Although it seems like Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 just finished, by the end of 2021, Discovery Season 4 will already be rocking that spore drive through the known galaxy. On April 5, 2021, “First Contact Day,” Paramount+ dropped an unexpected teaser trailer for Discovery Season 4.While most fans noticed the new colorful uniforms, there were plenty of other deep-cuts that you may have missed. Here’s a quick breakdown of the Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 trailer, featuring all the Easter eggs and small references that will make your Trekkie heart sing.
New 32nd century Starfleet uniforms (again!)
Despite getting suited-up in the grey-ish uniforms in the Season 3 finale, the Discovery crew appears to again be rocking a new variant of Starfleet uniforms. Although these have the same basic style as the “future” Starfleet uniforms we saw throughout most of Season 3, the uniforms are now colored to match the familiar color-coding established by The Next Generation.
A Cardassian President?
A new character addresses Burnham throughout the trailer, and by the look of this person’s face, they might have Cardassian ancestry! The character is not named, but it’s very possible this person is the president of the United Federation of Planets.
The return of the Ni’Var President, T’Rina
The Vulcan character T’Rina (Tara Rosling) is very prominent in the trailer, and at one point tells the new (maybe) Cardassian person that she considers the Federation “more than allies.” This seems to suggest that the Vulcans/Romulans living in Ni’Var may be rejoining the Federation for good. We also see T’Rina performing a mind-meld on Book later in the trailer, while Stamets watches. It’s pretty clear from the background that they’re on the surface of Ni’Var, too, the planet formerly known as Vulcan.
Saru’s status
In one shot of the trailer, we see Saru in a black tunic which seems to suggest that’s his official garb while working on Kaminar. (He stayed behind on his home planet in the season 3 finale.) But, in the background of one shot, you can clearly see Saru standing behind Burnham on the bridge of the Discovery. He also appears to be wearing the same spidery-looking insignia on his uniform that he wears while in his other outfit. Also, in the last shot of the trailer, we’re cleary meant to think Saru and Burnham are holding each other’s hands, and Saru’s sleeves are red. Will he stay in Starfleet? Unclear!
Michael’s mother and the return of the Qowat Milat
At several points in the trailer, we can see the presence of the Romulan warrior nuns known as the Qowat Milat. First introduced in the Picard episode “Absolute Candor,” we learned Michael’s mother had become a member of the order in “Unification III.” It also appears that Michael and Tilly are given swords by the Qowat Milat. We’re not sure if this means they are actually members of the Qowat Milat now, but hopefully, at least Michael or Tilly will get to say “choose to live!” at least once or twice before busting out those swords. It also appears that Michael’s mother Gabrielle Burnham, as played by Sonja Sohn is back for this season, too.
A gravitational anomaly that could threaten the Star Trek status quo
The biggest news in the Discovery Season 4 trailer is the notion that the galaxy seems threatened by a huge gravitational anomaly. Notably, several shots of the trailer show the crew rocking space suits while walking around the ship. If huge gravitational forces disrupt basic artificial gravity on all of these starships, suddenly, everything about Star Trek gets logistically much harder! Fans have joked about seatbelts in Starfleet ships for a long time, and even though The Motion Picture technically did introduce seatbelts (and the Kelvin crew got them in Beyond) much of the basic functioning of Trek relies on the omnipresence of artificial gravity. If that goes away, the cozy future of Trek could easily float away, too.
