'Star Trek Discovery' release date, casting news: 'Walking Dead' star Sonequa Martin-Green gets 'Star Trek Discovery' lead role
The search is over. CBS has finally found the actress to play the lead character in "Star Trek Discovery" after months of deliberating. Entertainment Weekly has reported that "Walking Dead" star Sonequa Martin-Green has been cast to play a lieutenant commander onboard the U.S.S. Discovery.
CBS has yet to make their own announcement, but The Hollywood Reporter has noted that this has already been confirmed. Not much is known about the character right now.
Martin-Green is a series regular on "The Walking Dead," and before fans of that show start to speculate that her "Star Trek Discovery" casting means her character in "The Walking Dead" is in trouble, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Martin-Green does not have to juggle her duties on both shows.
The publication pointed out that she won't have any trouble with her work schedule since production for "The Walking Dead" season 7 has already wrapped, which means Martin-Green won't have to return on set until the summer of 2017. Well, that is, if her character Sasha survives.
Martin-Green's casting came just days after it was revealed that Chris Obi, Shazad Latif, and Mary Chieffo were going to be playing Klingons on the show. Obi is going to be portraying T'Kuvma, a "Klingon leader seeking to unite the Klingon houses." Latif will play Kol, "commanding officer of the Klingons and protégé of T'Kuvma." Chieffo will play L'Rell, "the battle deck commander of the Klingon ship."
Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones, and Adam Rapp also joined the cast last month. Yeoh will be portraying Georgiou, the captain of the Federation starship Shenzhou. Jones will play an alien science officer named Lt. Saru, and Rapp is cast as the U.S.S. Discovery's science officer, Lt. Stamets. The character is going to be openly gay. Stamets is an astromycologist and a fungus expert.
"Star Trek: Discovery" is scheduled to premiere on CBS in May 2017 before it moves to CBS All Access.