'Star Trek: Discovery' news: EP Alex Kurtzman excited with the latest casting for the CBS All Access series
After a couple of hurdles in the past couple of months regarding internal problems, "Star Trek: Discovery" is pushing forward by filling up the casting sheet for the CBS-produced series.
Executive producer Alex Kurtzman expressed his elation about adding two more actors in their roster with Doug Jones who will play a new alien officer, and Anthony Rapp who will take on the role of a scientist specializing in astromycology. During a recent interview with IGN, the TV boss breaks down the casting and reasons why both actors are perfect for their respective roles.
Jones, whose character is named Lieutenant Saru and part of the Discovery ship, has had previous work in the same genre which makes him a suitable fit in this new TV series. Given that he is expected to don some heavy practical suit for his new extraterrestrial role, his knowledge in terms of the fluidity of movement given his costume restriction will play a huge part for his role's aesthetics. This is something that Kurtzman pointed out as one of the main draws of tapping someone like him for this kind of character.
"What you want to do when you're creating a creature of some kind is cast an actor who has the ability to pull off the bulk of it in a practical way and that requires a real understanding of movement," he says adding that all of which is part of Jones's arsenal.
Rapp, on the other hand, whose character's name is Stamets, is tipped to be multidimensional already given the complexities of his job in the new narrative. He also provides diversity in terms of the crew.
It's always just about how do you find actors who are, it's always who's right for the part, but it's also there's a lovely diversity that Star Trek has always been about," the 43-year-old stressed. "As we build the cast, because there are still a lot of parts to cast, we were excited that people seemed to be so excited about our first three choices," he continued.
Jones and Rapp board the "Star Trek: Discovery" project following Michelle Yeoh who will be playing Georgiou, the Captain of another ship called USS Shenzhou.
These new developments are a welcome surprise especially with the latest revelation involving former showrunner and co-creator Bryan Fuller, who is no longer tied up to the series in any kind of way.
Originally set to premiere sometime in January 2017 as the first series produced and developed for CBS' new subscription streaming service, All Access, "Star Trek Discovery" was eventually moved to premiere in May 2017. It will be the first time the famed sci-fi franchise will be back on the small screen after "Star Trek Enterprise" wrapped up back in 2005.