Could Star Trek: Discovery's new multiverse tech completely shift the landscape of Paramount's sci-fi franchise? Talk as much as you like about multiverse madness and timeline variants, but Star Trek was doing that before it was cool, introducing the Mirror Universe with 1967's "Mirror, Mirror." J.J. Abrams took advantage of Star Trek's built-in multiverse mechanic, setting his 2009 movie reboot within a parallel world known as the Kelvin timeline. Travel between universes has always been possible, and after Michael Burnham's Discovery crew warped into the 32nd century, they discovered more visits had been made - including from the Kelvin reality. Sadly, the Mirror Universe drifted further away over the centuries.

Star Trek's multiverse has now come into focus once again, this time thanks to Star Trek: Discovery season 4. Despite being the least popular scientific genius in the galaxy, Ruon Tarka knows his onions when it comes to the multiverse, and already confirmed more realities beyond Prime, Mirror and Kelvin exist. Tarka also revealed his friend had mapped out the universes sufficiently enough to find one specific destination, and even devised a method of traveling there. The only stumbling block was a big enough power source - hence why Tarka is so interested in Unknown Species 10-C. When this multiverse plan was first mentioned, Tarka's idea looked to fall somewhere between a pleasant pipe dream, and the ravings of an egotistical madman. Star Trek: Discovery season 4's "The Galactic Barrier" proves that isn't necessarily the case...

Related: Star Trek 4 Has To Leave The Kelvin Timeline Behind

For the first time, we see Tarka's pal, Oros, in action. Immediately, it's clear that Oros is every bit as smart as his colleague, but with a fraction of the ego, which lends their multiverse theory considerably more credibility. Then comes the science bit, since it turns out Oros was the real brains of their operation. The unassuming physicist figured out a variable for multiverse positioning, and actually designed a transporter chamber for travel between universes, which he theorized could run off a warp core and the regular geothermal energy sources used by the Emerald Chain. Though Oros and Tarka soon learned their device required way more juice, the theory and technology are actually significantly closer to completion than Tarka initially let on.

Shawn Doyle as Ruon Tarka and Osric Chau as Oros in Star Trek Discovery

And that's not even the strongest hint that Star Trek's multiverse is close to busting wide open. When Tarka revisited his old lab after the Emerald Chain's defeat, he found Oros had etched their golden ratio symbol into the wall - a message indicating successful transit between worlds had been achieved. And probably achieved without stealing a power source from an ominous extragalactic super-species.

Star Trek: Discovery introducing a functioning teleporter between universes would completely change the multiverse game. Even if the Mirror universe remains out of reach, Star Trek would get a whole new final frontier to explore, and watching on with particular interest will be Chris Pine and co. from the Kelvin timeline. Paramount has confirmed pre-production on Star Trek 4 is underway, but the Kelvin timeline feels somewhat redundant at this point, given how little effort has been made to develop it. If inter-universe transporters are becoming a thing in Star Trek, the Kelvin and Prime timelines will inevitably begin crossing over with more frequency. That greases the wheels for Star Trek 4 to be set within the Prime universe, leaving J.J. Abrams' good-at-the-time-but-now-largely-pointless Kelvin timeline behind. The crossing needn't be permanent (no universe needs two Captain Kirks), but a change of setting can certainly help reinvigorate a movie series that would've spent almost a decade gathering dust by the time it premieres.

Oros and Tarka developing their dimensional transporter in the 32nd century while Star Trek 4 remains in the 23rd needn't be a stumbling block. Travelling between universes and travelling through time are natural bedfellows as far as Star Trek science is concerned, and we know from the Temporal Wars (plus umpteen other storylines) that zipping up and the down history is easier than crossing universes. Star Trek has been in the multiverse business longer than most - will it return to reclaim that crown in Star Trek: Discovery season 4?

More: Star Trek: Discovery Teases Kovich Bringing Down Species 10-C

Star Trek: Discovery continues Thursdays on Paramount+.