In just a single episode, Star Trek: Discovery has given Star Trek fans what feels like several hundred new developments to think about. Weirdly, or perhaps ominously, one of the more fun developments is pondering the mystery of who could be in charge of the brutal new universe that the Discovery has found itself within.
[Note: Detailed spoilers ahead for all current episodes of Star Trek: Discovery including “Despite Yourself”.]
Since its season premiere ST: Discovery has largely concerned itself with the Klingon-Federation War. That all took a back-back-waaaay-back seat in “Despite Yourself,” the mid-season premiere, as Discovery found itself stuck in…the Mirror Universe!
As viewers learned in this latest episode, getting back home to the “prime universe” is going to require some serious legwork. “The way is shut,” so to speak, as long as their spore drive engineer Stamets is out of commission, so the crew of the Discovery has to pretend to be their evil Terran Empire counterparts until they can assemble an alternate route home.
The ongoing storyline promises to test the deeply held convictions of every crew member–it’s easy to be an angel in paradise, after all–and the series has already promised that Michael Burnham and the crew of the Discovery will travel to the dark heart of the Terran Empire itself: the palace where its faceless and unknown Emperor resides.
Who, then, could this Emperor be? The last snippet of information we have about the Mirror Universe tells us that the Terran Empire’s version of Enterprise NX crewmember Hoshi Sato is Emperor, but that occurs 100 years before ST: Discovery‘s place in the Trek timeline. Hoshi is young and humans definitely live longer in Trek’s future, but the Terran Empire is ruthless and makes a joyous habit of unseating its leaders, so the odds of fans seeing Sato in the flesh on Star Trek: Discovery are…non-existent.
The Emperor is probably someone we already know. Here are 7 possibilities:
Sarek
Although we’ve only seen one episode of ST: Disc‘s Mirror Universe plotline, that episode makes a very clear point of demonstrating how the barbaric norms of the Terran Empire are already forcing Michael Burnham to abandon her moral code. This plotline, the show promises, will be a constant attack on Michael’s identity.
An easy way to escalate that emotional struggle would be to make Sarek the Emperor of the Terran Empire. Michael had a staggering amount of faith in Sarek, recently fractured by the revelations in “Lethe”. Would she believe that Sarek could be a monster who demands a humans-only Empire? Would Mirror Sarek have a coldly logical explanation for his atrocities? How would Michael react to someone she respects giving her a perfectly sound explanation for why they must act monstrously? What emotional and logical depths would Michael have to discover about herself in order to overcome that?
Admiral Cornwell
Although making the Emperor someone Michael is emotionally connected to is a good storytelling move, it’s not entirely necessary to do that in order to tell an effective tale about how Michael resists the corruption of the Terran Empire. Alternatively, the identity of the Emperor might be more of an opportunity to explore Lorca’s past because, and now it’s sub-theory time…
…the Lorca we know has always been the Mirror Universe Lorca.
The theory: “Our” Lorca was indeed a rebel in the Mirror Universe. What if the ISS Buran was destroyed at the same time and same place as the USS Buran? Would that simultaneity be the handwavium-style spark needed to make it possible for Lorca to be shunted over to the primary universe? (And if that’s how crossover works, what does the Discovery have to destroy to get back home?)
This theory would explain Lorca’s survival, as well as a lot of Lorca’s unorthodox actions. Imagine being instantly dropped into a MUCH NICER REALITY where you didn’t have to rebel against authority; where things went how they should have gone.
Now imagine learning that your counterpart in the Nice Reality was also romantically entangled with the same woman. Except in the Nice Reality that woman isn’t a sadistically manipulative Emperor who took you as a concubine…she’s just an Admiral leading the charge to preserve the Federation.
This also sets up parallels between Lorca and Tyler, and since Tyler is clearly struggling with his double agent identity and with the abuse he has suffered, it’s possible that both Michael and Lorca will be drawn into his journey of recovery. It would also explain why Lorca didn’t really question taking Tyler with him when they escaped the Klingon ship.
This theory doesn’t quite explain why Lorca would want to go back to the Mirror Universe (he clearly subverts the spore drive just before their fateful jump into the Mirror Universe) but that’s a story that we don’t necessarily need just yet. It’s feasible that the Federation has literature and history and tech that could turn the tide in the rebellion against the Terran Empire, and Lorca developed that to a point where he felt confident bringing it back. (We’ve seen the effectiveness of the spore drive already. And reading/seeing proof of a galaxy where humanity is BETTER would also be a massively powerful weapon for a place as dispirited as the Terran Empire.)
