Star Trek: Discovery has featured a surprisingly high number of commanding officers over its first four seasons, but only one captain is the show's true leader. Part of the novelty of Discovery's original premise was that it would be the first Star Trek show where the captain was not the main character. Instead, the show would be told primarily from the perspective of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), a former Starfleet commander who was tried and convicted of mutiny at the outset of the Federation-Klingon War in the mid-23rd century.
That approach opened up the show to try some new narrative tricks with the captain of the USS Discovery. The ship's captain's chair would go on to be inhabited by a number of different characters including Mirror Universe tricksters, misguided admirals, and even legitimate Star Trek icons. After the ship and its crew jumped to the far-flung future of the 32nd century, it became clear who the ship's commanding officer was destined to be. Here's a breakdown of everyone who's served as captain of the Discovery.
