10 Utterly Devastating Star Trek Endings That Came Out Of Nowhere
5. Project Daedalus
Philipa Georgiou may have been the first and biggest named character to meet their maker on Star Trek: Discovery, but Hannah Cheeseman's Ariam may have been the first and biggest loss that the ship endured. She had always been a background character, usually significant in her appearance more than her contribution to each episode's events.
She is part of the away team that investigates Section 31's space station, thus leading to her effective assimilation by Control, the advanced AI program bent on wiping out all organic life in the galaxy. Kudos to Cheeseman, and Sonequa Martin-Green, in this episode, as they make that final scene truly emotional.
Ariam, with what little the audience had known of her, served as a blue-print for humans altered with technology. A life-threatening accident required artificial augmentation, though this led to her infection. In her last moments of individuality, she urges Burnham to do the only thing possible: blast her into space.
Those shots of Ariam's body floating were far more affecting than this writer expected, full of melancholy as she begins to shut down, spending her last moments thinking of her deceased lover - before she herself fades into the void.