Star Trek: Discovery's Two Ships Explained

Star Trek: Discovery tells a story of two Federation ships — the U.S.S. Shenzou, and the titular U.S.S. Discovery. Now, showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg have revealed how the ships relate to each other — and to the larger plot.

The connection between the ships all comes down to main character Sonequa Martin-Green's First Officer Michael Burnham, according to Harberts.

"Burnham [has] spent a lot of time on Vulcan, but she's human," Harberts told Entertainment Weekly. "Sarek [Spock's father, played by James Frain] plays an important role in her life, which has been completely planned until she makes a very difficult choice that sends her life on a very different path. When we meet her, she's the First Officer on the Starship Shenzhou [captained by Philippa Georgiou, played by Michelle Yeoh]. And Burnham's choice that we're alluding to is most difficult choice you can make — it affects her, affects Starfleet, affects the Federation, it affects the entire universe. That choice leads her to a different ship, the Discovery [helmed by Captain Lorca, played by Jason Isaacs] and there we begin what Gretchen and I call our 'second pilot.'"

Star Trek: Discovery premieres September 24 on CBS before moving to the CBS All Access app for the remainder of the season.

Originally published on Newsarama.