Harcourt Fenton Mudd
Discovery could go the other route and demonstrate that the Emperor Has No Clothes. The show has gone out of its way to demonstrate that Mudd is needlessly opportunistic, to the point where that desire for opportunity and comfort makes it easy for him to enjoy the repeated murder of innocents. It’s not hard to imagine Mudd scheming his way to the top of the Empire but not having the mental wherewithal to manage, stop, or even be aware of atrocities committed in his Empire. Creating a fair and just society takes constant vigilance (a fact even Picard himself needed refreshing on at one point) and weak or absent leadership like Mudd’s would allow corruption to run rampant.
Additionally, if Lorca is actually from the Mirror Universe and knew Mudd was Emperor, it would explain why Lorca left him to die in the primary universe.
(Also Rainn Wilson would play the hell out of a Mudd-as-Emperor role.)
James R. Kirk
I’m just saying maybe there’s more of a story to this gravestone than we think okay.
(The “R” stands for “Romulus”, clearly.)
Dr. Hugh Culber
Wilson Cruz, the actor playing the recently-fridged Dr. Hugh Culber, has stated that his character will be back at some point, which suggests that Stamets or the crew will meet Mirror Culber. Maybe they really really meet him?
Philippa Georgiou
This list plays around with a lot of possibilities but honestly, how could the Emperor not be Georgiou? What a knife to the gut it would be for Michael to discover that the kindest, cleverest, most honorable mentor she has ever known is the Emperor of the interstellar meat-grinder that is the Terran Empire.
Michael would almost certainly be responsible for Georgiou’s death yet again, but at the same time, seeing Mirror Georgiou could underscore just how much control external circumstances assert over our lives. You can be as kind and clever as you want and still be forced into the role of butcher. And that could help Michael make some kind of peace with her own role in the prime universe without letting her off the hook for instigating an interstellar war that has cost the lives of thousands.
Also, you know that Michelle Yeoh would absolutely crush that role. Although there is one other person who could possibly match the vivacity Yeoh would bring…
Riker
This guy! He gets everywhere.
Chris Lough seems to have stumbled into a 2018 of writing weird Star Trek lists. It sure underscores how much control external circumstances can assert over our lives.
The emperor can’t be a Vulcan – the Empire is too xenophobic for that.
But more importantly, does anyone know when they plan to introduce the Klingons? We’re 11 episodes in and I still haven’t see one Klingon.
I will admit, I don’t particularly like the “Mirror Lorca” theory. Not that my opinion means much (heck, I haaaaated the “Voq is Tyler” theory, and let’s just say, my prospects of being wrong about that one look almost certain). However, in both cases, I recognize that the signs are there, and that there is a better than even chance that they turn out to be correct.
That being said, something pointed out in this article made me think a little more about Lorca, and I’m actually starting to like the theory better, namely, the “strange behavior” pointed out in the article. Obviously, the hints about multiple universes, and the fiddling with the controls before the big jump, are warning signs. But the big thing that just hit me is his utter paranoia, most notable in sleeping with a phaser under the pillow, which pushes Cornwell over the edge of declaring him unfit.
Apologies, since that has nothing to do with the actual subject matter at hand. I’d be fairly surprised if it’s not Georgiou, for all the reasons mentioned in the main article.
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Although I like the Riker option.
@2 If Lorca was from this universe then shouldn’t he be more familiar with this background history?
That said, he still could be the mirror Lorca. We don’t know what happened to the native Lorca, so the one we have could have accidentally crossed over somehow and been mistaken for his double.
It’s Riker, obviously…………………………….
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Since the show runners seem to love the combination of “surprise” and “nostalgia” I vote for Khan.
It could be…Chekhov! He’s a confirmed time traveler!
Mirror-Lorca works for me. So does the idea of Burnham having to kill her old mentor again, this time deliberately.
The rest aren’t even serious options. (Mirror-Mudd should be a decent person in that universe, shouldn’t he?)
@7 Mudd, only now he’s one of the leaders of the Rebellion, and dies while saving the life of children.
I Love It!
Mirror-Sato clone 12 or so.
It would be a surprise because it would include tie-in concepts into canon, be completely out of left field for unaware viewers, and still potentially be important to any starfleet characters that might recognize her as having been an important part of the Enterprise crew.
Also, it would avoid the situation where it feels like the entire universe revolves around this small set of characters.
It’s a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.
10, Oh no! Somebody tell Chancellor Palpatine, the Galactic Federal Republic must be saved!
But what Senator would be brave enough to propose such a bold course of action?
I like Mudd for it best. If it were him, I’d even actually watch the show out of curiosity.
