There’s a reason the “redshirt” trope is named for Star Trek, in that main characters are very rarely in real mortal danger. On the other end, Game of Thrones manages to kill pretty indiscriminately, and Star Trek: Discovery bosses now claim to be borrowing one of George R.R. Martin’s pages for the new series.

As it turns out, the trailer’s “sense the coming of death” line may have been more foreshadowing than we realized. As showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg tell Entertainment Weekly, Star Trek: Discovery aims to play fast and loose with the safety of its main characters, wantonly killing as often as Game of Thrones might:

Berg: Game of Thrones changed television. They almost made it difficult to fall in love with people because you didn’t know if they were going to be taken away from you. That show’s had an influence on all TV dramas that have come after it.

Harberts: Death isn’t treated gratuitously on this show. It’s not for shock value. But when it happens we want to make sure that people really feel it.

It’s perhaps worth remembering that we haven’t actually met the main crew of Star Trek: Discovery just yet, as the trailer exclusively showed First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green)’s time aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou, captained by Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). Martin-Green is perhaps used to constant death as a Walking Dead alum, but will the early Discovery episodes prove a bloodbath?

In the meantime, watch the first trailer below, and stay tuned for more on Star Trek: Discovery’s September premiere from Comic-Con 2017.

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