50 years after the original Star Trek series ended and 12 years after Star Trek: Enterprise ended, the immensely popular, science fiction franchise continues with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. While fans will have to wait until the new year to join another crew, CBS has announced the actors that will play the series’ Kilingons.
Chris Obi (Roots, American Gods and Ghost in the Shell) will star as the Klingon leader, “T’Kuvma” seeking to unite the Klingon houses. Shazad Latif (Black Mirror, The Man Who Knew Infinity and Penny Dreadful) will star as “Kol” the Commanding Officer of the Klingons and protégé of T’Kuvma. And Mary Chieffo (Natural Disasters, Shelby’s Vacation) will star as the Battle Deck Commander of the Klingon ship, “L’Rell.”
Star Trek: Discovery (named after Discovery One from 2001: A Space Odyssey and NASA’S Space Shuttle Discovery) will be a prequel series to Star Trek, taking place 10 years before the original series (separate from the film franchise). Star Trek: Discovery will follow the crew of the USS Discovery as they explore new worlds and civilizations while also exploring the same ideologies and hope for the future that inspired millions of fans over generations. According the series creator, Bryan Fuller, the first season’s plot will revolve around an “incident and event in Star Trek history that’s been talked about but never explored.”
“The sense of discovery … what [that] means to Star Trek audiences who have been promised a future by Gene Roddenberry where we come together as a planet and seek new worlds and new alien races to explore and understand and collaborate with.” said Fuller.
The first episode of Star Trek: Discovery will air on CBS in May 2017 before subsequent episodes moving to CBS All Access and they will also be available on Netflix, Bell Media’s Space Channel and OTT service CraveTV.