Arriving 930 years in the future, Burnham navigates a galaxy she no longer recognizes while searching for the rest of the U.S.S. Discovery crew.

Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham)
Doug Jones (Commander Saru)
Anthony Rapp (Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets)
Mary Wiseman (Ensign Sylvia Tilly)
David Ajala (Cleveland Booker)

Adil Hussain (Aditya Sahil)

Nicole Dickinson (Hadley)
Riley Gilchrist (Andorian Regulator)
Julianne Grossman (Sanctuary Voice)
Brandon McGibbon (Ithyk The Andorian)
Jake Michaels (Ithor The Orion)
Fabio Tassone (Book's Ship Computer)
David Benjamin Tomlinson (Cosmo Traitt)

• Season 3 Premiere.
  
• Burnham has jumped to the 32nd century, in the year 3188.
  
• At this point in time, the Federation collapsed about 100 years ago due to "The Burn," when most of the galaxy's dilithium exploded for reasons unknown.
  
• Aditya Sahil is the guardian of an old Federation/Starfleet relay station. The station's scanners are severely limited and can only scan 30 sectors (a 600 light year radius). It detects only two Starfleet ships. Sahil was never sworn in as a Starfleet officer because there were no commissioned officers to do it. He was also never able to raise the Federation flag for the same reason. Before mounting the flag on the wall, Burnham gives him a field commission to acting communications chief.
  
• Book informs Burnham that time travel technology has been banned (and subsequently destroyed) after the Temporal Wars. (It's unclear if this is the same as the Temporal Cold War plotline that was part of Star Trek: Enterprise.)
  
• Outdoor scenes on the planet Hima were filmed on location in Iceland.
  
• There are no scenes on the Discovery in this episode.
  
• This is the first appearance of new cast member David Ajala (Book), along with Book's cat Grudge.
  
• Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Stamets), and Mary Wiseman (Tilly) do not appear in this episode, though their names appear in the opening credits. This is the first episode Doug Jones does not appear in.
  
• The Andorian Regulator is the third Andorian character portrayed by Riley Gilchrist.
  
• David Benjamin Tomlinson (Cosmo Traitt) also plays the Saurian Lieutenant Linus, among other background characters.