Khan would be interesting in a clone wars kind of way – building up the numbers of his kind to wipe out the baseline humans.
Cornwell or Georgiou make most sense in strict plot terms (although a Sato-clone is a tempting idea), but there’s one interesting point to be made in favor of Sarek: that would help explain why, ten years out in Mirrorverse time, Spock is still first officer on the Enterprise despite the extreme xenophobia indicated in this episode.
OTOH, if the Emperor is not Sarek, then whatever Our Heroes end up accomplishing in this incursion must necessarily reduce the overall level of xenophobia in Empire affairs sufficiently that Spock can credibly be where he is on the Mirror!Enterprise when that episode comes around.
The main thing to remember, whatever theory one chooses to adopt, is that this writing staff has demonstrated deep awareness of and respect for overall Trek canon. Whatever they’re up to, and whether one agrees or disagrees with their storytelling choices, the Mirrorverse arc will end in a place that can believably lead into what Kirk & company will find ten years from ‘now’ in “Mirror, Mirror”.
Wait wait, could it be Spock’s MOTHER?
@14, You are assuming the DIS writers are concerned with continuity with the TOS. I keep being told that they care very much, but there’s little evidence to support that view.
Stamets.
Though I like where you’re going with Giorgiou.
@14/John C. Bunnell: It isn’t just Spock. In “Mirror, Mirror”, Spock tells Sulu: “I suggest you remember that my operatives would avenge my death and some of them are Vulcans.” Apparently he doesn’t need to say more. This shows that Vulcans are respected, even feared. I can’t see how they can get there from “extreme xenophobia” in only ten years.
Personally,I vote for Wesley Crusher. After all he’s a Traveller (or whatever),able to travel through space and time. Besides, Wil Wheaton would have a hilariously wicked time twirling his mustache.
Sato may too obscure a choice. It would have to be explained with backstory too much. For the reveal to have resonance, it’d have to be someone we’ve already met.
If it was Sato, perhaps it could be along the lines of Ann Leckie’s Emperor in The Ancillary series: different bodies that may age and die, but connected thru implants as a single gestalt entity. This may explain the “faceless” aspect. Recognition of the emperor would essentially be thru passcodes. “I am the emperor because I have the password.” This would also create a vulnerability and provide a way to subvert the Empire.
Also, the “James R Kirk” headstone: was that a production screw-up or did the “T” come later?
@20/Sunspear: The “T” came later. It was first mentioned by Harry Mudd in “Mudd’s Women” and next by Spock in “The Conscience of the King”. And the “James R. Kirk” inscription is specified in the episode script.
The obvious answer is either the dead doctor or the addled engineer.
It’s not actually good story telling, but #STD’s show-runners made a hole in the cast when they killed off the doctor. and that might have been intentional so they could fill the whole with the alternate.
And Stametz could have gone mad because there’s two of him in the universe now.
20, 21, well, I can’t say it wasn’t a production screw-up in that I don’t think anybody can prove (at this juncture) that somebody didn’t say, mistype a T as an R when setting up the scene description, but I don’t think Kirk’s full middle name was specified until the animated series.
Now when the show was remastered, they definitely did discuss making a change, but in the commentary, decided against doing it. For whatever reason.
I’m thinking a time-travelling Wesley Crusher.
Here are 2 other possibilities: Christopher Pike or Robert April.
25, maybe they could throw in the original Doctor cast in the pilot? Or Number One.
#18
I think Vulcans could earn fast respect in the empire if one of them became emperor. Maybe Sarek could do it in a hostile takeover the way Sato did a century earlier.
I do not think any of these would be likely, except Georgiou who has a kind of pole position in this race.
Mudd would be ridiculous (yep, he is it anyway), and Sarek’s impossible because of Spock’s position on the ISS Enterprise a dozen years later. Heirs Apparent do not serve on spaceships, they assassinate potiential rivals at the High Court or whatever it s called, or get assassinated in the same place. Also, in the preview we saw a glimpse of someone who could be Sarek with a goatee, and this appears to be a rebel leader, which opens a lot of questions for MU Spock’s later career.
I give Cornwell a small margin of probability (and I’d like that), but Culber makes no sense because Stamets ist not the central figure of the show, and also it would be exceedingly tasteless. I hope Kirk and Riker are not meant serious, although Riker could qualify if the whole MU stuff (or even the whole show) turns out a holodeck simulation, and CBS wants to have zero viewers for the second season.
We have no good explanation for the “faceless” part. If the MU had been established as a place of misogyny, I’d have taken this an indication for a female ruler, but as it seems, a woman would have no reason to hide her face from public. Saru comes to my mind here briefly, but this also seems a strange idea, although it would resonate with Burnham’s arc and offer interesting paths to analyzing xenophobia.
