WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 3, "People of Earth," now streaming on CBS All Access.
Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery has taken the U.S.S. Discovery to the far future. In the 32nd century, Burnham and the rest of her friends have found a much different reality where Starfleet is now defunct and where dilithium is in short supply. The universe is now a much more lawless place, and it's up to the Discovery, now far from home and away from any sort of backup or resources, to put the broken pieces of the Federation back together to bring hope back in the cosmos.
The crew is now stranded and on its own, but it's possible that help could still arrive from an unlikely source. After all, the entire cast of Star Trek: Discovery is aboard the ship in this strange new future -- well, all except one: Ash Tyler. So, let's look at what happened to Tyler, and if there's a scenario where he could somehow be reunited with his old crew.
Lieutenant Ash Tyler first joined the crew of the Discovery in the first season of the series. The character quickly proved to have a profound bond with Michael Burnham, and the two grew very close. However, Tyler was essentially a Trojan horse sent by the Klingons, actually being a human/Klingon hybrid that was spliced together in a torturous procedure. The procedure worked too well, however, and Tyler became conflicted.
Tyler remained a trusted member of the crew until the end of the first season when he returned to the Klingon homeworld to help L'Rell. Throughout the second season, however, Tyler eventually became an officer of Starfleet's covert unit, Section 31 and helped the Discovery take on the threat of Control.
But while Burnham and the Discovery headed off into the 32nd century to defeat the villainous artificial intelligence, Tyler remained in the present. At the end of Season 2, Tyler was named the new commander of Section 31, which was set to undergo some important changes following the defeat of Control. The character was an important part of the series' first two seasons, essentially being Burnham's love interest, but now, Season 3 has seen him become an afterthought.
It's possible this means the character was truly written off of the series at the end of the second season, leaving Michael open to having a new relationship with Cleveland Booker. And given that a Section 31 spinoff series has been in the works for some time, it's possible the character was set up to star in his own series further down the line.
However, Tyler was such an integral member of the cast that fans can't help but wonder if he will somehow return. Of course, the character and his crew are now separated by nearly a thousand years, which means he can't just show up at any time. But with this being Star Trek, time-travel is always an option. After all, the Klingons have access to time crystals, something which allowed Captain Pike to interact with Tyler's son, who was now a fully grown adult.
Besides, the nature of the procedure that made Tyler a human/Klingon hybrid is still unclear. For all fans know, it could have made him a being who ages more slowly -- if at all. If Tyler had to take the long way around, it would surely make for an interesting reunion when he meets Burnham and the crew of the Discovery after living through nearly a thousand years.
Streaming on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Commander Saru, Anthony Rapp as Lt. Commander Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber, David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Ian Alexander as Grey, Tig Notaro as Chief Engineer Reno, Ethan Peck as Spock and Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou. New episodes of Season 3 air on Thursdays.