Here's everything we know so far about Star Trek: Discovery, the new Star Trek TV show from CBS...
Star Trek: Discovery Cast
Star Trek: Discovery is paying homage to The Original Series with the return of fan-favorite conman character Harry Mudd!
According to TV Line, The Office star Rainn Wilson has been cast as the "intergalactic criminal" i the new Star Trek series. The role was held in The Original Series by the wonderfully campy Roger C. Carmel, who appeared in two Original Series episodes — "Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd,"— as well as an episode of The Animated Series— "Mudd's Passion."
Wilson is a great choice to reprise the role. Not only does he have the comic chops to bring Mudd to screen, but he once played an alien in the Star Trek-inspired satirical film Galaxy Quest. (See him in the background of many of these scenes.)
This is interesting casting news on the tonal front. While it worries me somewhat that Discovery has room for such a campy character, I'm also willing to see how Mudd fits into the larger story. Will he be as over-the-top as the Original Series character? We'll have to wait and see.
In other recent news, we have our first look at the Star Trek: Discovery cast together! Chris Obi, who will be playing Klingon leader T’Kuvma, shared this photo of the cast together at dinner (via TrekMovie) for James Frain's birthday...
Who are we looking at here? From left to right: Jason Isaacs (Captain Lorca of the U.S.S. Discovery), Michelle Yeoh (Captain Georgiou of the U.S.S. Shenzhou), Chris Obi (Klingon leader T’Kuvma), lead actor Sonequa Martin-Green (Lieutenant Commander Rainsford of the Discovery), Martin-Green's husband Kenric, Doug Jones (Lieutenant Saru, Science Officer on the Discovery), James Frain (Sarek), and Shazad Latif (Kol, Klingon protege to T’Kuvma).
A handsome group, no? For more information on their Star Trek: Discovery characters, read on...
Star Trek: Discovery has found its captain! Jason Isaacs has just been cast in the role of Captain Lorca, the captain of the Starship Discovery. (Though, notably, not the protagonist of the show. That honor would go to Sonequa Martin-Green's Number One character.)
Isaacs is best known for playing a film and TV show antagonist (see: Harry Potter, The Patriot, and, most recently, The OA), so it will be interesting to see if Star Trek: Discovery will continue that trend. Could Captain Lorca be a bad guy? Of course, Isaacs has been known to play a good guy or two over the years — for example, NBC's short-lived series Awake — so Captain Lorca might very well be a real mensch.
Star Trek: Discovery has found its lead actress in Sonequa Martin-Green, best known as Sasha Williams in The Walking Dead and Tamara in Once Upon a Time, has been cast in the still as-of-yet-unnamed lead role of a lieutenant commander (aka Number One) on the Discovery.
Martin-Green will be the first black actress to lead a Star Trek series (unlike previous series, Discovery's lead character will not be a captain). According to Entertainment Weekly, who first broke the news, she will continue her role on The Walking Dead. If you're unfamiliar with Martin-Green, here's a behind-the-scenes interview the 31-year-old actress did for The Walking Dead...
The show recently added James Frain (seen recently as Theo Galavan on Gotham) in the role of Spock's Vulcan father, Sarek. The character of Sarek has a long Star Trek history, first appearing in The Original Series before going on to make appearances in four of the Star Trek movies, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in the 2009 Star Trek movie.
He has previously been played by Mark Lenard and Jonathan Simpson in the Prime Universe, and Ben Cross more recently in the Kelvin Universe of the Star Trek reboot films.
This is kind of big news because it represents the first tangible connection between Star Trek: Discovery and the rest of the Star Trek universe. Frain is a great choice (and a familiar face in the genre TV universe), and the introduction of Sarek's character, who has a fascinating history aside from his connection to Spock.
Sarek's grandfather was the first Vulcan ambassador to Earth and Sarek would go on to marry a human, Amanda Grayson (his second marriage), a controversial choice in Vulcan society. Though it's unlikely that Spock will appear in Discovery with his dad, given that Sarek and Spock were estranged during the time Discovery is set, there could be hope for Amanda Grayson to make an appearance — which would be awesome.
The show has also added three Klingons to its cast. First, Shazad Latif (Penny Dreadful, Spooks) has been cast as Kol, the Commanding Officer of the Klingons, according to Deadline. In the DS9 comics, Kol was in charge of the Klingon fleet that visited the space station after a suspected Cardassian attack.
