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The Star Trek: Discovery crew stopped by NYCC 2018 for a panel to give hints and clues to the upcoming Season 2. Fair warning: there are plenty of spoilers for Season 1 below.

Co-creator, writer, and executive producer Alex Kurtzman explained the gist of the new season: the cast will be chasing seven signals through space. The signals themselves are a big mystery—the energy they produce and the energy required to create them is beyond anything the crew has ever encountered in the known universe. Chasing these signals gives the show a classic episodic feel while still maintaining and engaging an overarching story.

Anson Mount (Inhumans) gave a bit of insight on his portrayal of Captain Christopher Pike. Compared to Lorca, the captain from the mirror universe, Pike will be a bit lighter as a whole and involve more of the crew’s input, rather that just barking orders at them. He also hinted that the show itself will be a bit lighter this time around, as well, as the Federation is no longer warring with the Klingons.

Michelle Yeoh gushed over the return of Captain/Emperor Philippa Georgiou. She said it was great fun playing a character with so many layers, as not everyone knows that the current Georgiou isn’t the goody two-shoes, straight-laced captain that they’ve come to know, but actually a bloodthirsty, cold, and calculating emperor from the mirror universe. I’m quite excited to see her character’s involvement in Section 31, which was hinted at last season. Section 31 is an intelligence and defense agency that has ties to Starfleet, but is officially ‘unofficial and nonexistent.’ My imagination is running wild with the potential possibilities this has for her character!

Ethan Peck was announced to portray the legendary Spock earlier this year, but now, during the NYCC panel, we got to catch a glimpse of him in the new trailer:

Here’s what he had to say about landing the role:

I didn’t know what I was reading for and so I knew it was for Star Trek and this guy was struggling with emotion and logic and towards the very end of it, I found out who it was and I was like, ‘oh my gosh!’ and I had a panic attack throughout last meeting with Kurtzman. About two days later I was like, you know what, even if it doesn’t go my way, what an incredible experience to brush arms with this character with this world.

I got a text message from the casting director, Orly Sitowitz, and she said, “Welcome aboard Mr. Spock’” I was in such shock, I sat down on the corner of a street and I cried for like 15 minutes because I was so overwhelmed and overjoyed and it was…I’ll never forget the moment was very special.

Star Trek: Discovery is just getting started and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next year!

Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All-Access January 17th, 2019.

Photo Cr: Lisette M. Azar/CBS © 2018 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.