8 Takeaways from "Will You Take My Hand?" After Trek

And the last After Trek of the year, quite appropriately, focused on "Will You Take My Hand?", the first-season finale of Star Trek: Discovery. Matt Mira welcomed Sonequa Martin-Green and Anthony Rapp to join him in the studio, while Alex Kurtzman, Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts joined the conversation by Skype.

Here are our top eight After Trek takeaways:

1. Behold... The Enterprise

The biggest of several shockers in the finale was that crazy-cool appearance of the Enterprise NCC-1701 at the very end. Rapp said it gave him "some goosebumps," and he noted that amongst the many fan theories about the series he'd seen, it was mentioned "at least once" that somehow the crew would encounter the Enterprise. "It wouldn't be a theory," Rapp said. "It'd be more like a wish, a hope. So, I hope that the people felt that way felt good about it." Later in the show, Kurtzman explained that the entire season, right down to the appearance of the Enterprise, had been "reverse engineered," by "knowing from the beginning where we wanted to end." That included Burnham's arc, the growing sense of family amongst the Discovery crew and that last shot of the Enterprise. He added the presence of the Enterprise promises answers to come as to why Spock never mentioned a half-sister.

2. Captain Burnham?

A fan in the audience asked Martin-Green if she thinks Burnham is ready for her own ship. The short answer? Not yet. The more-detailed answer: "I think not at this very moment, not at this moment right where we leave off at the finale," Martin-Green replied. "I've just been reinstated. There's been so much going on that there hasn't been time to meditate, to process, to evaluate... So, I think now at this point that I have been redeemed, in a sense, now I need to forgive myself.  I think I need some time. I don't know how much time, but a little bit of time... Then I'll be ready for it."

3. Celebrating Black History Month

In the first interstitial segment of the night, After Trek continued its celebration of Black History Month. Its honorees this time were LeVar Burton and Whoopi Goldberg.

4. Quoteworthy

The After Trek team selected several memorable quotes from the finale for this installment's "Quoteworthy" bumper video. Tilly talked about her narrow esophagus, L'Rell commented on someone's required seasoning and Emperor Georgiou wondered what's so bad about desperation.

5. Discovery by the Numbers

We loved this particular video, which geeks out by breaking down season one by numbers. That includes the number of alien planets visited, ganglia sightings, characters killed in both universes, hairstyles sported by Tilly, mind melds performed and more.

6. Teasing Season Two

Berg, Harberts and Kurtzman addressed -- in a few cases directly, but mostly teasingly or with facial reactions to Mira's questions -- things to come in season two. Berg, discussing the spore drive, argued that you don't own a Maserati and keep it in the garage. Harberts suggested that fans think about what recently landed on Tilly. Will we see more Kelpiens? They all said... yes. How about Spock? A collective shrug. Visit more planets? Yes. Who's the new Discovery captain? Kurtzman cracked, "Captain Lucius Malfoy."

7. Tales from the Set

Discovery's props master, Mario Moreira, noted that the Discovery cast is mostly vegetarians and vegans, and so creating the gormagander meat that Tilly and Burnham noshed on during the finale provided a unique challenge. Check out how his team pulled it off in this interstitial...

8. Teasing Season Two Continued

Mira asked if the producers might give After Trek an exclusive piece of season-two scoop, and Harberts shared this: "Thematically, one of the things that we are really interested in this year is the collision of science and spirituality. Moving from a war chapter, that's something that excites us this season."

The After Trek journey does not stop with the show. Visit www.aftertrek.tv on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. ET for Starfleet trivia and a chance to win prizes.

Star Trek: Discovery and After Trek airs Sunday nights on CBS All Access in the U.S. and Space Channel in Canada. The two series air on Mondays on Netflix in the rest of the world.

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