Warning: This Interview Contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery's Season 4 Finale - "Coming Home"

Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, Star Trek: Discovery season 4's finale saw Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery save the galaxy by making First Contact with Species 10-C. Season 4 ended with Burnham and Discovery going where no one has gone before, into another galaxy to befriend a powerful alien race whose Dark Matter Anomaly was attacking Earth. Discovery season 4 also centered on Burnham's love story with Book (David Ajala) and it concluded with a shocking cameo by former Georgia state representative (and diehard Trekker) Stacey Abrams!

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Screen Rant interviewed Star Trek: Discovery's executive producer and director Olatunde Osunsanmi for an in-depth discussion about the season 4 finale, Stacey Abrams' cameo, the creation of Species 10-C, and hints about what's to come in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Related: Everything We Know About Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

Screen Rant: We have to start with that amazing cameo at the end. Stacey Abrams as the President of United Earth! Can you talk about how that came about?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise for me too when I found out. She's always been a huge fan of the show. [Executive producers] Alex [Kurtzman] and Michelle [Paradise] were pushed by Wilson Cruz, who was like, "Would you want to have a chat with Stacey?" They said, "Sure!" So they hopped on [a call] with her, and Alex and Michelle pitched this idea of, "Would you mind coming on the show?" She said yeah, she'd love to. They figured out what character to slide her in[to] and it ended up being the President. So once we found out about that casting, it was quite the surprise.

It was awesome. I know she is such a huge Star Trek superfan. Was that a one-off or is Stacey coming back in season 5?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: I have no idea. That would be a Michelle and Alex question. I hadn't even thought about that. Why not? (laughs) I thought she came in and she killed it. She did one or two takes just like everybody else, and she was very comfortable. Why not? It would be cool to see her again in that role.

I’ve got to ask about Species 10-C. One of the most unique aliens ever in Star Trek. How did you come about conceiving this new alien?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: That was quite the process. Once we knew we were going outside of the galaxy for an extended period of time, the goal was to present a species that was different from anything we'd ever seen. That's hard because we've seen a lot of different species in Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, you name it.

We worked with our design teams, Neville Page, Glen Hetrick, Emma Sampson, and where we landed was we wanted something that would be hard to communicate with. If it came from a whole different galaxy, why would a translator work? So we really broke that down and we worked with our astrophysicist Erin and the people at METI to figure out what [Species 10-C] would be.

On the design side, I was really interested in something that didn't walk. What would that mean? It would need to float. So Glen went to work on the science behind that. If it floated, what would it need to look like? How big would it need to be? I wanted it to be skyscraper tall [although] of course, it became different to frame them so we had to make them a tiny bit smaller. What we came up with is hopefully very unique.

Will Species 10-C return or are they staying in their galaxy? Would they ever join the Federation?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: (laughs) I think it's interesting because they're technically outside of the galaxy but the galaxy is a strange concept, right? [Even] if they're technically outside the galaxy, that doesn't mean that they can't be brought into the fold [of the Federation]. I think it's a wonderful question. Not one that we've discussed but wouldn't it be great to see the 10-C come in and save the day?

What does an angry 10-C even look like? Do they even understand that to that degree? Have they employed their weapons to that degree? Which I think is contrary to how they view things. As we know [their technology] is more of a self-defense mechanism. But I don't think we've seen the full might, so to speak, of the 10-C. It's a fascinating question to consider.

The first 3 seasons were Michael’s journey to the Captain’s chair. She’s now a great Captain who has saved the galaxy. What’s the next stage for Captain Burnham?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: That's a great question. The galaxy's a big place where incredible things can happen. Season 5 is shaping up to be... all I can say is that - it's not time travel - but we go back into the past to get further into the future. There's this old version of Star Trek that exists. And this new version that's been created by Alex but there's a lot of things we still love about the old version. So it's about pulling from there... not necessarily stories or characters but more themes, and process, and how those stories are told, and applying it to what we do in the future. And that includes [Burnham's] character and things she does as a Captain.

I'm glad you brought that up because season 4 felt a lot like classic Trek and TNG. There were a lot more ethical questions, not so much with the phaser shooting. I love the action but I also love the return to the themes of the original Trek and TNG. Was that a conscious decision to recapture that for Discovery?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: It was, yeah, for Michelle and Alex. That was definitely something they wanted to do. I went after it as a director and as a producer on the floor in Toronto to execute their vision for that. It's always the hard part [balancing the styles]. We all grew up loving what Trek was and now we're also having to create what Trek is and what it's going to be.

