Michael Burnham

Michael Burnham, Jr. was a female 23rd century Human Starfleet officer raised on Vulcan by Ambassador Sarek and Amanda Grayson following the death of her parents.

As a commander, she served as the first officer aboard the USS Shenzhou in 2256, under Captain Philippa Georgiou, with whom she had served since 2249. (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello", "Battle at the Binary Stars") In 2256, she was stripped of rank and sentenced to life imprisonment for mutiny, but she gained a second chance when she was assigned to the USS Discovery as a specialist. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars", "Context Is for Kings")

After the Battle at Pahvo, Discovery was "accidentally" transported to the mirror universe, eventually forcing Burnham to impersonate her counterpart, who had been captain of the ISS Shenzhou prior to her presumed death, taking Captain Gabriel Lorca, supposedly impersonating his own mirror counterpart, as a prisoner to the Emperor – as it turned out, the mirror Philippa Georgiou – while searching for information on the USS Defiant. However, after meeting Georgiou, Burnham realized that Lorca was his mirror universe counterpart and that she had been serving under an impostor. After warning Discovery of this, Burnham and Georgiou fought Lorca and defeated him, in the process destroying the ISS Charon and enabling Discovery to return to the prime universe, Georgiou in tow. However, difficulties with navigating the mycelial network caused Discovery to emerge at the wrong point in the timestream, at a time when the Federation was on the verge of defeat. (DIS: "Despite Yourself", "The Wolf Inside", "Vaulting Ambition", "What's Past Is Prologue")

With no option left, Starfleet assigned Georgiou to command Discovery and ordered her to plant a hydro bomb on Qo'noS; however, Burnham refused to abandon her principles again and prevented Georgiou from activating the bomb, instead using it to force a truce with the Klingons. For her role in ending the war, Burnham was pardoned and her rank restored; in addition, she was awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")



Burnham was born on Earth, in 2226. (DIS: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry") She was named after her father, Mike Burnham.

In the early 2230s, Burnham and her parents resided on a space station. The isolation of the location lead to bad dreams involving a shadow. One night, to calm her and help her to conquer her fears, her father told her the legend of the girl who made the stars. (ST: "The Girl Who Made the Stars")

In 2236, Burnham's parents, Gabrielle and Mike Burnham, were stationed on Doctari Alpha; where, unknown to her at the time, they were working on a top secret project for Section 31 – a project to create a suit capable of time travel. A young Section 31 operative, Leland acquired a time crystal for the project, which was given to the lead researchers on the projects, the Burnhams. However, the Klingons tracked the crystal to Doctari Alpha. (DIS: "The Red Angel", "Perpetual Infinity")

The Burnhams originally planned a vacation to Mars, but they stayed three more days to wait for a nearby star, Alpha Lupi, to go supernova. The explosion would provide enough energy for the crystal, and they'd then be able to test the Red Angel suit. The young Burnham thought it was her begging which made the family stay longer so she could witness the star going nova. (DIS: "Lethe", "The Red Angel")

Michael in 2236

Just as the family was sitting down to dinner, Burnham saw a light through a telescope – a light that turned out to be the Klingons attacking the outpost. Mike Burnham attempted to barricade the kitchen door, while Gabrielle hid Michael in a cabinet. Mike was slain by the Klingons, but Gabrielle was able to escape, using the Red Angel suit to travel forward in time. Burnham did not witness the events, but she heard everything happen, or at least she thought she had. She claimed that the Klingons killed her father quickly, but took longer with her mother, whom she believed to have died as well. The attackers then sat down at Burnham's family table and ate the dinner the family had prepared and laughed. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?", "Perpetual Infinity")



Michael was then raised on Vulcan by Sarek and Amanda Grayson and was the first Human to ever attend the Vulcan Learning Center. She initially struggled to adapt, having to recall the events of her parents' death in a series of questions posed by the Center. At one point she was crying alone because the Vulcan children had rejected her. Sarek assured her that when emotion brought her ghosts from the past, only logic could root her in the present. A young Burnham suggested that she learn Vulcan, but Sarek told her it was her Human heart, not her Human tongue that was the problem. (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello", "Battle at the Binary Stars", "Perpetual Infinity")

Shortly after she arrived on Vulcan, Burnham was targeted by Vulcan logic extremists who believed that Humans were a threat to their logical civilization and who launched an attack on the Learning Center. The bombing left Burnham physically dead for three minutes, forcing Sarek to initiate a mind meld with her in order to revive her. As a result of this, a portion of Sarek's katra remained inside her mind, which later allowed him to communicate with her across interstellar distances and the two to shared physical sensations such as pain. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars", "Lethe")

After this incident, Burnham, believing that her presence put the family in danger, attempted to run away from home. Using the Red Angel suit, her mother appeared to Spock from the future, and helped him to locate his runaway foster sister. Sarek and the authorities found Burnham at Vulcan's Forge, thus saving her from being killed by a vicious predatory animal. (DIS: "If Memory Serves")

Early in handling the loss of her parents, Burnham would sometimes run away to the Cliffs of Surak and stare out at the view of Lake Yuron. (DIS: "Anomaly (DIS)")

During her childhood, her foster mother often read to Michael and to her biological son, Spock, particularly Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Even as an adult, Michael still owned a physical copy of this book, which was a gift from Amanda. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

On Burnham's tenth birthday, she and Amanda visited the seventh moon of Eridani D to attend a book exchange, an ancient Human ritual. (DIS: "Lethe")

On her eleventh birthday, Burnham read Alice in Wonderland out loud to herself, pretending to read it to her deceased parents. (DIS: "Perpetual Infinity")