is a major character in the latest Discovery novel

Nothing says diversity like a Dax

One of the unique characteristics of Dax, especially Jadzia, was flexibility when it came to her sexual identity and preferences. Throughout the series, we saw Jadzia was very open-minded in terms of partners, romantically or sexually interested in people from a number of species (including a Klingon, whom she married). And of course gender wasn’t an issue either, as evidenced by the famed first lesbian kiss in Star Trek history.

Actress Terry Farrell takes pride in this aspect of the character. We reported how at Star Trek Las Vegas 2019 she described the character as “pansexual.” And by the way—she said this a few weeks after production on the third season of Discovery began.

And let’s not forget how much the creative team behind Discovery likes to showcase diversity on the show. CBS even sent out a press release announcing the introduction of Gray and Adira, highlighting how they were the first transgender and non-binary regular cast members in the franchise.

And on Star Trek Day, executive producer and co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman had this to say about the Trill:

The Trill have always been a very interesting case study on questions of identity, because you’re carrying so many different identities within one consciousness. And we explore that a lot with both characters. It felt, for a show called Discovery, you always want to be applying that idea to all your characters. Everyone is constantly in a state of self-discovery

Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn in “Rejoined”

Why not Dax?

The bottom line is that introducing Dax ticks a lot of boxes for the show. There are pitfalls, especially with a young actor taking on a role that will get a lot of attention and fan scrutiny. But Discovery has already seen success in introducing canon characters, including giving one a Short Treks episode and three others their own series. And there is even more leeway in this case, as it is well-established that every joined Trill is a new and unique individual, who happens to also share the memories of all those past hosts.

When you really think about it, why wouldn’t they bring back Dax?

What say you?

The season 3 premiere of Star Trek: Discovery arrives in three weeks. Do you buy into the Dax hypothesis? Do you have your own theory for the Trill in season 3? Let us know in the comments below.


Keep up on all the Star Trek: Discovery news and analysis at TrekMovie.com.

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DAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

no… you mean DAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I stand corrected ;)

Out of all the Trill symbionts they could have used, or god forbid come up with something new, why would they use Dax?

Then again, why did Michael Burnham have to be connected to Sarek and Spock? Why bring Pike and the Enterprise into season 2 of Discovery? Oh, that’s right… because the Discovery writers are lazy and unoriginal and they just can’t help themselves until they wipe all of their asses with every bit of Star Trek canon!

And when they don’t ‘wipe all of their asses with every bit of Star Trek canon’ they’re ‘lazy hacks who haven’t seen an episode of Star Trek in their life’.

It would be so cool for this to be Dax, but a nearly1,200-year-old symbiont would seem like a stretch. Still, it would be cool.

Why would it seem like a stretch? It states in the article that symbiont lifespans have not been given in canon. On Earth the Greenland shark is believed to live for hundreds of years, there’s an Antarctic sponge that can live up to 10,000 years and the oldest trees are estimated to be around 80,000 years old. Why can’t the rest of the Galaxy be so diverse?

Warp drive is a stretch. Transporters are a stretch. Universal translators are a stretch.

Stretches are what Star Trek does.

We have characters like the Q who are literally immortal and many species can live hundreds to thousands of years old. Trills wouldn’t be breaking any records in that regard.

And yes, so much of Star Trek is nutty hokum, it’s always funny to me how people try to differentiate this stuff. Replicators are ridiculous but transporters will be invented any day now. People complain about the bumpy alien forehead syndrome but have no problem with the fact pretty much every alien has 2 arms, legs and eyes just the same. People complain about Q but Apollo being a real life Greek God seems legit. People complain about the spore drive, but warp travel isn’t any less ridiculous, it just sounds less ridiculous ;). Holographic doctors are over the top but a talking time portal just chilling alone on a planet somewhere waiting for anyone to come along and reshape the galaxy is totally realistic. Mirror universes seem a bit out there but so are wormholes with non-corporeal aliens living inside them. Picard being transferred to an synth body is just fantasy, but no more fantasy than Vulcans who can die and carry their katras/souls in other people until they find a new body to transfer to. News alert, both have the exact same level of ridiculousness.

In other words t’s Star Trek…just go with it. And stop pretending like any of it is realistic. It isn’t because again, it’s Star Trek!

Right. on. Tiger.