I was talking with a panel of other Trek directors recently and it was really interesting [hearing] each person's perspective of what Trek was. For me, [with Discovery] now being the furthest afield in the future, it's been a wonderful perspective of trying to forge new territory but also, now more than ever, to pull up the old territory and themes and to make it feel even more like Trek than ever before. I'm glad you picked up on that.

I want to thank you for highlighting the importance of mental health this season. It’s really helpful to see Star Trek characters who are the best and the brightest still struggling with their problems, personal and from the exterior. It was really valuable and important to see that on the show.

Olatunde Osunsanmi: I think now, more than ever, a lot of people who maybe didn't understand the importance of mental health now understand after going through a pandemic and having to be isolated, and not being able to deflect or hide from one's own mind, so to speak. That's something that's really important to Michelle and Alex to put in the scripts. It's important to me and the other directors to hammer that home. We all deal with something. It's important to get it out there and talk about it in multiple levels.

Shawn Doyle was excellent as Dr. Tarka. A fascinating and complex individual. He didn't mean to be a villain but he had to do what he had to do and you understood why. But he also confirmed that the Multiverse exists in Star Trek. Are we gonna find out more about that?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: I hope so. It's a pretty cool concept, this idea of the Multiverse. It doesn't always have to be the Mirror Universe, right? It can be other places. It doesn't have to be that one place over and over again. I hope the writers go further with [the Multiverse]. I don't know if they will but you gotta figure at some point, someone will on one of these shows.

One of the cool things about Michael and Book's relationship is that it's so rare for a Star Trek Captain to be in a relationship. Picard season 2 is basically about why he's been alone for so long. Are Michael and Book going their separate ways or will they reunite in season 5?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: Great question. Tough for me to answer that without giving away too much about season 5. Love is one of those things that transcend all things. I think we can expect that [Michael and Book's love] won't ever go away completely. It is a special thing for a Captain to have a relationship on Star Trek. It's part of making the characters more real and making them multidimensional. It should be interesting to see what happens with them going forward.

Has production started on season 5?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: It has not started. We are just in the very beginnings of our prep period.

So we won't see Discovery season 5 until later in 2023, right? It'll be a while.

Olatunde Osunsanmi: I don't know. The CBS gurus kind of do their thing with what's released when but we are in the beginning as far as shooting goes.

Do you like working with the VR wall? I hear it's challenging to work with.

Olatunde Osunsanmi: I love working with it. It's challenging to work with because it's a new technology and we have to learn new skills, and new terminology, and new ways to corral it and understand it. But I think we're there. By the end of the season, we were humming along quite nicely. We had five or six incredible environments in the finale episode. So it'll be more of that and I think we now know what we're getting into. By and large, it's one of the most powerful additions we've had to our toolbox in all of our seasons.

You touched a little bit about what season 5 will be about. In her closing monologue, Michael talked about all of the worlds that still need to be explored. Will season 5 have more exploration or are you planning another season-long threat like the DMA and The Burn?

Olatunde Osunsanmi: From what I've seen so far of season 5, which hasn't been much, there's definitely more exploration and more adventure. With the [32nd century] era, we can go anywhere now. And now we understand more how to use the VR wall. Last season was more a training ground, even though they did spectacular stuff. Our VFX guy, Jason Zimmerman, did spectacular stuff in helping us how to use it. So I think we'll use that more, and that'll allow us to explore more unique environments and civilizations that we haven't seen before.

Next: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Ending Explained (In Detail)

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 is streaming on Paramount+.

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John Orquiola is a Features staff writer and interviewer who has been with Screen Rant for five years. He began as a director’s assistant on various independent films. As a lover of film and film theory, John wrote humorous movie reviews on his blog, Back of the Head, which got him noticed by Screen Rant. John happily became the Star Trek guy at Screen Rant and he leads Feature coverage of the various Star Trek series, but he also writes about a wide range of subjects from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Cobra Kai. His other great nerdy love is British TV series like The Crown, Downton Abbey, and Killing Eve. John can be found on Twitter @BackoftheHead if you want to see photos of the food he eats.