Captain Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green as a Black woman, leads the crew; recurring characters include the established gay married couple Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber, plus non-binary Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) who explicitly requests they/them pronouns on-screen and whose identity is treated as normalized. Season 4 pays off the prior introduction of trans character Gray Tal by transferring his consciousness into a synthetic body, with showrunners Michelle Paradise and others stating in interviews that 'representation matters' specifically for non-binary, transgender, Black female captain, and gay couple elements as deliberate extensions of the franchise.

The main narrative of the Dark Matter Anomaly and first contact with Species 10-C incorporates themes of cooperation and rebuilding the Federation, but these sit alongside highlighted identity arcs and a cameo of Stacey Abrams as Earth's president. Audience reception includes direct labeling of the season as 'wokest trash' in reviews citing the cumulative diversity mandates and pronoun usage, while creator intent explicitly frames these choices as activist priorities over traditional storytelling. This embeds contemporary identity politics centrally in character design and promotion, elevating the score despite the sci-fi premise.