I still question why a being of light particles can hold a med scanner, a pool cue, or play a piano, but the holodeck and the EMH are [shrug] Star Trek magic.

Warping space has been postulated in science as a possible drive system, but the transporter is a TOTAL fabrication and cannot happen. And the ethical issues associated with it! Oy!

But I feel like, people just trash DASH drive bc it’s not what they’re used to, warp drive. I like its potential, what can I say?

Yeah, I have moaned about the Forehead of the Week and Planet of the Hats tropes, but as you say, all are worn by bipeds because, yes, live action TV. At least on Lower Decks they had a person from the same race as Arex, with three arms [and a diabolical laugh no less!] … Lower Decks can do some of those REALLY alien things.

I like Trek to be believable WITHIN ITS SPHERE as a Science Fiction show. If I want hard science, I watch COSMOS. [Even “The Expanse” fudges reality a bit, look at Epstein Drive, or the Ring Gates. And I love The Expanse as “hard” sci fi.]

Anyway, I love Discovery’s crew and look forward to meeting more characters. I hope Linus made it to the future along with the wonderful core crew.

And if Dax makes it to the future, yay! That would be one well-cared-for symbiont!

The franchise has never gone into what the symbiote offspring are like. A child of two high level telepaths might have records of the parents’ memories and experiences imprinted on them somewhere between conception and birth. I would be a way to move “Dax” forward, without having to define how long the little worms can live.

I just find it funny when people literally tell you they don’t want to see ‘magical tech’ in Star Trek…as if they have not been watching magical tech since the show started. How the hell is a talking time portal that can send you to any part of the universe or time not magical???? That aired in 1967. It’s considered one of the best Star Trek episodes of all time. But NOW you want ‘realism’ in Star Trek?? You didn’t have an issue with it when they went to a planet that can literally turn your thoughts into a reality. Some guy at the end of the episode spouting off a line that there is stuff underground that builds it for you doesn’t make it any less magical kids. It’s still all sci fi hokum.

But then I have to sit through posts reading how it’s hard to get into Voyager because tachyon particles don’t really exist or no way does a mycellium network make any sense. Did you just turn on the show yesterday for the first time or something? Did you seriously think you were watching the TV version of ‘2001’? Do you think dilithum crystals are totally real? You want to complain about holodecks but time traveling to the 1980s to pick up whales feels very feasible to you.

Like you I don’t watch Star Trek for hard sci fi. For people who do, they are really deluding themselves. Ninety percent of Star Trek is just speculative sci fi at best, basic fantasy at worst. But its so good BECAUSE it does an amazing job selling you on those concepts, with (usually) a compelling story with it. And of course they deal with real scientific concepts all the time which makes it feel more realistic but most of it’s how they are presented and resolved are hokum as well.

PS- Just to make this clear, none of this is picking on Jimmy and his post. I totally understood what he was saying. And he even said he didn’t really care how old Trills are suppose to be, we just never heard them live that long. So that’s completely fair. My rant went far beyond that lol. I’m speaking in general to all the ‘you can’t do that in Star Trek’ fans out there who thinks just because Starfleet doesn’t issue lightsabers to their crews then its actually steeped in real science most of the time. No, it still isn’t.

Post of the year. Everyone needs to stop picking apart the pseudoscience (that’s very heavy on the “pseudo” part) and just enjoy the show. How about the “tech” in Firefly that was just a bunch of wires, lights, and Kaylee stringing random part names together? Firefly didn’t even try. Star Wars too. Kyber crystals and “lightspeed jumping” get a free pass but Trek gets all the scrutiny? At least Trek tries to make something at least superficially convincing. Pseudoscience is a big part of Trek but it’s more about a philosophy — of how egalitarianism, equality, and cooperation as opposed to the pursuit of personal gain is what will create a brighter, more prosperous future. The tech is just a means to an end. Sure, the mycelial network and spore drive strain credulity, but that doesn’t diminish the quality or message of the show one bit. I’ll probably burst some bubbles here, but “subspace” — the biggest pseudoscientific plot device in all of Trek — strains credulity just as much. Thank you for having the right attitude.

I really like the idea of bringing back Dax. It’s a tie to the past for those of us who are a little uncomfortable with completely abandoning canon, and it gives Dax the opportunity to provide wisdom and guidance to a new crew who will definitely need it.

