Bryan Fuller posted this on Instagram as a birthday greeting to Laurence Fishburne, back on July 30.
So apparently Fuller had intended to carry over the Hannibal cast into Discovery in various parts — and this was how he'd imagined Fishburne in Klingon prosthetics. It also suggests that the much maligned Disco Klingon designs were decided upon after Fuller left as (preliminary) show runner.
ETA: Here is a rundown of the casting plans he had in mind, originally revealed on the D-con chamber podcast. I would have watched Gillian Anderson as a starship captain.
This is getting far into the subjective weeds, but I'd much prefer if the ENT producers hadn't bothered.
While it does technically qualify as a story, I wouldn't call it a particularly good one.
I won't try to convince you otherwise though; I'm glad it has its fans.
I sat down and rewatched "Affliction"/" Divergence" last night after this whole discussion. It is very much a not good storyline, and one that hadn't needed two episodes if not for some poorly motivated character shifts with Trip and Malcolm.