Star Trek: Discovery’s Sonequa Martin-Green discusses how Captain Michael Burnham’s willingness to sacrifice herself is something she takes with her.
Summary
- Sonequa Martin-Green is inspired by her character’s sacrificial lifestyle and wants to incorporate it into her own life.
- The final two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 have been retooled to serve as a finale for the entire series.
- Captain Michael Burnham’s tendency to sacrifice herself for the good of the galaxy will likely play a role in the upcoming season.
Star Trek: Discovery‘s Sonequa Martin-Green is inspired by the “sacrificial lifestyle” of her character, Captain Michael Burnham. With the SAG-AFTRA strike over, Martin-Green is ramping up promoting Star Trek: Discovery season 5, which is the final season of the original Star Trek on Paramount+ series. Captain Burnham is leading a hunt for “the greatest treasure in the known galaxy” in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, which had its final two episodes retooled to serve as a finale for the entire series.
Appearing at Fan Expo San Francisco on a panel hosted by Collider‘s Maggie Lovitt, Sonequa Martin-Green told the audience that she doesn’t usually draw from her own life when playing her roles. However, there is a particular aspect of Captain Michael Burnham’s character that Martin-Green admires and wants to incorporate into her own life. Read her quote below:
“I can’t help but see these qualities and with Michael Burnham, Captain Michael Burnham, one of the things that touched me, was this sacrificial lifestyle, and living a life of true honor. And I’ve said this before too, but really being in a position where, no matter what happens at any moment of any day you’re down to die for anyone, whether you know them or not, whether they’re in front of you or not.
Even in Discovery, they sacrificed everything for a future they couldn’t see, and so I really broke that down toward the end of the series and just allowed that to change me. Because then, the people who do that in real life, who are laying their lives down all the time, at the drop of a hat, no matter what, just because they value life, the way it should be valued is huge to me. So that was the first thing that popped into my mind.”
Michael Burnham Has Changed Throughout Star Trek: Discovery
But Burnham’s self-sacrificing nature was there since the beginning.
Star Trek: Discovery is unique in that it launched with a main character, Michael Burnham, who was not the Captain of a starship, but the series followed Burnham’s progression to earning the Captain’s chair and then watched her shoulder the responsibility of leading the USS Discovery. However, Burnham’s self-sacrificing nature was evident in Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere when she made a grave error and committed mutiny because she believed she could prevent a war with the Klingons. Star Trek: Discovery‘s first three seasons were about Michael’s redemption, culminating in Burnham becoming Captain at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 3.
Michael Burnham lived outside of Starfleet for a year and worked as a 32nd century courier alongside Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) at the start of Star Trek: Discovery season 3.
It remains to be seen how Captain Michael Burnham’s tendency to sacrifice herself for the good of the galaxy will factor into Star Trek: Discovery season 5. The hunt for “the greatest treasure in the known galaxy” promises to be a welcome tonal shift from the dire threats to the United Federation of Planets that Burnham and the USS Discovery have foiled in the previous seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. Captain Michael Burnham is a revolutionary Star Trek character, and it’s heartening that Sonequa Martin-Green has adopted Michael’s most noble aspects with her into her real life and future endeavors.
