Star Trek Lower Deck’s Mike McMahan Breaks Down Season 2’s Epic Finale

Another season of Star Trek: Lower Decks has come to an finish, however this time, the present has developed into an entire new degree of trials and tribulations for the crew of the Cerritos. To look again on season two and unpack a few of these twists from the finale, io9 chatted with showrunner Mike McMahan to uncover what to anticipate from the present’s subsequent adventures.

After a season with the underlying theme of our characters studying to belief one another—and extra particularly put the perfect model of themselves in one another’s arms when their backs had been towards the wall—Lower Decks’ second season finale, “First First Contact,” put that lesson to the last word take a look at. In an action-packed, high-stakes catastrophe not like something we’ve seen on the present earlier than, Ensigns Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford (and the entire rattling Cerritos crew) had been pushed to the restrict. While they could have gotten out of it with the day saved, it was clear by the point that “To be Continued…” card rolled, they weren’t carried out combating. To be taught extra in regards to the classes discovered throughout Lower Decks’ second season, highlights of one in every of McMahan’s favourite episodes of the present to this point, and what the shocks of the season finale will imply for Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford going ahead, take a look at our full interview—performed over video—with the showrunner under.

James Whitbrook, io9: When we got here again into season two, there’s a little bit of a reset with the characters—we get the teleporter clone of Boimler, we get Tendi and Rutherford sussing by Rutherford’s reminiscence loss from the tip of final season… are you able to speak in regards to the intent of re-centering these characters after we blew them aside figuratively and in some circumstances actually, on the finish of the primary season?

Mike McMahan: Lower Decks is de facto about these 4 ensigns, proper? It’s a long-form story that I’d deliberate out and had actually, emotionally deliberate out… I’ve a variety of episodes which can be discovering out, and constructing to, these moments. I feel we’ll see there’s a pair issues [that] Lower Decks followers will come to grasp—which is, you received’t be capable of predict what you’re going to get, and that we seem to be we’re having a blast whereas we’re making it. Now, I by no means need folks to really feel betrayed or there was a bait-and-switch… however a headline for me on Lower Decks is… there’s a terrific sort of dissolution of it: the episode the place Rutherford doesn’t get to know why Shaxs got here again, and the reasoning behind that’s there’s eight-hundred and one thing episodes of Star Trek—it’s all been carried out. Weirdly, not an episode on a Klingon ship and a Vulcan ship, that we did—I couldn’t imagine hadn’t been carried out, however we obtained to do it!

But these huge dramatic issues, these serialized issues, this stuff that change the present drastically… if we lean onto that stuff, we’d in a short time get right into a roundabout of bumping into stuff that Deep Space Nine did, Discovery did, that Enterprise did. So, what I wish to play with is how do we’ve characters expertise and alter due to these huge issues that possibly change who they’re—and the place they’re for 3 episodes—versus seasons and ceaselessly? Then have them come again to the primary household, the crew of the present, after which don’t neglect the expertise—don’t neglect that they went by this—however don’t have it change the present to be able to service the storyline, the place heaps and plenty of tales can occur… and never the place we get right into a bottleneck the place all of it turns into one story.

io9: This season we had the normal Boimler/Mariner, Tendi/Rutherford pairings get mashed up extra usually—is that one thing we’ll get to see extra of transferring ahead? 

McMahan: It’s so humorous as a result of we wrote the season earlier than you guys noticed season one, and we sat down and it was like… properly, I’ll let you know proper now. Having simply watched all of the cuts of season one, I used to be like, “We never got to see Tendi and Mariner! They’re my favorite characters. What did we do!?” It’s a kind of issues the place there’s so many issues in your head you’re attempting to determine, and also you step again and also you’re like, “Gah, there’s something right there the whole time that would have made my life easier.” The episode the place we pair up Tendi and Mariner was explicitly a blast to write down. So yeah, not solely are you going to be seeing completely different pairings, however you’re going to seeing them due to bizarre issues that occur. For occasion, Tendi going into senior science officer coaching [in the finale]? That goes to be taking her on tales that no person can come along with her on. It’s like a buddy attending to medical faculty, or one thing. When one in every of my associates went to medical faculty and we’d all get collectively and have dinner, I’d be telling tales about being a manufacturing assistant, and he’d be telling tales about holding a human coronary heart. There’s some stuff you can’t go together with your pals to do. So, greater than pairings you don’t normally see as a lot, you’re going to see tales that basically spotlight our decrease deckers on their very own whereas nonetheless coming collectively as associates.

io9: Before we get into the finale, I wished to speak about “wej Duj.” Can you speak to me in regards to the ideation course of, and the way you bought to the easy, however nice concept of “What if we just followed three ships?”

