The crew of Star Trek: Discovery visited the 2019 PaleyFest event yesterday in Los Angeles, and while there wasn’t much in the way of news from the cast panel itself, the show’s actors – along with executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin – spent some time hyping what is being called a “tremendous” and “unexpected” upcoming ending to Season 2.

Speaking with SyFy Wire in a new set of interviews published this evening, Alex Kurtzman once again addressed fan criticism of how Star Trek: Discovery may not seem to fit into the overall Star Trek history that we know, ramping up his rebuttal to that feedback:

“We are entirely aware of everyone’s questions and criticisms; I’ve read everything, and I see where everyone’s like, ‘Well, the spore drive never existed!’ and ‘What, Discovery was never around!’ and all of those things, we’re totally aware. You will get an answer,” exec producer Alex Kurtzman told SYFY WIRE. But will that answer be satisfying? “I damn well think so, yes.”

Cast members Ethan Peck, Doug Jones, and Wilson Cruz commented specifically about how the season will wrap up, offering up some extremely provocative adjectives about the final episodes:

ETHAN PECK: “I personally think that the end of the season is going to be tremendous … when [Kurtzman] first told me about it I was like in tears, I just had chills.”

DOUG JONES: “As I read the final script for Season 2, my jaw dropped, and I’m dumbfounded with where we’re headed. So I think the fans can expect to boldly go where no Star Trek series has ever gone before.”

WILSON CRUZ: “Expect the unexpected, is what my mother always says, and it couldn’t be more true, especially on this season, cause it’ll change everything.

We also had a brief moment to speak with Cruz at the event, who told us that “the end of Season 2 is a gamechanger,” along with noting that Hugh Culber’s journey continues into Season 3.

Cast member Anthony Rapp also expounded on the topic a bit, indicating that the upcoming episodes will meet Kurtzman’s often-stated plan to “sync up with canon,” and that he feels fans desires about alignment will be well-addressed:

“I think that the last few episodes will really close the circle for people. If we’ve done our job, what was on the page… in the scripts, closes the circle; it answers the questions that are lingering and remaining for people of how we fit in. And I believe very strongly that it will leave people satisfied. As someone who cares about continuity, to some degree, I was like, ‘If this doesn’t make people happy, I don’t know what else we can do.’”

While the mystery of just who has been popping about the galaxy in the Red Angel suit has been answered in last week’s “The Red Angel” (at least, as far as we know!), there’s still four episodes left in the year to both wrap up the Red Signal / Control storyline — and to send Captain Pike back to the Enterprise for the remainder of their mission.

Series producer Heather Kadin spoke to Mount’s impending departure from the series.

“If anything it’s not going to feel like a sendoff, because I think that’s what everyone thinks is going to happen. I think it will just become incredibly clear why he’s not continuing on, cause he has to go do TOS, so we have to make sense of that.”

Kurtzman talked about the departing captain as well, saying:

“If you know the story of Captain Pike, you know what his fate was. It won’t be exactly what you think this season, but we will be consistent with that story. There will be a dimension shed on that story that you will not have known or have thought of.”

There’s still a number of years between the current setting of Discovery Season 2 and the accident that seriously injures Pike (as seen in “The Menagerie”), when the captain was exposed to near-lethal delta radiation rescuing Starfleet cadets during a training mission.

While we don’t know how Anson Mount’s Pike will be exiting Discovery, some fans have speculated we might see Pike join the Starfleet Academy series first rumored to be in development last summer, would could serve as a connection to his ultimate fate.

Star Trek: Discovery returns Thursday with “Perpetual Infinity,” the eleventh episode of the year — but before then, we’ll bring you new photos from this week’s episode when they drop tomorrow, and our own conversations with Alex Kurtzman and Ethan Peck from the PaleyFest event in the coming days.