Michael Burnham finds herself aboard the U.S.S. Discovery, where she quickly realizes things are not as they seem, including the mysterious Captain Gabriel Lorca.

Sonequa Martin-Green (Crewman Michael Burnham)
Doug Jones (Commander Saru)
Shazad Latif (Lt. Ash Tyler)
Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets)
Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly)
Jason Isaacs (Captain Gabriel Lorca)

Rekha Sharma (Cmdr. Ellen Landry)

Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer)
Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer)
Grace Lynn Kung (Psycho)
Devon MacDonald (Engineering Officer)
Sara Mitich (Lt. Cmdr. Airiam)
Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun)
Conrad Pla (Stone)
Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. Ronald Bryce)
Christopher Russell (Lt. Milton Richter)
Saad Siddiqui (Lt. Straal)
Elias Toufexis (Cold)
Tasia Valenzia (Shenzhou Computer)

• This episode takes place six months after the previous episode.
  
• This episode marks the first appearance of main cast Lt. Paul Stamets, Cadet Sylvia Tilly, and Captain Gabriel Lorca — as well as the U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031.
  
• The Discovery is a science vessel, capable of accomodating 300 distinct scientific missions, a Starfleet record.
  
• It's established that 8,186 people have died during the war.
  
• In addition to Saru (promoted to First Officer), conn officer Lt. Detmer has also transferred to the U.S.S. Discovery. Other bridge crew members include Lt. Owosekun (Ops), Lt. Richter (Communications), Lt. Cmdr. Airiam (Spore Drive Ops), and Cmdr. Landry (Chief of Security).
  
• A catastrophic accident rendered the Discovery's sister ship the U.S.S. Glenn NCC-1030 adrift and the entire crew lost. Stamet's friend and research partner Lt. Straal was in charge of engineering.
  
• At the end of the episode, Commander Landry beams the creature onto Discovery.
  
• Though credited in the title sequence, Shazad Latif (Tyler) does not appear in this episode.
  
• The unnamed shuttle pilot played by Ronnie Rowe Jr. will later be named Bryce and will join the bridge crew (replacing Richter) as comm officer. The shuttle has the designation "DSC 01," referred by the crew as "Disco 1".