The seventh episode of season four of Star Trek: Discovery, which will be a mid-season finale, arrives on Paramount+ this week. We have details, photos, plus a clip to get you started. [UPDATE: More photos and a trailer have been added]
“…But to Connect”
The new episode titled “…But to Connect” features the return of a number of guest stars including David Cronenberg as Dr. Kovich, Shawn Doyle as Ruon Tarka, Chelah Horsdal as President Rillak, Tara Rosling as Ni’Var President T’Rina, and Phumzile Sitole as Ndoye of the United Earth Defense Force (last seen in season 3). The episode was written by Terri Hughes Burton and Carlos Cisco, with Lee Rose directing. It debuts on Paramount+ on Thursday, December 30.
Synopsis:
Tensions rise as representatives from across the galaxy gather to confront the threat of the Dark Matter Anomaly. Zora’s new sentience raises difficult questions.
Photos: [UPDATE: More photos added]
David Cronenberg as Kovich and Sonequa Martin Green as Burnham
David Cronenberg as Kovich
David Cronenberg as Kovich and Sonequa Martin Green as Burnham
David Cronenberg as Kovich
Doug Jones as Saru and David Cronenberg as Kovich
Doug Jones as Saru, Wilson Cruz as Culber, Anthony Rapp as Stamets and David Cronenberg as Kovich
Chelah Horsdal as President Laira Rillak and Phumzile Sitole as Ndoye
Chelah Horsdal as President Laira Rillak and Sonequa Martin Green as Burnham
Sonequa Martin Green as Burnham, Chelah Horsdal as President Laira Rillak and Tara Rosling as T’Rina
Chelah Horsdal as President Laira Rillak and Tara Rosling as T’Rina
David Ajala as Book and Shawn Doyle as Ruon Tarka
David Ajala as Book
David Ajala as Book and Shawn Doyle as Ruon Tarka
[UPDATE 2] Trailer:
A trailer was released on Wednesday on social media (it is also available on startrek.com).
Which option will the Federation choose: destroy the DMA or try to understand the ones who sent it? Find out tomorrow's new episode of #StarTrekDiscovery. pic.twitter.com/lZKjSPPCmZ
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) December 29, 2021
Clip:
The latest episode of The Ready Room featured a clip from this week’s episode (at 24:58). The clip shows a meeting at Starfleet HQ that includes some familiar faces.
Prodigy returns next week, Discovery is back in February
The first season of Star Trek: Prodigy returns next week with a five-episode run, starting with episode six on January 6 and ending with episode February 10 on February 3. Discovery season four returns on February 10 with episode 8 and is expected to run for a total of thirteen episodes in total (although that has not been officially confirmed).
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery premiere on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada, where it’s also available to stream on Crave. Discovery will debut on Paramount+ in 45 countries around the world in 2022.
Keep up with the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Love Frakes and Wheaton together. So much feels. Very excited about all the fun aliens in the preview clip!
Will Wheaton is in this episode?
No in his video interview with Frakes on this post for the show he hosts, “The Ready Room” :)
Unanswered question… Where are the Klingons in the 32nd century?
I’ve been wondering the same thing. I think we may see them this week though. I watched the bonus clip and, when Tarka’s mystery machine appears, the alien in the distance resembles a Klingon to me.
I’ve literally been wondering the same thing.
From a production/writing standpoint, I imagine everyone wanted to move on from the Klingons after their prominent role in both Season 1 and 2 (and I’m sure the fact that viewers themselves where kinda done with the Klingons too helped in that decision).
From a story telling standpoint however, my guess is that after the Burn the Empire became very isolationist. But, given the Galaxy-wide threat that is the DMA, perhaps we will see or hear from them again soon.
And William is right, there is a character in the background that could potentially be a Klingon – pretty hard to tell though given that the character is very out of focus. There was another character from the clip that I initially thought was a Klingon, but after a rewatch it’s a Cardassian!
A good question. Just like the Borg. Could be that they want to keep them out of the 32nd century just like the vulcans were mostly kept out in TNG.