How about the holo-doc? In the episode ‘Living Witness’ a backup of his hologram was found in the late 31st century and by the end he wants to make his way back to earth…

Robert Picardo was already reportedly in talks to appear on S2 of Picard as the doctor, so I imagine that would supersede his appearing on Discovery in that form, at least for the moment.

I read somewhere that isn’t happening now. Picardo said he had talked with the producers about it but they decided not to do it in the end. Sucks. :(

I think this theory is close but not quite. I think Gray may have been the *intended* candidate for Dax but I think non-Trill Adira gets that honor due to some reason we don’t yet know. Face it, Gray Dax sounds clunky. Adira Dax sounds better. Plus I’m not sure that really is Gray floating in the pool, but Adira. Its hard to tell with what we have so far.

We’ve already seen that certain non-Trill species can accommodate a symbiont (Riker did briefly). Plus Adira’s non-binary status may give them an unexpected advantage in joining with a symbiont.

BINGO – we have a winner. That’s definitely Adira and not Gray floating in the symbiont pool. Look carefully at the photo and they have prominent mole on the left of their neck similar to one Blue Del Barrio has in a few of their Instagram photos.

I think your theory is pretty close to what happens (assuming the symbiont is Dax).

I was going to ask if that was Adira in the pool, glad I reads through before posting redundantly. Maybe Dad is intended for Gray or is joined with Gray, and something happens and Adira becomes the host….

If it was in fact Burnham who somehow gets the host it would kind of make Dax and Spock step siblings which would retroactively make Dax’s crush on Spock in Trials and Tribbe-ations a little creepy in Luke Skywalker-Princess Leia sort of way.

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️

I would like to quote the infamous hard/vs soft taco shell commercial .. Why not both ?

Would be great, I hope Dax is the new Trill. =)

In theory, I like the idea. But given this show’s track record of terrible writing, I’ll have to see evidence of them managing to not ruin the character, no matter what their actual identity. Give me a show that doesn’t suck, then we’ll talk.

And season 3, like other ‘trek’ shows, could be the time they turn things around.

I never bought into that idea that it’s the third season where the shows get good. I like TNG’s first season just fine; DS9 was DS9 from the very beginning; etc. It’s like the even-numbers-only thing with the movies — it’s an urban legend.

That said, yes, absolutely, this could be the season where Discovery finally works for me. I certainly hope that ends up being the case!

TNG’s first season was almost unwatchably bad. Disco’s first season has its problems, but it is nowhere near as bad as Discovery started out. DS9’s first season was fine, but mostly unremarkable. It didn’t become consistently great until the Dominion was introduced.

As TNG started out, rather.

Discovery first season is still my worst season out of all the shows. I don’t HATE it, but it’s still the season I’m the least motivated to watch today. And because its SO serialized it’s hard to just watch the episodes I really did like. But the ones I really like I can still count on just one hand.

But you do have to admit Bryant, even if you liked TNG and DS0 in their first seasons, they did get infinitely better later on.

I didn’t love either in their first seasons…but didn’t hate them either. I thought TNG certainly had some bad episodes but I looked forward to it every week. I was glued to that TV and I was just in love with the ship and the effects, but mostly I was just happy to see new Star Trek.

DS9 first season was mostly fine, it was just a bit more flat and dull story wise. And it did take me longer to like the characters because they felt so different from what we saw in Star Trek before. I loved most of the TNG characters right away….except Picard. You have no idea how much I wanted that character dead. ;) I was so disappointed we didn’t get a Kirk wannabe. Riker kind of filled the role of Kirk but I wanted that for the Captain himself, not some boring stuffy old man.

Today though, I changed my mind! ;)

I get what you’re saying, and agree with you in principle. I just don’t think any of the other shows were fundamentally broken in their first seasons that way Discovery was; they improved, yes, but they were merely building on what was already working. Maybe the same will end up being true of Discovery; only retrospect will tell me for sure. But for me, it’s going to need wholesale reinvention in order to become a series I don’t dislike intensely. That’s not true of any of the older shows, and never at any point was.

Ok fair enough. And obviously I’m not defending Discovery since I said in this thread first season was my worst season out of any Star Trek show. I had problems with second season but generally liked it as a whole. Oddly its probably one of my favorite second season shows for Star Trek, which is still not great but OK….so I’m allllllll over the place. ;)

I won’t lie, part of me is excited for season 3 just to read your reactions to it lol. Your put downs of this show is some of the most entertaining stuff I read last season. You could like it of course, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a looooong season for you for some reason. Hope I’m wrong of course.

