Star Trek: Discovery’s Pilot Just Joined Enterprise’s Legacy

Warning: This Article Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 – “Mirrors”

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 enabled the show’s pilot, Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) to join an important legacy for the USS Enterprise. Detmer has been the helmsman of the USS Discovery since season 1, and an integral part of Discovery‘s cast of characters up through season 5. Although she has largely been a supporting character on Discovery, Detmer has still enjoyed some important moments, including a few memorable subplots in both seasons 1 and 3.

Despite Detmer not appearing in Discovery season 5, episode 5, the show bestowed an important milestone on her off-screen. Episode 5 saw the retrieval of the Mirror Universe’s ISS Enterprise after a clue in the search for the Progenitor’s technology led Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) to a heated confrontation with L’ak (Elias Toufexis) and Moll (Eve Harlow) on the abandoned ship. Discovery managed to save the Mirror Enterprise from interdimensional space, and Captain Burham assigned Lieutenant Commander Detmer and Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) to take it back to Federation Headquarters.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Pilot Commander Detmer Is The Latest Enterprise Helmsman

Detmer flew the ISS Enterprise in Discovery season 5

Thanks to episode 5, Detmer has joined the ranks of those who had piloted a version of the Enterprise in Star Trek history. Detmer could have had the opportunity to pilot the USS Enterprise during Discovery season 2, especially considering that its Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), was a main character on the show. Discovery‘s time jump to the 32nd century made any further encounters with the Prime Universe’s Enterprise impossible, but season 5 finally gave Detmer the chance to be included in the category of legendary Enterprise helmsman.

Although the ISS Enterprise is different from the Prime Universe’s USS Enterprise, the two are similar enough that Discovery filmed episode 5’s Enterprise scenes on the set for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is set on the USS Enterprise in Discovery‘s old time period, the 23rd century. It seems Discovery has given Detmer the chance to pilot the only Enterprise she will likely ever get to during the rest of the show’s run. Of course, Detmer piloting any version of the USS Enterprise is still a huge honor, considering which characters she shares the distinction with.

Star Trek’s Enterprise Helmsmen Explained

The USS Enterprise has had some notable helmsmen

The various versions of the Enterprise have had some incredible helmsmen, and the ship has the interesting distinction of being piloted by two father-daughter teams at different times. The most famous Enterprise Helmsman is, of course, Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) from Star Trek: The Original Series. Sulu and his other versions, including his Mirror Universe counterpart, faithfully piloted the Enterprise for many years of the franchise’s timeline, and Sulu’s daughter, Demora (Jacqueline Kim) took on the task years later during Star Trek Generations.

Sulu isn’t the only famous character to have been an Enterprise helmsman, however. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) was the initial helmsman for the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and like Sulu would share the honor with his daughter, Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) who took on the role in Star Trek: Picard season 3. More recently, Strange New Worlds introduced Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) as the helmsman under Captain Pike. Ortegas has proved to be one of Star Trek‘s best pilots and a memorable addition to the Enterprise pilot ranks, similar to Detmer on Star Trek: Discovery.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+.