But the Vulcans weren’t kept out of TNG. We saw them literally in the first season of the show and every season after that. They just didn’t have any as a main or supporting character but you saw plenty of Vulcans in TNG. Selar was the first one that had a bigger speaking role in season 2.
In this case, we haven’t even seen a Klingon in the background since Discovery made it to the 32nd century.
The Borg is a more special case and I don’t ever seeing them being part of the Federation lol. I think they still exist in the 32nd century like everyone else, but they could’ve just retreated back to the Delta quadrant and stayed there. Or maybe moved on to another galaxy by now. It would be nice to at least have them referenced at some point.
They are extinct maybe? I was thinking the same thing
We do know from Season 3 that the Klingons are still active. Admiral Vance had a map in his office that listed ‘Klingon Zone.’
That’s going to be a loaded answer because apparently according to Enterprise the Klingons had outright joined the Federation before the 32nd century, and Enterprise never made it clear whether this held true in the aftermath of the Temporal Wars, or it was just an alternate timeline thing.
I’m still curious whether the scenes we’ve had with Culber grappling with the circumstances of his death and resurrection are a prelude to a full fledged 32nd century Klingon introduction in the show that leads to more drama or emotional meltdowns for Culber, facing the species that caused his death.
Still no news about the renewing of the show? I mean they need to start working on the next season soon otherwise its gonna be a time crunch if they renew the show at the last minute. Also I still can’t believe a legendary filmmaker like Cronenberg is involved with Trek. I so wished he would be willing to direct some episodes too.
Just remember: They haven’t publicly renewed the show yet. That does not necessarily mean that the writers room isn’t already working on season 5.
Bingo.
Another example: SNW season 2 hasn’t been announced publicly yet, but the industry trades are reporting that the cast and crew are about to go back up to Canada to film it in February. So they were obviously working on season 2 and have an internal greenlight on the season. It’s very common for studios to keep things close to their vests and not make official announcements until they’re ready for a variety of reasons.
For example Paramount+ may be waiting until 2022 to say something about SNW S2 since S1 hasn’t even had a proper trailer yet. For DSC they may be waiting until some other strategic business opportunity is in place, etc.
Maybe they still have to map out if or how Disco is gonna be related to all the other shows. Or they are planning a follow-up-series/spin off of Disco, or Disco could evolve into another series, just like Disco season 2 has evolved (IMHO) into a prequel of Strange New Worlds.
I suppose there’s gonna be a cliffhanger, if it is a midseason-finale?
I hope the plot moves on this week like last episode and isn’t interrupted by ABC side-plots like the episodes before.
By the way: Why are they referring to species 10c if they are totally unknown? That implies it is caused by one big bad species or even one person as villain of the season. Why not an entity, a collective, an organization?
We had the dominion as unknown villain and hints at the Borg in TNG season 1 and nobody referred to them as a species.
Unless this hiatus was originally planned there may not be anything special making this a mid-season finale. Then again, with serialized shows, sometimes every single episode ends in a cliffhanger.
It’s possible it’ll be a cliffhanger. Wheaton did say it’s an intense episode.
Just watched the episode. There is a cliffhanger, albeit a bit predictable one…
Hugs and cuddling are not a cliffhanger. ;-)
Where are the Klingons?
We don’t know yet. Potentially one is visible in the preview in the distance though.
Circling Uranus.
Thank you, I’ll show myself out.
Remember in Last Action Hero when the kid kept telling Jack Slater that he couldn’t trust F. Murray Abraham’s character because “he tried to kill Mozart”, a reference to his having played a bad guy in a different movie?
That’s the vibe I get from Cronenberg’s casting. He’s played bad guys before, so what are the odds that he’s playing an entirely altruistic good guy now?
It can happen, sure, but it would feel like a waste of casting to me.
If Kovich were the one behind the DMA, would that mean Starfleet is behind it, or that it’s Section 31 back to its old tricks?
I cant for the life of me understand why so many people have been critical of this show, especially this season. This is pure, classic trek, dealing with moral and ethical issues.