Mary Wiseman is wrapping up her five-season journey on Star Trek: Discovery, but her character, Lt. Sylvia Tilly, is as important to the show as ever.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Tilly is called away from her role as an instructor at Starfleet Academy by her best friend, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). Tilly’s expertise is needed for Discovery’s intergalactic hunt for the ancient treasure of the Progenitors, which has the power to create life, itself.

Screen Rant spoke to Mary Wiseman about the end of Lt. Sylvia Tilly’s story in Star Trek: Discovery, her memories of shooting on location in Ontario and Iceland, and Tilly’s bond with Michael Burnham echoing Mary’s real-life friendship with Sonequa Martin-Green.

Mary Wiseman Is Happy With Star Trek: Discovery Season 5’s Coda & Tilly’s Ending

Screen Rant: Hi Mary, so nice to speak to you again. Pinewood Studios today just announced that the stage you filmed Discovery in was renamed the Star Trek Stage. What was it like working there?

Mary Wiseman: That is so sweet! Oh, my gosh, it was great. That was home for five seasons worth of work. And the people are so nice. It’s such a nice studio. I’m going to miss the sweetheart roses and all the great people who work there. I missed Toronto already. Yeah, that’s so cool that they named the stage after us. How sweet.

I’m such a big Tilly fan. And one of the things I love about Tilly is her versatility. Because she’s at home on the bridge. She’s at home in engineering. She can go on away missions, like this week. And she also has a life outside the ship in Starfleet Academy. Tilly is everywhere you want to be.

Mary Wiseman: Right! I love that too. It’s been fun getting to jump around the ship and all the different little places. And then, having an engineering background, you really get to get into a lot of different spaces. You can go to med bay, you can end up really anywhere.

I’d love to jump ahead to the finale. You guys filmed a coda to wrap up Discovery. Have you seen it? And is it as emotional as Sonequa and Doug have said it is?

Mary Wiseman: I haven’t seen it. I prefer to watch the show in real time. But I’ve read it. And I don’t know. I’m saving that moment for when it’s really over. But it’s beautiful. I think they did a really nice job wrapping it up. And it feels very congruous with the rest of the season and the rest of the episode that it’s a part of. So I’m pleased as punch, and I’m girding myself for when I actually watch it.

And you’re happy with how Tilly’s Star Trek: Discovery story is wrapped up?

Mary Wiseman: Yeah, for sure. I think there’s a beautiful message in the arc that she’s had about finding what gives your life value for you. And finding out what you have to offer the world and then doing that.

Mary Wiseman’s Memories Of Filming Star Trek: Discovery On Location

Let’s talk a little bit about this week’s episode, “Whistlespeak.” Tilly and Burnham go on an away mission together to a new planet. It’s such a classic Star Trek story, meeting new aliens and a new culture. What was that like for you to play, to get off the ship and actually have all these new cast members and extras and everything in costume?

Mary Wiseman: So fun. I love getting the alien treatment. Getting to finally walk into the prosthetics trailer was awesome. And yeah, getting to go shoot on location. Nan, I love a forest, and getting to shoot in that forest was so stunningly beautiful, moody and evocative. And, I mean, I just had an absolute blast. It was an awesome filming experience.

I was wondering if you were in a real forest. Not a soundstage made up like a forest with the AR wall.

Mary Wiseman: No, it’s gorgeous, gorgeous forest in Ontario. It’s really really lovely.

And you’ve shot in Iceland, right? Tilly and Saru went on an away mission in season 3, and you got to go to a glacier. What was that like?

Mary Wiseman: Oh my gosh, so cool. Iceland is just stunning. It is so otherworldly, because there’s so many different biomes there and it’s so influenced by volcanic activity. It’s just a place I’ve never seen before and then getting to shoot there, being on the black sands of Vik and walking beside this beautiful black glacier. Yeah, it was breathtaking. And I spent a lot of time really worried about Doug Jones falling over.

Oh my god. Yeah, that’s right. Doug was in prosthetics. He wasn’t wearing the boots, though, was he?

Mary Wiseman: Yeah, he was. He’s amazing. He’s amazing.

Tilly’s Friendship With Burnham & Possible Starfleet Academy Future

Tilly and Burnham have one of the all-time great Star Trek friendships. This is a franchise defined by friendship, starting with Kirk and Spock. Tilly and Burnham are such a wonderful pair of female characters who are genuine friends and peers, even with their different ranks. Can you talk a little bit about Tilly and Michael’s friendship, and is it the same or different from your friendship with Sonequa?

Mary Wiseman: There are a lot of similarities, I think, because I look up to Sonequa a lot, even though we’re like the same age. Tilly admires Burnham a lot and and values her a lot. So there’s a lot of correlation there. And I think that they make each other laugh, and Sonequa and I certainly make each other laugh in real life. So all of that stuff about their friendship has been historically incredibly easy to play.

Last question before I let you go: Is there anything you want to say about the possibility of Tilly appearing in the next show, Starfleet Academy?

Mary Wiseman: I don’t know. I don’t know.

About Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.