Cadet Sylvia Tilly on Star Trek Discovery

Cover Reveal: Star Trek: Discovery’s Cadet Tilly Gets Her Own Story With The Way to the Stars

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On Star Trek: Discovery, enterprising cadet Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) fast became a fan favorite. Now a young Tilly will be the focus of a new novel, and we’ve got the details and the cover for all your cover reveal needs.

Wiseman’s Tilly was divisive when she first showed up as Michael Burnham’s roommate on board the Discovery—the awkward, uncertain, overly talkative Tilly was a considerable shift from the boldly confident Starfleet officers we’re used to seeing on Star Trek(s) past. As the season progressed, and her warmth and brilliance became clear, Tilly turned into one of the highlights of Discovery. By the time she’s pretending to be her Mirror Universe double, “Captain Killy,” Tilly emerged as an absolute fave.

Today at Star Trek Las Vegas it was announced that a new Star Trek: Discovery novel, The Way to the Stars, by bestselling author Una McCormack, will focus on Tilly’s background pre-Discovery. Here’s what we know so far:

Despite being an inexperienced Starfleet cadet, Sylvia Tilly became essential to the U.S.S. Discovery finding its way back home from the Mirror Universe. But how did she find that courage? From where did she get that steel? Who nurtured that spark of brilliance? The Way to the Stars recounts for fans everywhere the untold story of Tilly’s past.

It’s not easy being sixteen, especially when everyone expects great things from Tilly. It’s even harder when her mother and father are Federation luminaries, not to mention pressing her to attend one of the best schools that the Federation has to offer. Tilly wants to achieve great things—even though she hasn’t quite worked out how to do that or what it is she wants to do. But this year, everything will change for Tilly, as she about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime—an adventure that will take her ever closer to the stars…

The Way to the Stars will go on sale in January 2019. If you’re hankering to go deeper into the world of Discovery right this very moment, there are three other books that explore characters in the series, including Burnham, Lorca and Georgiou, and Sarek.

I adore Tilly, but I’m hoping that they do Stamets next. Give me the whole Stamets/Culber love story, please and thank you.

Star Trek Discovery tie-in novels

(images: CBS, Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster)

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Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.