This morning CBS dropped its third trailer for the second season of Star Trek: Discovery. Just as we did with our analyses of the San Diego Comic-Con “first look” trailer in July and New York Comic Con trailer in October, we once again take a closer look at the latest preview. The latest one has a lot of new footage including some fleshing out of the things seen in the previous two. There are a lot of blink-and-you-will-miss-it moments, which is why we are here to capture and analyze, so let’s get started.

NOTE: The following is based on a combination of previous reporting, interviews and a good dollop of educated speculation. We have taken various elements of the trailer from different points and tried to group them into moments or themes as best we can. Obviously the following contains potential spoilers.

Crazy like a Spock

One of the biggest elements for the second season is the introduction of Ethan Peck as Spock, which should happen sometime around the middle of the season. The new trailer has more footage of Peck’s Spock than the previous ones. In the First Look trailer from San Diego Comic-Con, Pike can be heard telling Michael Burnham – Spock’s adoptive sister – that he is “on leave,” pursuing his own investigation of the “Red Angel.” This new trailer shows Spock in what appears to be some kind of psychiatric ward. This could possibly indicate Spock is on medical leave, perhaps due to an obsession over the mystery of the Red Angel.

Michael’s search for Spock

Something also hinted in the trailer is that at some point Michael Burnham goes to find Spock. It’s possible he was able to escape the hospital, or perhaps these scenes preceded those in the hospital.

Spock on the Disco

One of the consistent things that show star Sonequa Martin-Green and the producers have said is that the second season will explore the relationship between Spock and Michael, and it will get emotional. We can see some of that emotion on display in the trailer as the two – on board the Discovery – argue.

Also on board the USS Discovery, we see a couple of scenes of Spock bantering with Anson Mount’s Captain Pike, his captain from the USS Enterprise who has taken command of the Discovery.

SIDE NOTE: The producers have said the second season will show us a different Spock than we are used to from his time under the command of James T. Kirk, which is still a number of years in the future. The second season takes place a few years after “The Cage,” which did feature a smiling Spock.

Back on the Discovery bridge, we see Spock with Burnham still in her Vulcan outfit.

The Red Angel hits home

The big arc for the second season is the investigation of the seven “red bursts” and the “Red Angel,” and we again see footage (as we did in the SDCC trailer) of Pike coming aboard the Discovery to take command and then briefing the crew on this mission.

This trailer includes some new dialog, with Pike linking the phenomenon, saying “These signals typically follow the arrival of a being we call the ‘red angel'” We also see some new footage of an appearance of the Red Angel in what appears to be Earth. It appears to be historic footage, but it isn’t totally clear.

Previous trailers have shown us that the Red Angel has appeared to both Spock and Michael Burnham. While it could just be a trick of timing for the latest trailer, it appears Saru also bears witness to the Red Angel.

We can also see a number of shots of the Discovery exploring what appears to be one (or possibly more) of the red bursts.

Saru returns home to face his fear

Another important reveal woven through the trailer are some hints at the Saru-focused episode and return to Kaminar, promised for the second season. The recent Short Treks episode “The Brightest Star,” gave us our first details on the Ba’ul that “harvest” the Kelpiens. This new trailer appears to show us our first glimpses of these terrifying predators.

“The Brightest Star” introduced us to Saru’s sister Siranna (Hannah Spear). The Short Treks episode ended with Saru being warned that due to the Prime Directive, he could never return to his home planet to help his family. However, we can see that rules are meant to be broken, with shots of Saru reunited with his sister.

Not-so-secret agent

The season one “bonus scene” from WonderCon last March revealed that after the finale, the exiled Terran Emperor Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) was recruited into Section 31, the nefarious secret organization first featured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and later on Star Trek: Enterprise. This new trailer shows us Emperor Georgiou continuing to pose as the not-so-dead Prime Universe’s Captain Georgiou – because the Mirror Universe is a secret only known to a few, which does not include Captain Pike.

SIDE NOTE: While previous iterations in DS9 (in the 24th century) and Enterprise (in the 22nd) presented Section 31 as a secret known to very few, here in Discovery’s 23rd century, the organization seems less like a rogue operation and more like a standard covert part of the Federation or Starfleet.

There are also a couple of quick shots in the trailer which seem to show Georgiou fighting with Michael Burnham.

Again with the Klingons

The war may be over, but the Klingons will still play a role in the second season, bringing the return of Mary Chieffo as L’Rell and Shazad Latif as Voq/Tyler. Season one ended with L’Rell gaining control over the Klingon Empire by threatening to destroy the planet. Previous trailers have shown that this power comes with challenges, and this latest one shows us more of the fight in the halls.

The season one “bonus scene” and previous trailers have shown us Georgiou on Qo’noS and this new trailer shows her cool stealth suit along with a drone weapon in what appears to be L’Rell’s garden, possibly involved in the same fight as seen above.

Tyler is back

Another new reveal in this trailer is that we find Shazad Latif back on the USS Discovery and in uniform as Lt. Tyler. While the real Tyler is dead and he is actually the Klingon Voq with Tyler’s memories grafted on using House of Mo’Kai magic, Starfleet apparently still trusts him. Based on the dialog, he may be back working in security.

It appears that not only does Tyler have has his old job back, he has his old girlfriend too.

Tilly and Stamets vs. the rock thing

Something we have seen in all the trailers is Ensign Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Lt. Cmdr. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) doing variance bits of science and appearing to have some fun too. This trailer shows us more of some captured thing that seems to get loose and engulf Tilly.

More shots of the USS Discovery

As the season is getting much closer to release, this trailer featured the most visual effects of all the previews so far, including a lot of cool shots of the USS Discovery.

More from the asteroid field

We know from previous trailers that the search for the USS Hiawatha (where they find Chief Engineer Reno, played by guest star Tig Notaro) in an asteroid field is a big set piece in the first episode, and this third trailer featured even more shots from the sequence.

More emotion, concerned looks, and explosions

But wait, there’s more. Here are a few more shots from the new trailer.

The second season of Star Trek: Discovery premieres Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019 at 8:30 PM, ET/5:30 PM, PT on CBS All Access in the United States. It will air Thursdays in Canada on Space and be available on Bell Media’s CraveTV streaming service. It will also be available on Netflix in 188 countries around the world.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.