McMahan: Part of it’s that season one, I liked [episodes] 9 and ten being the finale. I like ending a season on huge, sudden, form-defying however nonetheless vital episodes. When we sat down to determine what we had been going to do [for season two], we’d simply carried out our sketch comedy episode—I used to be like, “Okay, the audience has been with us for 18 episodes. They’ve got this far. Let’s give them something they’ve never seen before, more lower decks than ever before.” We additionally had the phrase “cinematic” in our head for the final couple episodes—what appears like a push of our personal type, as properly, and the concept I knew that I wished to expertise decrease deckers in different ships within the Federation. Pretty shortly, we obtained to the purpose the place it was like “Klingons and Vulcans, that’s the patron saints, right?” Those are two of the most important, most seen, however surprisingly not… you possibly can nonetheless dig into them. You have Ma’ah on his ship being a little bit of a Boimler analogue, and T’Lyn on her ship being a little bit of a Mariner analogue. It was actually the enjoyment of speaking about what are these ships and cultures like. That’s what obtained me actually excited.

And then after I realized no person had carried out a contained story on Vulcan ship within the historical past of Star Trek, it sort of blew me away. Because they had to have carried out that on Enterprise—it felt very Vulcan-heavy. And they actually hadn’t. We cribbed some designs, however we needed to create a ton of stuff simply off the sensation of the Vulcan stuff we had heard about throughout the franchise. Then as soon as we had been writing it, I needed to tie within the stuff with the Pakleds and … the Pakleds are these fascistic, silly, “don’t take us lightly” power that we’ve. In the true world, there are at all times nefarious folks bankrolling these guys behind the scenes for their very own sort of nefarious functions. It simply felt so Star Trek VI to have that be what’s occurring. It felt cool to me to be like, “Look—the Cerritos isn’t the most important ship in the fleet. How do we have them deal with an important, big thing without them really dealing with it?” Because you don’t need them to change into the Enterprise, proper? So, “Oh! Have a Boimler analogue on a Klingon ship be part of the lynchpin of saving the day, and have a Mariner analogue on her Vulcan ship be part of the lynchpin of saving the day, and involve the Cerritos. Then instead of the Cerritos, it’s the lower deckers, which is the theme of Lower Decks!” That’s when all the pieces actually locked in. It can be my dream to do a live-action film model of that, within the Wrath of Khan/TOS period. New crews and simply spend a bunch of time with Klingons and Vulcans and other people in ‘70s-looking wigs and stuff. I’d geek out so exhausting. It’s like Hunt for Red October if there have been two extra subs.

io9: Moving on to the finale, I wished to congratulate you on turning into an actual Star Trek series by getting to finish a season with a “To Be Continued…” placard!

McMahan: Thank you! Weirdly, it got here it fairly late within the course of the place I used to be like “Why aren’t we doing that? It’s a cliffhanger.” And everybody was like, “Oh yeah.”

io9: That’s what I used to be going to ask—why did it matter particularly to you? We finish the season with Captain Freeman brushing up towards Starfleet safety and the aftermath of that battle in “wej Duj,” so why was it necessary particularly to attract that out into this type of cliffhanger situation? 

