We still have a long way to go before the premier of Star Trek: Discovery's second season in 2019, but production is well under way and the cast and crew of CBS All-Access' biggest hit took over Hall H at Comic-Con International in San Diego to share talk about Season 1 and tease Season 2. On hand were stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp, Mary Chieffo, Wilson Cruz, Anson Mount as well as executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin. Series guest star Tig Notaro who's slated to appear as Chief Engineer Reno next season served as moderator.

After the cast and producers were introduced, we got a chance to peek at a Season 2 sizzle. It pickes up immediately after the end of Season 1, with the Enterprise facing off with Discovery. Captain Pike takes command of the Discovery according to Regulation 19, Section C -- in the case of imminent danger. There are mysterious red bursts, seven across 30,000 light years, that Pike needs to investigate. He thinks it's a language, but isn't sure if they're friendly or hostile. We learn that Spock's taken leave, so he's not there, and then it's a montage of action sequences intercut with funny moments like Tilly yelling, "See people?! THIS is the power of math!" Anson Mount is a very commanding and in control as Captain Pike, and he closes the cinematic sizzle staring dead into camera and ordering, "Hit it." It's no "Engage," but it'll do.

Alex Kurtzman then dropped three huge pieces of news: Season 2 premiers in January of 2019, in December we'll get four short films about 10-15 minutes in length. We'll see Harry Mudd again, learn more about Tilly, get significant pieces of Saru's backstory, as well as Alex Hodge coming on board as a new character. Also, Spock will appear in Season 2. Of course he said nothing more, but he did confirm the character.

In another revelation, Wilson Cruz announced that he would also appear in Season 2:

You know we talked about this early on after Tyler and I had a "moment" in sickbay. We knew that was a chapter in a very long epic story. Like any epic story there are ups and downs... so I'll be back, I can't tell you how. We're still reveling int he fact that this gay love has not only saved the world, but the universes -- all the universes.

Tig Notaro repsonded: Gay love usually helps everything, so thanks for doing your work, you on screen gayness.

As for L'Rell's journey in Season 2, Mary Chieffo was very excited about her character's arc this season:

She is trying to be the best chancellor she can be of this very patriarchal Klingon empire. and there are male Klingons that maybe aren't so happy with that. With also comes a fun new chancellor aesthetic which I'm a huge fan of.. and I think there's a lot of L'Rell that was shrouded in mystery for the first season.. I'm really excited for fans to see some of her side of the story and some of the secrets she's been harboring even from Tyler.

Mary Wiseman also confirmed that Tilly's still looking at the captain's chair: "She's gonna keep trying to be captain, keep working toward that goal, she's gonna not do great for awhile. She's gonna a face obstacles and at times not do a great hob and question her sanity, it's gonna be cool."

Shazad Latif confirmed that he's still got feelings for Burnham, but he's unable to really do anything about it at the moment. "He wants to see Burnham again but he's far away at the moment and he's gotta find his way back. He's struggling to find his way, as we all are."

When new cast member Anson Mount got the mic, he blew away the room with a huge announcement: Rebecca Romijn will join the cast as the original Number One from the unaired pilot ("The Cage"). She was famously played by Gene Roddenberry's wife Majel Barret Roddenberry, but NBC did not react well to a woman in such a prominent command position.

Producer Alex Kurtzman expounded a little more on what we could expect from Season 2 in terms of the Discovery crew's relationship with each other:

A lot of what the first season was about was about the crew finding each other andcomingtogetherand forming the foundations of a family. Now that they're a family and what's going on in season 2 will test the new family.. They may even have to choose between their actual family and their new family.

That seems to point directly to Michael Burnham's character given her occasional difficulty reconciling her Vulcan childhood with her Starfleet career. He also promised the series would finally synch up fully with canon, trying to assuage fans that were frustrated with Discovery's seemingly willful ignorance of certain aspects of Star Trek's massive backlog of story.

In answer to a fan question, Doug Jones confirmed that the show would visit his home planet and we'd most likely meet the other, predatory species that shares the planet with the Kelpians. He also discussed what a joy it was to create an entirely new Star Trek species, an opportunity few actors have gotten in the last 15 years.

The main through line in the panel, especially so in the Q&A portion was the show's commitment to diversity and equal representation throughout the franchise. Each cast member spoke at some point about how inspiring it was to be a part of the show in a time when this kind rhetoric is especially important.

Star Trek: Discovery returns to CBS All-Access in December with four short films followed by Season 2 some time in January of 2018.