Summary
- Cleveland Booker regains a piece of Kwejian's World Root in Star Trek: Discovery's finale, symbolizing his lost planet's connection to him.
- Sanctuary Four, home to Book and Burnham 30 years later, thrives with Kwejian's World Root, reviving Kwejian's traditions and memories.
- Kwejian's significance lies in its people's connection to the World Root, symbolizing unity and heritage for Book's renewed homeworld on Sanctuary Four.
Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) subtly gets his dead planet of Kwejian back in the series finale of Star Trek: Discovery. Book lost his home planet in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, episode 1, "Kobayashi Maru", when Kwejian fell in the path of the Dark Matter Anomaly. Book had only recently reconciled with his estranged family, and found peace in reconnecting with his brother, Kyheem (Ache Hernandez) and nephew, Leto (Luca Doulgeris). Before Book's eyes, the DMA tore apart Kwejian, and killed its millions of inhabitants. Rather than process his grief, Book relentlessly pursued vengeance against Species 10-C, the DMA's controllers.
Making reparations to the United Federation of Planets, Book helped the USS Discovery with the quest for the Progenitors' technology in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. When the USS Discovery arrives at the Eternal Gallery and Archive in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 8, "Labyrinths", the Efrosian librarian Hy'Rell (Elena Juatco) asks Book to identify an artifact from Kwejian, so he accompanies Captain Michael Burnham to the Archive. There, Librarian Hy'Rell presents Book with a cutting of Kwejian's World Root, which survived Kwejian's destruction thanks to being housed in the Archive. Hy'Rell allows Booker to take the cutting, requesting only an update for the Eternal Gallery's records.
How Book Got His Dead Planet Back In Star Trek: Discovery’s Finale
Kwejian's World Root Thrives On Book & Burnham's New Home
In the Star Trek: Discovery series finale, "Life, Itself," Cleveland Booker's dead planet, Kwejian, is back, in a way, thanks to a piece of Kwejian's World Root surviving the planet's destruction. Discovery's series finale epilogue takes place roughly 30 years later, and visits Cleveland Booker and Admiral Michael Burnham, enjoying married life at their home together. They live on the planet Sanctuary Four, which has an environment similar to Kwejian's, and hosts animals that Book liberated as a courier. Just past Book and Burnham's home, a tall tree grown from the Kwejian World Root is thriving, indicating that Book planted the cutting from the Eternal Gallery and Archive on Sanctuary Four.
The piece of Kwejian that grows on Sanctuary Four isn't a substitute for Book's lost homeworld, but the World Root connects Book to Kwejian and his people's traditions. Not just any plant, the World Root is a sacred organism that wound through the whole planet before Kwejian was destroyed, so the World Root isn't just a symbol of Kwejian -- it is Kwejian. The restored World Root tree is a symbol of how Kwejian lives on in Book's memory, so it's fitting that the opportunity to regrow the World Root tree came to Book only after Book had actually accepted his loss, and mourned the family that he had so recently reconnected with.
Sanctuary Four first appears in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, episode 1, "That Hope Is You, Part 1", when Book and Burnham take the liberated Kwejian trance worm Molly there to live. Molly is seen in "Life, Itself" with her new pod.
Why Book’s Homeworld Kwejian Is So Important To Him
The Kwejian People Are Connected To The World Root
Cleveland Booker's homeworld of Kwejian is important to him because the Kwejian people are naturally connected to the land itself, and to the World Root, in particular. The Kwejian are stewards of their planet, dedicated to living in harmony with its flora and fauna, such that some Kwejian, like Book, possess a natural empathic ability that allows them to communicate with plants and animals. The World Root is the most significant of Kwejian's plants, connecting the Kwejian people to their ancestors and to each other, a living history of the planet's people stretching back for generations. A new World Root tree keeps their memories alive.
By planting the World Root on Sanctuary Four, Book revives his original home world Kwejian in a new planet, and with it, the ability to revive Kwejian traditions that emphasize Kwejian unity. Just before Kwejian's destruction, Book attended his nephew Leto's Iku Zhen ceremony, a rite of passage in which each Kwejian receives a pendant that contains the sap of the World Root Tree. Book wears his own Iku Zhen pendant, and also honors the memory of his family by naming his son, Captain Leto Burnham (Sawandi Wilson), after Book's nephew. Even though the original Kwejian was destroyed, Star Trek: Discovery ends with Book's homeworld subtly renewed on Sanctuary Four.