Also joining the Lingon cast, via Deadline, are Chris Obi (American Gods, Snow White and the Huntsman) and Mary Chieffo. Obi will play T’Kuvma, "the Klingon leader seeking to unite the Klingon houses" and Kol's mentor, while Chieffo will portray L’Rell, "the Battle Deck Commander of the Klingon ship."
In other casting new, Deadline not only confirmed that Michelle Yeoh will play the role of Discovery's Starfleet captain, they are also reporting that Doug Jones (The Strain) and Anthony Rapp (Rent) will be in the cast. Who will the trio be playing?...
Yeoh will play Captain Georgiou, the captain of the Starship Shenzhou, a ship that "is set to play a big role" in the season.
Jones will be taking on the role of Lt. Saru, a science officer. Saru will be a new species of alien we have never seen before in the Star Trek universe.
Rounding out the trio, we have Rapp as Lt. Stamets, an "astromycologist" and "fungus expert" aboard the Discovery.
Rounding out the cast/crew, courtesy of StarTrek.com...
Sam Vartholomeos (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Following) is Ensign Connor, "a Junior Officer in Starfleet Academy assigned to the starship Shenzhou."
Maulik Pancholy (Weeds, 30 Rock) is Dr. Nambue, "the Chief Medical Officer of the starship Shenzhou."
Terry Serpico (The Departed, Rescue Me, Elementary) is Admiral Anderson, "a high-ranking Starfleet official."
Star Trek: Discovery Release Date
We've got slightly more information about the Star Trek: Discovery release date. According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS chief Les Moonves told investors we will be getting the new Star Trek series on CBS All-Access "sometime late summer, early fall." That narrows it down... a bit.
Moonves added: "We’re not going to rush it in. There's a lot of post production. But I’m very confident based on what I’ve seen so far.”
CBS previously pushed the Discovery premiere back from January to May, before releasing this statement (via Variety) back in January, implying they wouldn't make the May release date, either...
Production on Star Trek: Discovery begins next week. We love the cast, the scripts and are excited about the world the producers have created. This is an ambitious project; we will be flexible on a launch date if it's best for the show. We've said from the beginning it's more important to do this right than to do it fast. There is also added flexibility presenting on CBS All Access, which isn't beholden to seasonal premieres or launch windows.
Production started on January 24th and will go through September 7th, a total of about eight months.
I am still of the opinion that I would rather wait for something good than have CBS rush Star Trek: Discovery and turn out something mediocre or worse. Previously, when CBS pushed the Discovery start date back to May, executive producers Fuller and Alex Kurtzman released this statement to explain the decision:
Bringing Star Trek back to television carries a responsibility and mission: to connect fans and newcomers alike to the series that has fed our imaginations since childhood. We aim to dream big and deliver, and that means making sure the demands of physical and post-production for a show that takes place entirely in space, and the need to meet an air date, don’t result in compromised quality.
Before heading into production, we evaluated these realities with our partners at CBS and they agreed: Star Trek deserves the very best, and these extra few months will help us achieve a vision we can all be proud of.
Star Trek: Discovery Trailer
Paramount and CBS debuted a teaser for Star Trek: Discovery at San Diego Comic Con. Though we don't learn much about the new series from this concept art-y trailer, frankly, it's just nice to see a TV starship again and to know that the Star Trek TV show is on its way. Check out the full trailer for yourself...
We also have this initial teaser, which gives us even less visual detail, but does promise “new crews, new villains, new heroes, new worlds.” So that's something! Check it out...
CBS just released a nostalgia-heavy, behind-the-scenes look at the production, which just started. Following a look back at the previous Star Trek series incarnations (that, frankly, would have been appreciated during the 50th anniversary celebrations), the vid shows the construction of the Discovery on the sound stage, as well as a look at the new uniforms!
The video ends with a plug to watch all of the previous Star Trek series via CBS All Access (which explains the nostalgia), but, frankly, I don't care if I'm being a little bit emotionally manipulated here. This made me smile...
CBS Interactive also recently launched its first tie-in ad for Star Trek: Discovery. Normally, this wouldn't be something to get too excited over, but we're desperate for official Star Trek stuff. Plus, this 360-degree experience is pretty fun.
It's officially an ad for mobile phone manufacturer Alcatel, but it's mostly just a video jaunt through space featuring some familiar ships: notably, the Enterprise NX-01 and the NCC-1701-D. (Though you might notice a cargo ship from The Animated Series in there, too.)
The little space flight is pretty cool, even if it doesn't include any new footage or details about Star Trek: Discovery. Extra points for the use of The Next Generation soundtrack. The "VR experience" was launched at CES 2017, the major tech conference currently going on in Las Vegas. Check it out for yourself...
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