Star Trek: Discovery Finale’s Huge Enterprise Surprise Reveal & David Cronenberg’s Reaction Explained By Showrunner

Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise explains the shocking true identity of Doctor Kovich (David Cronenberg) in the series finale and how the acclaimed actor-director reacted to his character's link to Star Trek: Enterprise. Paradise co-wrote Star Trek: Discovery's series finale, "Life, Itself" with Kyle Jarrow, which concluded the story of Discovery season 5's Progenitors treasure hunt as well as delivering an emotional coda to Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery. But "Life, Itself" also dropped a bombshell about who Doctor Kovich really is.

In an upcoming exclusive interview with Screen Rant to discuss Star Trek: Discovery's epic series finale, Michelle Paradise revealed how long Doctor Kovich's true identity as Agent Daniels from Star Trek: Enterprise was in the works and how David Cronenberg reacted to it. Read Paradise's quote below:

I think we had the pitch for it back in season four. Honestly, I don't remember if it was in season four or so early in season five, but I think it was season four. Because in season five, we started planting the breadcrumbs of it, where you see him writing with pen and paper, which is just such a weird thing for someoneone when we [have] holograms or holopads and stuff like that. But yeah, it was from the moment David joined us… The way he plays Kovich is utterly fascinating to me. We always lean in the minute he's on screen. And from the moment he started playing that character, we found ourselves wondering, ‘What's the story with this guy?’ And knowing that eventually, we're going to have to answer that. So we planned from the start of season five at least to answer that by the end of the season.

Screen Rant: And did you have to explain to David Cronenberg who Daniels is?

Michelle Paradise: Yeah, because he wasn't familiar. But once we walked him through it, he thought it was really, really cool.

Screen Rant: Oh, if you had gotten David Cronenberg to watch Star Trek: Enterprise, that would have been a victory

Michelle Paradise: (laughs) That would have been funny. He's got other things happening as well. So yeah.

How Star Trek: Discovery Teased Doctor Kovich's True Enterprise Identity

Kovich is a man who understands time.

Even before Star Trek: Discovery's writers' room decided that David Cronenberg's Dr. Kovich was Daniels from Star Trek: Enterprise, the seeds were planted all the way back in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. After the USS Discovery jumped to the 32nd century, it was Kovich who interviewed the time travelers, taking particular interest in Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) from the Mirror Universe. Kovich always knew more than he let on, and he had a particular expertise of the Temporal War, which was introduced to Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) by Daniels (Matt Winston) on Star Trek: Enterprise.

One of Star Trek: Discovery season 5's big clues that Kovich is Daniels is his preference for writing with a pen and paper, which denotes a preference for antiquities born from his life as a time traveler. Kovich also had several Star Trek Easter eggs in his office, like a bottle of Chateau Picard, the VISOR of Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), and Captain Benjamin Sisko's (Avery Brooks) baseball. While it was suspected that Kovich could have been an immortal Lanthanite or El-Aurian, the revealtion that he is really "Agent Daniels, USS Enterprise... and other places" ingeniously ties the thousand years between Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: Discovery together though Doctor Kovich/Agent Daniels.