For some reason I feel I’m going to really like it, at least based on the previews. But I also originally felt the same way with Picard. :(

Well, thanks!

I am actually kind of optimistic about the third season. I do genuinely want to like this show. I like most of the characters; I like almost the entire cast; it looks great. Plus, I just plain WANT to like any new Star Trek. They just haven’t made it easy on me. But I hope this season will change my mind. I’ve got no rooting interest in continuing to dislike the show, that’s for sure.

Well thats good to know! But yeah I understand. We all want to like the shows or we wouldn’t be watching them (and now paying for them ;)). There is just WAY too much stuff on these days we can just watch instead, but we’re fans, we really want to be won over.

Hopefully next season will surprise us all!

Yes. Actually there are some really good episodes in TNG’s & DS9’s 1st seasons that showed the potential of the shows.
In TNG I always liked The Battle, 11001001, Home Soil, The Arsenal of Freedom, Skin of Evil, Neutral Zone

DS9 has with Duet one of the best Star Trek episodes ever. But maybe as a German you can relate to that story in a deeper way.

Wow. I’ve never seen much praise for Home Soil (“Ugly bags of mostly water!”) and the only thing good about Skin of Evil in my opinion is the ending with Tasha’s farewell speech.

I found that great. Humans described from a totally different perspective.a non-humanoid lifeform that was harmed because they just could think in humsnoid perspectives. Scientific debate about what is life. Ethical debate on the rights of a species so different from humans…

Agreed! I like all of those and love several of them (“Duet” included).

I agree with you about the first seasons, in fact the first season of DS9 was really good, in a a lot if ways it was quite innocent, very much a calm before the storm. Also it showed a good starting point in the characters development, just to see how far they had come by the end of season 7.

I mostly enjoyed TNG Season 1 when it debuted, but today I find most episodes, especially the first half of the season, almost unwatchable. The acting was pretty bad (especially Frakes and Sirtis) and the writing was worse (Code of Honor, Justice, the nonsensical Lonely Among Us). But the cast warmed up to their roles over time and the writing started showing great promise late in Season 1 (Heart of Glory, Coming of Age, Conspiracy, Neutral Zone) and mid-Season 2 (after a relapse because of the 1988 writer’s strike.)

DS9’s Season 1 is also lackluster compared to what followed. Too many episodes in Season 1 played like rejected TNG stories and rarely embraced the new setting. Once they were able to go down their own path, DS9’s quality soared, but that wasn’t until probably Duet and In the Hands of the Prophets at the tail end of Season 1.

The first season of TNG was really, really bad, and the second season was barely better.

You just unintentionally proved the opposite of your argument here.

You do understand that you can’t “prove” an opinion, right?

Also, you’ve misspelled Methuselah.

Oh yeah, like they ‘ruined’ Pike and Spock so badly that there was huge demand for a spinoff. Discovery has great writing.

It has many things in its favor, but its writing has never been one of them, at least not in the broad sweep of things.

Really enjoying these theory/speculation articles and discussions TrekMovie.

And it’s great to see them getting picked up and quoted elsewhere.

I’d also like to thank you for including Ezri Dax, and the possibility of bringing back Nicole de Boer as well as Terry Farrell as Jadzia as pass life recollections or voices.

However it came about, with the long view, I can see how having a new and unexpected host for Dax, was the logical closing of the circle for Sisko and Dax on DS9. It paves the way for Dax to be a unifying character beyond that one series.

Sometimes, it seems as though de Boer is still suffering some fan fallout for being the actor to play the new Dax. In a way, Eric’s arc showed how we, like Beverly Crusher, had difficulty keeping up. Now though, it’s great to see fans have moved on and are ready for multiple Daxes.

Ezri has/had the potential to be a fascinating, but there is more that could be explored and I’ve been hoping to see her in Picard and/or Lower Decks.

It would require some care across the writers rooms and series, but it would be cool to see Dax appear across all the new series: Gray (or Adira) in Discovery, Emony in Strange New Worlds, and Ezri in Picard and Lower Decks.

