Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, first officer of the Discovery, along with the returning Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Wilson Cruz.

The season introduces the first explicitly non-binary and transgender Star Trek characters, respectively portrayed by recurring guests Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander.

Other praise went to the season's real-world parallels and cast (especially Martin-Green, as well as the introduction of Ajala, del Barrio, and Alexander), while Burnham's character development and the resolution of major issues received mixed responses.

Georgiou finds that her time with Discovery has made her a better person than she was then, and she decides to use her knowledge of the past to alter certain events, including rescuing the slave Saru and sparing the life of the treacherous Michael Burnham.

[21] The writers room for the season included Jenny Lumet, Anne Cofell Saunders, Ken Lin, Alan McElroy, Kirsten Beyer, Brandon Schultz, Erika Lippoldt, Bo Yeon Kim, Chris Silvestri, Anthony Maranville, Sean Cochran, and Kalinda Vazquez.

[24] The second season ended with the USS Discovery traveling over 900 years into the future, freeing the series from the continuity of previous Star Trek stories and allowing it to explore a new time period.

[12][29] The season stars the returning Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham,[2] Doug Jones as Saru,[3] Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets,[3] Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly,[3] and Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber.

[28] Tig Notaro reprises her role as engineer Jett Reno,[7] with other returning crewmembers including Emily Coutts as Keyla Detmer,[49] Patrick Kwok-Choon as Gen Rhys,[49] Oyin Oladejo as Joann Owosekun,[49] Ronnie Rowe Jr. as R.A. Bryce,[49] Sara Mitich as Nilsson,[49] Raven Dauda as Tracy Pollard,[50] and David Benjamin Tomlinson as Linus the Saurian.

[51] New cast members for the season include Adil Hussain as Aditya Sahil;[52] Jake Weber as the courier Zareh;[53] Oded Fehr as Admiral Charles Vance;[9] David Cronenberg as Dr. Kovich;[13] Mary Wiseman's husband Noah Averbach-Katz as Ryn;[10] Janet Kidder as Osyraa;[11] and Bill Irwin as Su'Kal.

[54] Hannah Spear and Robert Verlaque, who previously portrayed Saru's sister and father, respectively, appear as Su'Kal's mother Dr. Issa and as a Kelpien elder.

Paradise said they wanted a "really big, fluffy, substantial beast of a cat" to portray Grudge, with Leeu and Durban being 40 inches (1.0 m) long and weighing 18 pounds (8.2 kg).

[59] In September 2020, non-binary newcomer Blu del Barrio was revealed to be portraying Adira, while transgender actor Ian Alexander was announced as cast in the role of Gray, a Trill character.

[61] The series' opening title sequence was updated by creative agency Prologue to feature new imagery from the season, such as red dilithium crystals, Book's ship, the new 32nd-century Starfleet badges, and the wormhole that brought Discovery to the future.

He began by discussing predictions of the future, including potential technology, with scientists and artists, and was drawn to the idea of using nanobots that could react to users' thoughts to transform into different items.

[74] Both Hetrick and creature designer Neville Page noted that one of the differences between the franchise's earlier series and Discovery is that the latter is filmed in high-definition, and modern audiences expect higher-quality effects.

[74][75] The Andorian alien characters have antennae on their heads that could be removed from the prosthetics if more emotion-driven movement was required, to make it easier for digital versions to be added by the visual effects team.

Notarile initially did not want to "rock the boat" by changing the established style of the series, which used Arri Alexa SXT cameras and Cooke Optics' Anamorphic/i Special Flare lenses.

The cameras were primarily on steadicam mounts, a technocrane, or a dolly cart, and often used Dutch angles, which created a style of moving and floating that the cinematographers believed would feel "Trekian".

Visual effects vendors included Pixomondo, Ghost VFX, Mackevision, Crafty Apes, DNEG, The Mill, and FX3X, as well as Zimmerman's in-house team at CBS Studios.

The underlying muscle and skeleton system was driven by motion capture,[93] with particle and cloth simulations layered on top that were intended to look like the creature was underwater.

[105][106] The cast and crew promoted Discovery in a virtual Star Trek Universe panel for the 2020 Comic-Con@Home convention, with a table read of the second-season finale's first act and discussion of the third season.

These included a panel for Discovery featuring Martin-Green, Ajala, Kurtzman, and Paradise, who debuted a full trailer for the season revealing that it was about bringing hope back to the Federation in an uncertain future.

[69] In November, ViacomCBS announced that it would donate all proceeds from a new line of Discovery-themed merchandise to GLAAD, to support the organization's "culture changing work to accelerate acceptance for LGBTQ people".

[121] On November 2, 2021, a home media box set collecting the first three seasons of Discovery was released, with more than eight hours of special features including behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, audio commentaries, and gag reels.

[127] Monita Mohan, looking back on the season for Collider, said a time jump within a series can be controversial, but worked in Discovery's favor;[128] the change in setting received praise from many critics.

[134] Kayti Burt of Den of Geek praised the move for giving the series a "much-needed narrative reset" while keeping the characters from the previous seasons,[135] and TV Insider's Matt Roush felt the new setting had enlivened the entire franchise.

[137] Craig Elvy of Screen Rant felt it made the most of the new setting by "revel[ing] in the freedom of a fresh timeline, able to introduce planets, characters and storylines without worrying whether it'll contradict something Spock said in the 1960s".

[142] Lacy Baugher of Den of Geek felt the main cast "gelled" during the season in a way that they did not before, attributing this to their shared experiences moving to the future,[143] while Elvy said spending more time with the bridge crew made them more interesting.

[149] Authors and commentators Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez felt the series understood what Star Trek was about more than some of its detractors gave it credit for, but criticized its continued focus on emotional characters over science, diplomacy, and problem-solving.

[154] Baker-Whitelaw was critical of the "one-note political issues" and their representation as a "tiresome season-wide arc about saving the galaxy",[141] while Collura questioned what the season actually revealed about the loss of hope and stated: "Right now things seem worse than ever in the real world, while all Discovery's problems were solved in 13 episodes flat".