Every Family Member Of Star Trek: Discovery’s Michael Burnham

Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in Star Trek: Discovery is fortunate to be part of two families in two different eras. Burnham is Discovery's central character, and the focus on Michael as the primary lead distinguishes Discovery from other Star Trek series. In turn, Michael's rich backstory is supported by multiple parental figures, siblings, and a couple of notable love affairs with Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala).

The crew of the USS Discovery is very much a found family, bonded by their shared experience of time traveling 930 years into the future. However, Michael Burnham has benefited from her relationships with a large cast of characters who have counted themselves as members of her family, be they biological or adoptive. In the 32nd century, Michael is now primarily on her own, although Captain Burnham does retain one parent that she can turn to for guidance. All in all, Burnham's life story is a fascinating one that intersects with some of the biggest icons in Star Trek history who Michael can call her family.

11 Captain Michael Burnham

Daughter of humans but raised on Vulcan

In Star Trek: Discovery's 32nd century, Michael Burnham is Captain of the USS Discovery, the rank she waited nearly a thousand years to achieve. Michael was born in the 23rd century and was orphaned at age 10. Young Michael was adopted by Ambassador Sarek (James Frain), and was raised and educated on Vulcan. Burnham joined Starfleet and rose to become a Commander and First Officer aboard the USS Shenzhou under Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) until she made a fatal mistake that sparked the devastating Klingon War of 2256-2257. Michael was prepared to spend the rest of her life in prison until she was unexpectedly transferred to the USS Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery's first 3 seasons centered on Michael's redemption and heroism as she saved the galaxy multiple times. As a result, Burnham rose back up the ranks of Starfleet from a Specialist to Commander and finally, to Captain of the USS Discovery. Along the way, Michael was part of two families, human and Vulcan, in the 23rd and 32nd centuries. However, Michael left most of her family behind when she time-traveled to the 32nd century. In Star Trek: Discovery seasons 4 and 5, Captain Burnham was less reliant on parental figures as she lived up to the responsibilities of being a starship Captain while continuing to save the galaxy along the way.

10 Dr. Gabrielle Burnham

Michael Burnham's biological mother

Dr. Gabrielle Burnham (Sonja Sohn) is Michael Burnham's mother. Gabrielle was an astrophysicist but she and her husband, Dr. Michael Burnham Sr. (Kenric Green) were secretly working for Section 31. The Burnhams were developing Project Daedalus, a time travel suit. Michael lost both of her parents when she was 10 years old, believing they were murdered by Klingons on Doctari Alpha. However, Gabrielle escaped wearing the time suit and mistakenly jumped 930 years into the future where she witnessed all organic life in the galaxy wiped out by the A.I. called Control.

Gabrielle Burnham became the time-traveling Red Angel as part of her effort to guide Michael and the USS Discovery to prevent Control's rise in the 23rd century. In Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Gabrielle re-emerged in Michael's life in the 32nd century. Now living on Ni'Var, the unified Vulcan and Romulan homeworld, Gabrielle joined the Romulan warrior nun sect called the Qowat Milat. Michael and Gabrielle's relationship has never been easy, as Burnham's mother maintains a cold and distant front, but the love between mother and daughter is understood regardless.

9 Dr. Michael Burnham, Sr.

Michael Burnham's biological father

Dr. Michael "Mike" Burnham was Michael's father and namesake. Michael Sr. was a xenoanthropologist who developed Project Daedalus for Section 31. Mike was closer to young Michael, and he inspired his daughter with bedtime stories as seen in the Star Trek: Short Treks episode, "The Girl Who Made The Stars." Mike was murdered by Klingons on Doctari Alpha, and the only solace the young Michael had was that they killed her father "quickly."

8 Ambassador Sarek

Michael Burnham's adoptive father

Ambassador Sarek adopted the 10-year-old Michael Burnham following her parents' deaths. As her legal guardian, Sarek raised Michael on Vulcan alongside his son, Spock, who was younger than Burnham. Under Sarek's guidance, Michael embraced Vulcan logic and philosophy, and she attended the Vulcan Science Academy.

However, as a human living on Vulcan, Michael was the target of Vulcan logic extremists. Michael was rejected from the Vulcan Expeditionary Group because she is human, and she instead joined Starfleet. Michael and Sarek were extraordinarily close, and they were even capable of Vulcan mind melds over great distances.

7 Amanda Grayson

Michael Burnham's adoptive mother

Amanda Grayson (Mia Kirshner), the wife of Ambassador Sarek, was Michael's adoptive mother who raised her alongside her own biological son, Spock. As a fellow human, Amanda gave Michael the emotional love and support she wasn't allowed to give to Spock, who Sarek wanted to be raised in the ways of Vulcan logic. Amanda read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to Michael and Spock when they were both children. In Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Amanda helped Michael locate Spock after he became a fugitive following his encounter with the Red Angel.