I love the way you are thinking TG47! ;)

I didn’t think about that, but you’re right, Dax could literally appear on all these shows lol. It’s insane. BUT before people start typing, no I don’t think that needs to happen obviously but it would be nice to see them on one show. But I think it would be fine if we got an appearance of Ezri Dax on Picard and then Gray or Adira Dax on Discovery. But the latter would be a supporting/main role while Picard would just be more of an appearance like we got with Riker and Deanna in first season; but still open be able to come back in the future (no killing off!!).

But yes you can do so much with Dax more than any other character not named Q.

And I LOVE Erzi. No, she’s not Jadzia who obviously will be the bigger fan favorite given everything but I thought Erzi was great. That’s a lot of big shoes to fill, especially when you know it’s only going to be for a year but I liked how different she was. Even though she was now a Dax, she was still clearly her own person. She wasn’t as ‘cool’ or ‘fun’ as Jadzia but was still great to watch and became more confident as the show went on.

It’s surreal that we are now talking about all these characters again, even if they are still not officially back yet. But now they all have the potential to come back (they even brought freakin Data back) and it’s very exciting for fans!

It belatedly occurred to me that including Ebony Dax in a novel with Georgiou might be a set up for Ebony or another Dax to work with Georgiou in the S31 series.

Not advocating for that, but recognizing that there is a lot of Dax’s history that lies outside of canon. Jadzia only dealt with what she had to for some of those hosts.

Sure it may not happen but Dax realistically could be part of any of these shows. As long as there is a Trill around then it’s possible to include him/her.

And I’m always amazed how well so many novels or comics make these connections all the time like having Dax and Gerogiou together. in S31 But to be fair, I guess its easier to do it when you don’t have to worry about trying to get the original actor for your story or how much you have to pay for them.

The book also has Finnegan from TOS episode Shore Leave as a character in the story. I might pick up the book sounds interesting.

Wow interesting. Yeah you can do stuff like that in books. I’m not saying they should try and do more things like that in shows and films but the printed media does seem to make a lot of those connections because they have the freedom to and know fans would appreciate it.

Fascinating. Every time I feel fascination, I just can’t stand still.

this is the kind of rampant speculation I’m here for :)

I know this is somewhat off-topic, but I can’t help wondering where Q is in the 32nd century.

Funny I said in the Q thread I would love to them in Discovery in the 32nd century. Hey, what if the Burn happened because of the Q????? I’m just sayin, you can’t rule anything out in the Star Trek universe.

Do the Q even exist in linear time? I would imagine that he spends as much time in the 32nd century as he spends in the 24th.

in 32. he is in the 22. and the 19.

Please, no! Leave TNG-DS9-VOY alone!! Just do your stuff and stop ruining the rest! You guys already ruined TOS, leave the rest alone!

That’s the spirit!

Exactly!

I have to 100% agree with this. Let this show ‘stand on its own,’ as the showrunners have said over and over again but have failed to do, relying on Pike and Spock to drag them through season 2. Kurtzman & Co. have already messed with the TOS era, leave the others alone. Let this group blaze their own trail (or not). It’s pretty sad so many here are so desperate for characters from past shows to appear on DSC; doesn’t say much for the new ones they’ve created, imo.

That’s a bit unfair Danpaine. Discovery is not the first show where people wanted to see other known characters even after a show became immensely popular. This has happened on literally every show starting with TNG. And in DIS case, no one is expecting to see any familiar characters in this time period of course, but obviously fans like the idea of this theory. But I have not read a single post anywhere where someone said they stopped watching such and such show because Riker, Kirk or Janeway never showed up in an episode. It’s just fans having fun speculating mostly.

And I know how you and others feel about the show. I use to be there myself as you know. But the reason I’m excited is because the show is now trailing its own way. No show has ever done anything like this before and completely change their premise and setting after it already started. You have to get them some credit, they’re trying. Discovery can now be what I wish it was in season one, it’s own thing! And not something you are constantly comparing it with TOS because now its has the freedom to be whatever it wants. I know people are still skeptical and have every right to be, but we should at least acknowledge they are dong big things with this show; many ways no other show has ever done before.

First off, THANK YOU TM for these articles theorizing about season 3! They are a lot of fun and its just nice to be able to speculate. In fact my advice would be to do one every week leading up the premiere. There are so many questions now that the second trailer has come out.

