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Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahon brought his cast to New York Comic Con for the final time (*sniff*). But first he let the thousands of fans who came to the panel watch episode one of the last season.

Without revealing too much, the episode turns on an alternate dimension version of our characters (and a radically alternate lifestyle for Tendi, who is now working full time for her sister as the Mistress of the Winter Constellations). And while its largely a standalone episode, McMahon said seeing alternate versions of themselves right now sets up the central question for the characters in the final season: “Now that they are lieutenants junior grades and they’re settling into those roles, looking to the future, where are we going? Who am I going to be? What am I going to do?”

One element that will be carried through the season involves a computer tablet that Boimler steals from his bearded alternate self—Boimler voice actor Jack Quaid describes him as “Boimler, but chill” which he will use to get some advice on how to be more successful himself. “He has kind of a cheat sheet,” Quaid says. “And something changes…can I please say this?” he asked McMahon, to which McMahon said no. “Jack, you’ve been dying to spoil this all weekend,” Tawny Newsome (Mariner) said. “You’ve finally got a good spoiler, and we won’t let you do it,” McMahon said. Quaid left it at “It’s one of my favorite running visual gags when it comes to Boimler that I’ve ever seen. The animators killed it.”

McMahon added, “I will give a slight spoiler: at some point in the season Rutherford starts cribbing from it, too, and it’s weirdly successful for him.”

After episode one did not see Tendi back with the Cerritos, fans wondered if she would be returning, and Noël Wells (Tendi) reassured her she would in episode two, having grown in interesting ways. “She’s realized the past isn’t something she has to run from anymore.”

McMahon also revealed a new poster for the season, a Star Trek V homage featuring a number of shadowy figures in the bottom half of the poster, including someone riding a Targ. “There are some spoilers as you look very deep into the poster’s eyes,” McMahon warned. “Avert your gaze.”

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