Star Trek: Discoveryended a year ago without the trailblazing Paramount+ series spilling the details of its best untold story.Star Trek: Discoveryseason 5 closed out the sagaof the USS Discovery, with Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) unlocking the secrets of the ancient life-giving technology of the Progenitors.Discoveryalso concluded with the wedding of Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones), and flashed forward decades to syncDiscoverywith the events ofStar Trek: Short Treks' “Calypso.”
Star Trek: Discoveryseason 3 soft rebooted the series by jumping to the 32nd century, charting the farthest point ofStar Trek’s timeline. BetweenStar Trek: Discoveryseason 3’s premiere and second episode, however,there was a one-year time jump. Commander Michael Burnham beat the USS Discovery to the future, arriving in the year 3188 and meeting her eventual husband, Cleveland Booker (David Ajala). One year later, the USS Discovery arrived and reunited with Burnham - but what happened during that ‘lost year’ Michael spent with Book?
Star Trek: Discovery Won’t Reveal The Untold Story Of Burnham & Book’s Lost Year
Michael & Booker Grew Closer Traveling The Galaxy Together
Now thatStar Trek: Discoveryis over, the story of what happened in Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker’s ‘lost year’ together won’t be dramatized on-screen. Michael and Book fell in love during their year traveling the galaxy together as couriers, and there have been hints about their adventures throughoutStar Trek: Discoveryseasons 3 to 5. Butaudiences won’t be able to see the details of Burnham and Book’s voyageswith Cleveland’s cat and queen, Grudge.
Speaking toScreenRantaboutStar Trek: Discoveryseason 5, David Ajala expressed interest in portraying Michael and Book’s lost year. Check out what Ajala said below:
I think that’d be an amazing story. Because that year, I call it “the adventures of Burnham and Book featuring Grudge the Queen”, like that specific period of time, I think there was so much growth for Michael Burnham, so much growth for Cleveland Booker. I think that journey inside of that year has allowed them to be the individuals that they’ve become, that we then meet in the rest of Season Three.
Una McCormack’s 2021 novelStar Trek: Discovery:Wonderlandsdelved into what happened to Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker in the year before the USS Discovery arrived in the 32nd century, althoughStar Treknovels typically aren’t considered official canon unless directly referenced on-screen in aStar Trekmovieor TV series. Regardless,Wonderlandscan be considered Burnham and Book’s story during the lost year,unless a future incarnation ofStar Trek: Discoveryas a TV show or movie overridesWonderlandswith its own canon.
Star Trek: Discovery Gave Burnham & Book A Perfect Ending
Michael Got An Ending Unlike Any Other Star Trek Captain
Even ifStar Trek: Discoveryreturns,going backwards to tell the lost year story of Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker in 3188 wouldn’t be in the cards.Star Trek: Discoveryseason 5’s ending reunited Book and Burnham as a couple before launching them on a new adventure.Star Trek: Discovery’s emotional epiloguethen showed that, decades later, Admiral Michael Burnham and Book were happily married, and their son, Leto (Sawandi Wilson), was now a Starfleet Captain. Burnham then launched the USS Discovery on its final mission and destiny, as seen inStar Trek: Short Treks'“Calypso.”
WhetherStar Trek: Discoveryever returns, Michael Burnham received a happy ending unlike any otherStar TrekCaptain. Burnham’s self-doubt, struggles, and ascension as a galaxy-saving hero were rewarded with a home and family that eluded Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), and Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). In a way,Star Trek: Discovery’s ending closed the book (no pun intended) on Michael Burnham, although she and the USS Discovery still have many adventures that remain unseen.
The 32nd century galaxy with a broken United Federation of Planets before Commander Burnham and the USS Discovery solved the mystery of The Burn is still a fascinating era thatStar Trek: Discoverycould have explored further, which is what makes the story of Michael and Book’s lost year together so compelling. The growth and contentment Michael Burnham gained at the end ofStar Trek: Discoverywould have greater context if audiences eventually saw how she started over in the 32nd century during her lost year with Book.
