Who Was Airiam? Star Trek: Discovery’s Tragic Cyborg Officer Explained

Warning: This Article Contains SPOILERS For Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4, "Face the Strange".

Summary Star Trek: Discovery season 5 episode 4 brought back Lt. Commander Airiam, who died in season 2.

Airiam was an augmented human USS Discovery officer who was taken over by the enemy A.I. Control.

Airiam was played by Sara Mitich in Discovery season 1 and Hannah Cheesman in season 2; Cheesman returned as Aiiam in season 5.

Star Trek: Discovery shockingly brings back Lt. Commander Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange", written by Sean Cochran and directed by Lee Rose. Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Commander Rayner (Keith Callum Rennie), and Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) are forced to hop through different eras of the USS Discovery's past and future. Their time travel puzzle places the trio back in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, when the USS Discovery was commanded by Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs). Instead of Lorca, however, Burnham finds that Airiam is in command, a year before Airiam's death in Star Trek: Discovery season 2.

The cyborg Airiam's unique appearance stands out among the mostly human characters in Star Trek: Discovery, inviting curiosity as to Airiam's origin. With striking blue eyes and facial features divided into pale white and silver chrome segments, Airiam could have been a member of an alien species new to Star Trek: Discovery, like the Kelpien Commander Saru (Doug Jones), or a 23rd-century synthetic life form, like a precursor to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner). Neither an alien nor an early android, Lt. Commander Airiam was an augmented human, enhanced with cybernetic parts after a shuttle accident that left Airiam in critical condition and killed Airiam's new husband.

Related Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

Who Was Airiam & How Did She Die In Star Trek: Discovery?

Airiam sacrificed herself to protect the future of sentient life.

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Lt. Commander Airiam was a cyborg science officer who served on the USS Discovery in Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1 & 2, and often took command of Discovery when the Captain and First Officer were not available. As the spore drive operations officer, Airiam worked as a liaison between Discovery's command crew on the bridge and Lt. Commander Paul Stamets in engineering. Airiam was close with the rest of the USS Discovery's bridge crew, and counted Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Lt. Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo), and Lt. Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) as some of her closest friends. Burnham didn't know Airiam well then, but would soon.

Airiam's enhancements were sometimes a boon, like when processing 10,000 years of data from the Sphere, but also ultimately led to Airiam's death in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, episode 9, "Project Daedalus". Control, the threat assessment A.I. developed by Starfleet's Section 31, hijacked Airiam through her cybernetic augmentation to get to the Sphere data, with the goal of becoming sentient and wiping out sentient life. Control managed to get 25% of the Sphere data before Airiam realized her death would be the only way to stop Control. Airiam pleaded with Burnham and Lieutenant D. Nhan (Rachael Ancheril) to release Airiam from an airlock, and Nhan ultimately complied.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Lt. Nhan stays on the USS Discovery in the 32nd century to honor Lt. Commander Airiam's sacrifice.

2 Actors Played Airiam In Star Trek: Discovery

Sara Mitich and Hannah Cheesman both played Lt. Commander Airiam.

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Star Trek: Discovery's Lt. Commander Airiam was played by two different actors, starting with Sara Mitich playing Airiam in Star Trek: Discovery season 1. Mitich may have had an allergic reaction to the cyborg makeup, which would prevent her continued performance as Airiam after Star Trek: Discovery season 1. Instead of leaving, Airiam's original actress played Lt. Nilsson, a new human character, beginning in Star Trek: Discovery season 2. After Airiam's death, Nilsson took over the role of spore drive ops officer, and stayed on the USS Discovery in the 32nd century until Star Trek: Discovery season 5, when Nilsson transferred to the USS Voyager-J.

Hannah Cheesman took over the role of Lt. Commander Airiam in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, and played Airiam again in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange". Although the episode revisited Discovery season 1, when Sara Mitich played Airiam, it made sense that Airiam's second actress, Hannah Cheesman, returned to Star Trek: Discovery. The story relies on having a consistent through line from the connection between Cheesman's Airiam and Michael Burnham before Airiam's tragic death in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, episode 9, "Project Daedalus", and Airiam and Burnham meeting in Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange".

Hannah Cheesman also plays a fully human version of Airiam seen in flashback recordings from before Airiam's accident in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, episode 9, "Project Daedalus".

Why Airiam Was Key To Star Trek: Discovery Season 5’s Time Travel

Burnham's knowledge of Airiam's death proved valuable.

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Lt. Commander Airiam was the key to solving the time travel problem in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange". Stamets' plan to contain the time bug by breaking Discovery's warp bubble required cooperation from Discovery's bridge crew in order to work, an impossible task to achieve at a time when Discovery's captain was Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and Michael Burnham was considered an untrustworthy mutineer. Fortunately, the duty roster revealed Lorca was not on the USS Discovery, and Airiam was in command, so Captain Burnham's job of convincing the bridge crew to help was downgraded from impossible to merely difficult.

Although Burnham wasn't particularly close to Lt. Commander Airiam, Michael was present when Airiam died, and privy to all the pain of Airiam's last moments. Burnham's testimony of Airiam's death was met with protest from Detmer and Owosekun but unlocked a solemn understanding from Airiam herself. Airiam knew herself, and what she would do, far better than even her friends did. Convinced that Burnham was telling the truth about being from the future, Airiam allowed the plan to proceed, and helped get the USS Discovery out of its time loop. Just like in Discovery season 2, Lt. Commander Airiam's trust saved the future in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.