Secondly, yes I HOPE you’re right about Dax. That out of anything else seems to be what most fans are interested in and want to know. Everyone loves Dax, he/she has been a fan favorite from the first season. And it would just be so cool to have them back. This would be a great connection between everything we know from the 23rd/24th century to the 32nd. That just really exciting.

And FINALLY a character from DS9 on one of these shows. We have TOS, TNG and VOY characters thanks to DIS and PIC, but not a single DS9 character yet. We gotten a Quark reference but that’s been the extent of it. So it would be nice to get a permanent DS9 connection and a very popular character at the same time. But the beauty of it is it can literally be played by anyone so what does it hurt? But it never occurred to me until it was mentioned we may even get to see Jadzia or Ezri make an appearance. That would make my year! :)

And lastly as you said Trill’s are just a fantastic species in general. So even if we don’t get Dax, I’m still very happy. That was the one thing that really excited me when we saw the first trailer. As you said there is still a lot we don’t know about them even though two characters portrayed one for 7 seasons. So much of Discovery first season really bothered me, but one of those was because we now have this HUGE library of amazing Star Trek species and most of it ignored. Yes most of them came out of the 24th century but it doesn’t mean they were all excluded from the 23rd century. But the first half of Discovery what did we mostly see? Vulcans and (sort of) Klingons, and that was it! Soooooooo boring!!! All these amazing species you have at your finger tips and you just go to the same tired well with the most familiar ones over and over again. It’s no longer 1967, Trek has more than a half dozen species today from Cardassians to the Xindi. USE THEM!!!!!

But I will give Kurtzman MAJOR credit here because that changed a lot in season 2 obviously and with Short Treks, Picard and now LDS we are getting a flurry of familiar and popular characters now from all the shows.

Anyway, PLEASE BE DAX!!! PLEAAAAAASSSSE!!!

i wish there would be a Tiger summarize function.

Sorry, I know I can get carried away at times. TLDR: I really hope Trekmovie theory is right and Dax is on the show. (But not a big deal if he/she isn’t).

Took you long enough. I’ve been saying this since the teaser.

So Sisko is coming back from the Wormhole. About time.

OOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Yes, please!!!!!!

This article was such a Trill to read!

Trillrrific!

what a trillride

i hope season 3 is a propper scifi-triller

Considering they had an android able to do a mind meld in Picard, I’m guessing the non-Trill will be joined. I didn’t like how they portrayed the Trill in “The Host” with the symbiont completely overwhelming the host and having a human as a host, even temporarily. DS9 made the Trill so much more. Given how they handled stuff like Section 31 in Discovery, I’m not sure I would like their take on Dax. I hope I’m wrong. Dax was my favorite character on DS9, so they would have to find a way to truly honour the character, rather than including Dax as a checkbox for a canon connection. Who knows, maybe they will, because they did well with Pike. Although, I don’t think it was necessary for him to know his fate.

The Discovery crew is definitely Dax’s kind of people.

Why not Q since he could jump around in time easily? Nobody’s even really mentioned that as far as any of the articles I’ve seen on theories. And they could use the original actor even which would be bad ass!! 😃

As far as bringing back past characters, the Doctor could still be around. Or maybe it’s the backup Doctor from Living Witness. Where the EMH backup was stolen and reactivated 700 years later. And then he stays for an undetermined amount of time before attempting to reach Earth to see if Voyager made it back.

It is nuts that The Doctor could be on this show too. I don’t see it happening since they obviously have a doctor but I would love to see him show up just the same.

Doctors not just “a doctor” Tiger2.

It sounds as though Dr. Tracy Pollard (played by Raven Dauda) will still be a recurring character on Discovery since Culber is taking on psychiatry/psychology.

I know, but if he did join the show and was on the Discovery, what else would he do? That’s actually why I was hoping he show up in Picard in season 2 because since that show isn’t Starfleet centric, we can see him on the ship just being part of the crew and not have a ‘position’ like you would on a starship.

But yeah, if they really wanted him, they could find something to give him a reason to be there.

Now I want to renew my subscription. I am so excited about season 3. These fan theories are so good. My comfort food of sorts!

Would like very much to send a letter to Kurtzman, my dream will be hiring Ira for more DS9. Can you imagine Ira’s team and creativity, with Kurtzman’s visual design and special effects? We may not have some of the producers and writers…also Nog, Odo, or Sisko, I mean the original actors…but I know they can successfully pull an amazing show.