McMahan: Well, “wej Duj” didn’t finish. The Klingons depart and so they’ve obtained a brand new boss, proper? There’s clearly issues that aren’t fairly completed with that story which do get addressed in season three. So, I knew I wished that. Also, we’re at all times looking for these themes of finality, but additionally the story’s not over. So, so a lot stuff is wrapped up that, it actually simply felt like that story’s not over—and I don’t need folks to attend till subsequent season to know the story’s not over? So, the promise of the stuff they’re going to be seeing in season three is why the tip on this. Also, I’ve had success with wrapping a narrative and starting one other story with the Titan in season one. I similar to the creativeness it sparks, to see how we deal with it subsequent season. Just wrapping it up with a bow feels too pat and I by no means appreciated that. This finale simply offers you some heroes, after which takes away the individual you imagine in—that simply obtained me actually excited.

io9: Like the primary season, this finale brings the main target again on Beckett and her mom Carol’s relationship—why was it necessary to heart the guts of this finale as properly on giving them a bit of battle between themselves?

McMahan: It was that second [in the season two finale] the place Mariner says one thing she’s at all times assumed, and he or she was unsuitable about, which is—[she and Captain Freeman are] within the Captain’s yacht—she says, “You always defend me because you know I’m a Kirk-style free spirit, and a badass and nobody else sees it.” And her mother is like, “No! I protect you because you need protection.” I feel if Freeman had ever stated this to Mariner within the first season, they’d by no means have this dialog, and the tip of the primary season does make Mariner seem like a badass, Kirk-style free spirit who can clear up any downside. But on the bridge on this episode, it’s past her. Mariner’s like, “I don’t know.” And it results in this irritating dialog [between her and Captain Freeman] the place Freeman is like, “You need to stop thinking that you’re the ultimate badass and let people in.” Which is why when she rages on that, and her associates are like “Your mom is fucking right—don’t get us killed!” That’s a second the place Mariner is like, “Yeah. I do need to let people in.” You see this thematically with, like, Boimler being courageous and leaping off on his personal, you see Tendi having to go and imagine in herself regardless that she thinks it’s going to be dangerous [with Dr. T’Ana], you see Rutherford need to delete his backup recollections and belief that’s not going to have a deeply destructive impact. Then within the very finish, it’s Mariner saying to Jennifer [the Andorian], “I pushed you away this whole time, let’s date.” And we see them attempt that in season three. It felt like a pleasant change after all for one thing we’ve been seeding a very long time [with her].

io9: Speaking of Jennifer, final 12 months we danced round Mariner’s sexuality, and now attending to see that repay right here—was it necessary to have that because the emotional stake right here for Beckett going into season three?

McMahan: In the third season, she and Jennifer are seeing one another and there are tales we inform about that. What I would say is it’s not straightforward thus far Mariner, and this present actually just isn’t about Mariner’s romantic relationships. It’s about how she sees herself, and the way she treats associates and colleagues greater than romantic companions. So, it was necessary to me—from the viewpoint of Star Trek, having these folks in your life and seeing the place these tales go. Mariner’s sexuality to me has at all times been… she looks as if the sort of character who can run right into a villain and awkwardly Mariner had dated her or him earlier than. Those are the sorts of tales I actually get enthusiastic about. With Mariner, there’s these historic type of stuff you see along with her, so… you will note Mariner and Jennifer relationship, and see how that impacts her, however actually the tectonic shift that’s going into [Mariner’s arc in season three] is, proper when she opened herself up and all the pieces was going nice, all of it will get taken away from her. How does that have an effect on any person who doesn’t prefer it when folks depart her or are taken away?

io9: You have two seasons beneath your belt now, and a 3rd on the way in which. What lesson did you’re taking most to coronary heart this season, having seen the reactions to season one, and the way will it have an effect on the subsequent?

McMahan: All we’d seen folks react to was season one as we wrote season three. Even that, we had been sort of into season three when folks began to see season one and discuss it, you already know. But the factor that obtained me excited, as we begin up [season three] there’s going to be some attention-grabbing cameos, some enjoyable callbacks, however we’re additionally beginning to combine in cameos and callbacks to our personal episodes a bit of bit extra. We’ve seen a variety of Mariner and Boimler after which Tendi and Rutherford, and we’ve seen them blended up a bit. Season three we get to see them begin their very own paths a bit of bit extra whereas nonetheless being associates. I feel that’s enjoyable stuff to write down.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is now streaming in its entirety on Paramount+.

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