Whom else do we have? I think we can rule out Emony Dax or Christopher Pike or Robert April, because too few fan would know them; or Q, because he would be unstoppable. I did think about Stamets, but he is too far from Burnham emotionally which wouldn’t make sense from a story-telling perspective. Straal, supposedly an ex-lover of Stamets, would be a more interesting choice if this were somehow connected to Stamets and the return trip; on the latter, I am pretty sure the Defiant will turn out a dead end because Tholians are not for hire.
I am not at all sold on the “MU Lorca” theory. First, I find it “not so clever”, because it would make Lorca’s disagreeable personality an outside thing that doesn’t tarnish the Federation’s white shirts. I would rather like him to be a Fed citizen who failed the high ideals he is supposedly working for, because that offers a more interesting personality arc including redemption. And I’d like the writers to succeed in creating a mystery the fans can not guess in advance; I prefer to think that the writers expected fans to see though the Voq/Tyler charade, as so many hints had been planted.
This episode waives herrings of all colours in all directions: Lorca and Burnham talking about Destiny seems ominous, and Lorca is definitely able to cope with MU reality efficiently, even if he seems surprised about Tilly’s captaincy. This could be taken as an indication he perfectly knows what this all is about.
On the other side, had to be stopped by Burnham from blowing the cover of all and everyone when he very nearly answered the hailing of the Cooper. If he were from the MU, he must have expected an Agonizer Booth waiting for him on the Shenzhou (as it came to pass) and would have probably suggested another plan. And why coming back from the PU, anyway? He should have enjoyed being in a universe of innocent and gullible people and have followed a path somewhere between that of Mudd and Khan.
Sato seems quite logical: she’d be 125 years old, but there’s various ways around it. They also set up the explanation by referencing the appropriate Enterprise story and she’s also the last person we know to hold the role of Emperor, so it makes sense.
From out-of-show knowledge, Linda Park also attended the Discovery premiere. Certainly not a slamdunk (several other actors from the previous shows also attended, including The Shat whom we can safely say is not going to be appearing), but possibly an argument in favour.
However, given the show’s preference for its own internal logic, Philippa would be the more logical choice, although by rights she should have been the captain killed by Alt-Burnham to take over.
DIS isn’t big on internal logic as far as I can tell.
30. princessroxana: Go on… elaborate.
(I’m picturing Troi driving the Enterprise into the ground.)
#16/#18: Vulcans are feared, yes, and their physical and psychic abilities perhaps respected. I don’t know that this makes them accepted in even the TOS Mirrorverse; the view we got of the Empire in “Mirror, Mirror” was very narrow compared to what’s been learned since (and barring “our” Lorca being of Mirrorverse origin, the current Discovery crew doesn’t have all that much of a basis for knowing how the Mirror!Fleet may treat Vulcans).
At any rate, there’s no question but that this writing staff knows its canon. There’s a lot of disagreement among current fandom as to how they choose to work with it, but they definitely know their source material well.
Elsewhere: Some of the candidates floated are clearly impossible — Mirror!Kirk certainly can’t be Emperor here and Captain of the Enterprise ten years later — and others are highly unlikely (Sarek, for instance, although note that Mirror!Sarek would have had excellent reason to disown Mirror!Spock if the latter went willingly into the Empire’s Fleet).
Here’s a thought or two about Lorca and Mirror!Lorca, however:
If “our” Lorca is originally from the Mirrorverse, it seems very unlikely that either he or “original” Lorca could be Emperor. OTOH, it occurs to me that there is one intriguing explanation for how Mirror!Lorca might have gotten into the primary Trekverse:
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…maybe, just maybe, that’s what Tantalus Field technology does when it disappears people, and Mirror!Lorca managed to fall through a Tantalus hole into our universe at some point. (We will leave the details for others to work out; maybe Mirror!Lorca ran afoul of Mirror!Kirk, maybe he ran across the device before Kirk did and simply pressed the wrong button, or maybe there’s a second one floating around the Mirrorverse.) In any case, the Tantalaus device is one of the most under-explored aspects of the Mirrorverse, and there’d be a certain plot economy in establishing that what it does is, in fact, kick its victims into an alternate dimension rather than just disintegrating them.
Let’s start with Michael’s presence as an officer aboard Discovery. Then there’s Lorca having command, Harry Mudd getting a pass for multiple murders, the spore drive, my suspension of disbelief is overworked.
We know the answer is
Philippa Georgiou
It made sense as far as this show makes sense (at least they are off the space mushrooms and space pig)