Star Trek: Discovery Corrects Another Season 1 Character Death
Star Trek: Discovery season 3 makes a long-awaited return to the Mirror Universe, bringing back a character from the very first season: Ellen Landry.
Ellen Landry has returned to Star Trek: Discovery, redeeming her character's premature demise in season 1. The Mirror universe's Philippa Georgiou is slowly dying in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, gradually being torn apart after travelling between dimensions and through time - a heady cocktail of displacement. Trusting the Discovery's super-smart computer, Burnham takes Georgiou to Dannus V in a last ditch effort to find a cure for this quantum quandary. On the planet's surface, a mysterious figure calling himself "Carl" (a member of the Q Continuum if ever we saw one) creates a door, taking Georgiou back to the Mirror universe at an earlier point than she departed.
The Discovery crew of Star Trek: Discovery season 3 is quite different to the cast Burnham first joined in season 1. Among the personnel changes is Ellen Landry, who was initially serving as Captain Lorca's chief security officer. Played by Rekha Sharma, Landry made a strong first impression with her no-nonsense attitude and unerring dedication to Lorca, but was killed off early after upsetting a tardigrade. Star Trek: Discovery has routinely punished characters who underestimate nature or act unkindly toward animals, and as soon as Landry nicknamed the tardigrade "Ripper," it was only a matter of time until irony came calling. Sharma returns as Mirror Landry in a later episode of Star Trek: Discovery season 1, assisting Lorca in his attempted coup, but is killed a second time when the Discovery blows up Emperor Georgiou's flagship.
With both Prime and Mirror Landry falling foul of Star Trek: Discovery's season 1 axe, it seemed the character would never return, especially in season 3 where the two worlds have drifted apart. Thanks to Carl, however, Mirror Landry makes a welcome return, picking up right where she left off by abusing a Kelpien. In an even bigger surprise, Landry is actually still alive when the final credits start rolling. Whatever Carl did has offered Ellen Landry an unlikely route back into Star Trek: Discovery, and this isn't the first time the series has atoned for a season 1 character death.
Many criticized Star Trek: Discovery's maiden voyage for being too trigger-happy, and Hugh Culber was another victim culled before his time. Fortunately, Star Trek: Discovery was able to retcon Hugh's death, "un-bury the gays" and begin to properly explore the relationship between Culber and Stamets. This has since proved to be a very wise decision indeed. Bringing back Mirror Landry could be seen as another example of Star Trek: Discovery revisiting characters they were too quick to kill off in the early days.
Even if Landry's return is merely a glorified cameo, her appearance in "Terra Firma Pt. 1" still gives more screen time to a woefully underused character. But perhaps Ellen will play a bigger role in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Not only is she a menace to the Kelpien race, but Landry also assisted Lorca's coup. Other than Mirror Burnham, Landry's attitude challenges Georgiou's softened personality more than anyone, especially after the Emperor developed a respectful relationship with Captain Saru back in the Prime universe.
Landry's Star Trek: Discovery future largely hinges on the nature of Georgiou's experience. The rebooted Mirror universe could be an illusion designed to make Georgiou "accept herself" or something similarly obtuse, in which case none of these events are really happening. Alternatively, Carl might've transported Georgiou back through time, changing the course of events completely. If so (and if Georgiou continues to be slightly more merciful than before), the Mirror universe's Ellen Landry could rewrite her Star Trek: Discovery fate.