YES!!!! YES!!!! YES!!!!

hmm….
it seems very seems propable… but …
sigh… just gime me original Stuff.
Yes, Dax would be cool, somehow… but…

That would be absolutely awesome! Who knows, after Ezri, Dax could spent their life in the pool for a few hundred years and wouldn’t necessarily have to be joined with a myriad of other hosts in the time between the 24th and 32nd century. The Dax we know could still be quite near to them!

it v
could open a door for nicole de boer to return. She is much older now but its not known how old she was, when she died.

so we could get aome flashbacks.

I’d very much like to see Nicole de Boer be given the opportunity.

The character of Ezri Dax had a wonderful transition into one of the best female captains ever in the Relaunch Trek-lit novels. It would be great to see that validated on screen.

de Boer sounds as though she’d be up for it. Recently, she’s been playing a recurring ex-wife character on the Canadian series Private Eyes (on Ion in the US). She’s mainly working from Toronto where she lives with her school-aged daughter. Logistically, an appearance on one of the live-action series produced in the GTA would be straightforward.

Discovery is on a path that I won’t go on. The plot sounds too rediculous to be enjoyable. Discovery has lost me as a fan !

Well, you enjoy your ridiculous VHS tapes, and we’ll say a prayer for you while we enjoy Discovery exploring the future of Star Trek.

Hey to each his own, David, respectfully. Even though I abandoned VHS many years ago (ha, nice), I am enjoying continuing to revisit many of the older shows. I thought Seasons 1 and 2 of DSC were abysmally bad, and am not signing on for S3 unless I see reviews and comments here which impress. Discovery isn’t for everyone, and just because something says ‘Star Trek” on it, doesn’t mean I’m going to blindly follow it if I don’t think the content warrants it. LLAP.

Is it just me or opens this up the possibility of a Jedzia/Ezri cameo? ;)

I was sure it would be Guinan. She didn’t age at all (visibly) between 1893 and Picard’s era — and we don’t know how old she was in 1893 — so maybe her species has a *really* long lifespan.

Hoo boy. I sure hope not. It’s hard for me to find a character I liked least in the entire Trek universe. Perhaps Kes. Beyond that it seems gimmicky and tinged with desperation to me.

Well, I guess there has to be some among us who dislike Dax.

Hope there’ll be some others that resonate with you.

You make the point, however unintentionally, that Star Trek works best with diverse ensembles that appeal to different audiences.

“Star Trek works best with diverse ensembles that appeal to different audiences.”

A point i keep making, TG47! How the suits at CBS at least could not have mandated this as smart BUSINESS is beyond me. In light of many of the things we have seen in Discovery and Picard by now, starting with Bryan Fuller’s inexplicable creative rampage at the beginning (inexplicable because he was not a Trek outsider like Chabon), I have reassessed my opinion on the role of network interference in the 1990s shows. Sure it led to some ridiculous stuff like wrestling cameos and ultimately, the cancellation of Enterprise, but the creative struggle with the network that did not just have creative outlandishness but appealing to the widest possible audience in mind, including families, ultimately led to the best of both worlds in many cases. Art needs limits to thrive. When that pressure is removed, so is family appeal, sophisticated language and absence of gore. Ultimately, TNG’s and DS9’s syndication model was the ideal balance for creative freedom and sensible audience appeal, and it showed – but sadly, these times will never come back.

Ooh…I only recently became a fan of Ms. Farrell, thanks to my recent addiction with the Ted Danson sitcom, BECKER. And since I never saw a single episode of DS9 (volunteer work hours back then made it very difficult), I only know her as Reg from the BECKER diner, so look forward to seeing her in the future on other shows!

What’s stopping you from watching DS9 now? It’s on every streaming site today. ;)

that’s mrs farell nimoy i think.

for the record i liked Disc season 1, up there with ds9 s1 and Voy s1 as decent openers for their series.

Maybe not Dax. Just because they show her home world. Maybe Q. He for sure around somewhere

Still hoping for T’Pol to show up in Strange New Worlds.

Me too.

Yeah Dax, I love the idea of that.

This is perfect and I hope it happens. There have been very few connections to DS9 in the new shows and not only would this finally tie in DS9 (I was hoping Section 31 would be about Bashir and Garak) but it would also give the discovery crew an invaluable source of experience for all the centuries they skipped.