WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery’s finale, “Life, Itself”.

David Cronenberg plays Star Trek: Discovery‘s enigmatic Dr. Kovich, a small role in a TV and film career which spans decades. First introduced in Discovery season 3, Dr. Kovich is a Federation scientist with access and knowledge that goes far beyond anyone else in Starfleet. However, Dr. Kovich was always hard to pin down, maintaining a frustrating level of secrecy, even when he asked Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery to track down the Progenitors’ treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

David Cronenberg was cast in Star Trek: Discovery because Alex Kurtzman was a fan of his work as a director. Cronenberg had acted before, in his own movies as well as in the J.J. Abrams’ series Alias. Cronenberg played Dr. Brezzel in the show, another scientist who was a bit more forthcoming than his Discovery character. However, the true identity of David Cronenberg’s enigmatic Dr. Kovich is finally revealed in the Star Trek: Discovery finale, and it explains a lot about the character’s evasiveness.

David Cronenberg Has A Directing Career Beyond Star Trek: Discovery’s Doctor Kovich

Although David Cronenberg has had multiple acting roles outside Star Trek: Discovery, he’s best known as a movie director. Many of Cronenberg’s sci-fi horror movies, like The Brood and The Fly, pioneered the body horror genre. There’s a recurring fascination with the effect of technology on the human body in many of David Cronenberg’s movies, from the commentary on screen violence in Videodrome to the hugely controversial Crash, which depicted a group of people who were sexually aroused by car accidents. Given the futurist themes of his movies, it’s unsurprising that David Cronenberg was a fan of Star Trek: The Original Series when he was younger.

A number of Star Trek actors past and present have appeared in David Cronenberg’s work over the years. Callum Keith Rennie, who starred in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 with Cronenberg, played Hugo Carlaw in the director’s 1999 movie, eXistenz. Star Trek Into Darkness‘ Peter Weller starred in Cronenberg’s 1991 movie, Naked Lunch, as the exterminator drawn into a government plot orchestrated by giant bugs. David Cronenberg also worked with Star Trek: Voyager‘s original Captain Janeway, Genevieve Bujold in his 1988 movie Dead Ringers, recently remade as a series for Prime starring Rachel Weisz.

David Cronenberg’s Doctor Kovich Is A Mystery Star Trek: Discovery’s Finale Solved

Star Trek: Discovery‘s ending finally revealed the true identity of David Cronenberg’s Dr. Kovich, which explained a number of things about his character. Dr. Kovich was actually a codename for Temporal Agent Daniels (Matt Winston) from Star Trek: Enterprise. The revelation that Kovich is an older version of Enterprise‘s Daniels does explain multiple things about his character; from why Kovich knows so much about Starfleet history and the Temporal Wars, to how he managed to acquire a genuine 20th century legal pad made of real paper.

Daniels played a key role in Star Trek‘s Temporal Wars, recruiting Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) in his attempt to ensure that history remained on course. Daniels was undercover aboard the Enterprise NX-01 as a humble Crewman, but also served aboard the USS Enterprise-J, which is why Kovich/Daniels says “USS Enterprise, and other places” when introducing himself to Burnham. Even though Star Trek: Discovery has now ended, the confirmation that Dr. Kovich is a former Temporal Agent creates a possibility for David Cronenberg to return elsewhere in the Star Trek franchise.

All episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Enterprise are available to stream on Paramount+.