The Discovery panel was part of the Paley Center’s annual Paley Fest, an event they do in both locations, New York and Los Angeles. Typically, the New York Event runs for the week of New York Comic Con and continues for a few days afterward. The main theater for the panels holds about 200 people, so no matter where you are, there’s a good view of the stage. The panel itself was much more relaxed than NYCC. Though that might be because most of the cast only got about forty minutes of sleep, according to Doug Jones.

The media shown during the panel was a brief season two sizzle reel and the same Discovery Season 3 trailer that was shown at NYCC. The questions from the moderator were a little more detail oriented, bringing up things like the appearance of the Trill, which Alex Kurtzman later confirmed will be a place Michael and the Discovery crew visit. The moderator also pointed out that the Federation Flag only had six stars, and that it had to have some sort of meaning.

The audience questions were more personal than those asked at NYCC. One attendee told Mary Wiseman that seeing Tilly on screen helped her feel seen and has started to help her to understand how to manage her anxiety and other fears. Though she still isn’t sure how to handle people who judge her for those things. Mary said comments like that always mean a lot to her, and as for the other people F*ck them, because it takes real bravery to be who you are and to be okay with that. The audience cheered.

Another memorable answer, though I don’t recall the question, came from Soniqua Martin-Green. She said Star Trek means something to all of us in the room. We need to live up to the ideals presented in the show, and we need to be the ones to start the change we want to see, otherwise we’ll have no hope of getting to the society that produces the Federation.

After the hour or so panel, the cast came outside briefly for photos and autographs for those fans who were lucky enough to get one before they were herded away to hopefully get some well deserved rest.

Overall, I enjoyed this panel more than the one earlier in the day at Comic Con. It felt more like a discussion between friends than a corporate fan event, and I liked that feeling better.