6 Spock

Michael Burnham's adoptive brother

The relationship between Spock (Ethan Peck) and Michael Burnham was fractured when they were children. Michael ran away from home to protect Sarek's family from Vulcan logic extremists targeting her, and she was cruel to Spock as a means to safeguard him. As a result, Michael and Spock were estranged even after they both joined Starfleet as adults. In Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Commander Burnham rescued Lt. Spock and helped restore his mind after it was damaged by an encounter with the Red Angel.

Michael was forced to leave Spock behind when she left the 23rd century at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2 after heir relationship was repaired. In turn, Spock redacted files pertaining to Burnham and the USS Discovery to protect Michael's secret. At the start of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Spock told Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) that he still misses his sister, whom he mourns as if she were dead. In Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Michael was heartened to learn that Spock (Leonard Nimoy) spent his later years fighting for Vulcan and Romulan reunification.

5 Sybok

Sarek's firstborn son, and another adoptive brother to Michael Burnham

Sybok (Lawrence Luckinbill) was Sarek's eldest son with a Vulcan princess, and Spock's older half-brother. Sybok lived with Sarek for a time but then departed. Embracing his emotions over logic, Sybok married Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel), becoming a space pirate and criminal under the pseudonym Xaverius. However, it's unclear whether Sybok still lived with Sarek when Michael Burnham was adopted or if he ever met her. Logic would suggest Michael was at least aware of Sybok.

In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Sybok returned to Spock's life when he hijacked the USS Enterprise and its crew. Sybok took the Enterprise through the Great Barrier to the fabled world of Sha Ka Ree at the center of the galaxy. Hoping to fulfill his life's mission and find God, Sybok learned that "God" (George Murdock) was a malevolent alien manipulating the Vulcan heretic to escape his imprisonment. Sybok sacrificed himself to save Spock and his friends from the wrath of "God".

4 Emperor Philippa Georgiou

Michael Burnham's mother figure from the Mirror Universe

In the Mirror Universe, Emperor Philippa Georgiou adopted Michael Burnham and raised her as her daughter. The Mirror Burnham betrayed Georgiou, plotting with her lover, Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), to kill and replace the Emperor. Regardless, Georgiou maintained a genuine love for her Michael and she also felt a closeness to the earnest and idealistic Prime Universe version of Michael Burnham.

Commander Burnham developed a mutual affection for Georgiou, in spite of herself, which was born in part from her guilt over her betrayal of the Prime Universe's Captain Georgiou. Michael and the Emperor had an uneasy relationship that ended when Georgiou departed the 32nd-century timeline in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Both versions of Phillipa Georgiou were surrogate mother figures for Michael, but the Emperor really was Burnham's mother in another universe.

3 Cleveland Booker (& Grudge)

Michael Burnham's husband (and his queen)

Cleveland "Book" Booker (David Ajala) was the first person Michael Burnham met when she arrived in the 32nd century, and Michael literally collided into Book. Book and Michael spent a year traveling the galaxy together as couriers while she waited for the USS Discovery to arrive, and their romantic relationship blossomed. Book's love affair with Michael was tested when he pursued revenge against Species 10-C over the destruction of Book's homeworld, Kwejian, by the Dark Matter Anomaly. But Book made amends with his heroic acts in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Book and Michael declared their love for each other and gave their relationship a new beginning. This included Booker's pet cat and "queen", Grudge. Book and Burnham's love lasted; Star Trek: Discovery's finale epilogue revealed that Michael and Book married and had a son, living a happy life together on Sanctuary Four.

2 Captain Leto Burnham

Michael Burnham's son with Cleveland Booker

Captain Leto Burnham (Sawandi Wilson) is the son of Admiral Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker. Introduced in Star Trek: Discovery's finale coda, Leto came to Sanctuary Four as a newly-minted Starfleet Captain, making him a chip of his mother's block. In the 33rd century, Leto accompanied Michael back to Federation HQ so that she could lead the USS Discovery on its final mission. Admiral Burnham also advised the new Captain Burnham to seek connections with his new starship crew and to treat them as his family the way Michael did with her crew aboard the USS Discovery.

1 The Crew Of The USS Discovery

Michael Burnham's found family

No list of Captain Michael Burnham's family would be complete without her found family, the crew of the USS Discovery. Burnham considers Admiral Saru (Doug Jones), Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio), and every soul who serves on Discovery as her family, and Michael treats them all with warmth and affection. This includes the USS Discovery's new First Officer, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie).

The crew of the USS Discovery is bonded beyond the closeness of other Star Trek crews. No other starship's personnel endured one-way time travel 930 years into the future, with all of the loss and trauma that accompanies such a journey. Under the leadership of Captain Michael Burnham, the crew of the USS Discovery faced the unimaginable together, and each triumph and tragedy made them a true family unique to Star Trek: Discovery.