We wait months and months for scraps of information about Star Trek: Discovery and then, in the
space of about a week, we have not one but TWO massive pieces of information revealed.
Welcome to The Final Frontier, today we uncover two of DSC’s biggest secrets.
So the first secret to be revealed is that we finally know who will play the main character
in the show.
That of the Lieutenant Commander ‘with caveats’ of the starship Discovery NCC-1031.
That person, who is known as Number One, will be played by Sonequa Martin-Green, who has
been playing Sasha since series 3 of The Walking Dead.
And, as I guessed in the previous DSC video, her existing commitment is probably the reason
for the delay in officially confirming her role in DSC.
Her casting continues Star Trek’s wonderful dedication to diversity, and is the first
time a black woman will helm a Star Trek series.
DSC has made a number of other castings in recent weeks too.
I reported earlier that Doug Jones (of Hellboy and Falling Skies fame) will play Lt. Saru,
a Starfleet Science Officer and a new alien species in the Star Trek universe; Michelle
Yeoh will play Captain Georgiou, a Starfleet Captain aboard the Starship Shenzhou; and
Anthony Rapp (a star of the stageshow Rent) was cast as Lt. Stamets, an ‘astromycologist’
(basically a space fungus expert), and Starfleet Science Officer aboard the Discovery, and
sidenote: he happens to be gay.
And this brings us onto the second biggest secret that has been uncovered: we now know
the key setting for DSC based on three more cast announcements.
Yes, as well as the four Starfleet officers.
we also have at least three recurring…
Klingon characters, which is a strong indicator that the main antagonists for season one of
DSC are the Klingons.
Clearly, this would mean that the story, at least for season one of DSC, is set during
the 4-year Klingon war.
Which is maybe one of the reasons why CBS decided to take the makers of Axanar, a high-quality
fan film set in the exact same timeframe, to court to make sure it never gets made.
Chris Obi will play T'Kuvma, the Klingon leader seeking to unite the Klingon houses.
A role that was held by Chanceller Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,
and by Gowron at the time of Star Trek: TNG/DS9.
Interestingly, Obi will also appear in Bryan Fuller’s upcoming American Gods adaptation.
Shazad Latif will play Kol, the Commanding Officer of the Klingons and protégé of T'Kuvma.
He most recently portrayed Dr Jekyll in Showtime’s acclaimed Penny Dreadful.
Finally, the pretty much unknown Mary Chieffo will play Battle Deck Commander L'Rell.
So, slowly but surely the various pieces of the Star Trek: Discovery jigsaw are falling
into place.
I think the cast is very solid and having that as the backbone to the series is a fantastic
sign.
DSC seems to be on the backfoot and has a lot of pressure on its shoulders but let’s
keep our fingers crossed that it can pull it off and be worthy of the name, Star Trek.
So now a very quick recap about everything else we know about the series:
Timeline: DSC is set in the Prime universe, and set 10 years before Captain Kirk’s 5-year
mission Characters: We now know the core seven characters
in the show, with new aliens confirmed.
There will also be reimagining of existing aliens, so lets see what the Klingons look
like.
We also know there will be robots too The USS Discovery NCC-1031: The ship revealed
in the Comic Con trailer was a work-in-progress and hastily put together so expect the final
version of the ship to look somewhat different.
We know the ship already has new nacelles and different lines, with inspiration coming
from 1970s-era racing cars and James Bond vehicles
The story: With Klingons as recurring characters, the story is most likely set during the 4-year
Klingon War.
Season one: There will be 13 episodes in the first season, with each standalone episode
acting as a chapter in a novel.
Where to watch: CBS All Access in the US, and Netflix in the rest of the world, with
some exceptions.
So there we have it.
It’s good to get some more news at last – I’m personally very happy with the casting
and now all I would like to see is the series finally coming to screen.
But we have a long way to go yet, filming is expected to begin any day now, and I eagerly
look forward to May 2017.
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I wish you all great holiday and new year… and of course, Live Long and Prosper.