'Star Trek: Discovery' release date, latest news: 'The Walking Dead' actress Sonequa Martin-Green lands lead role

After a long and exhaustive search, the upcoming sci-fi series "Star Trek: Discovery" finally found an actress to play the show's lead character.

"The Walking Dead's" Sonequa Martin-Green has spent five years playing the role of Sasha, killing zombies in post-apocalyptic America. And according to Deadline, their sources reveal that the actress may be trading in her current zombie-killing role in exchange for an opportunity to fill the shoes of a Starfleet officer, Lt. Cmdr. Rainsford.

However, according to Entertainment Weekly, aside from her starring role in the 13-episode Star Trek series, Martin-Green will also be continuing on as a series regular on AMC's zombie drama.

Once "Star Trek: Discovery" airs its first episode, Martin-Green will be the first African-American woman to lead a Star Trek cast, which was originally intended by former showrunner Bryan Fuller.

"Star Trek started with a wonderful expression of diversity in its cast ... we're continuing that tradition," Fuller mentioned in August. "We wanted to paint a picture of Starlet that's indicative of encountering people who are much more different than we are," he added.

Martin-Green will be joining previously announced cast members Doug Jones (who will play Lt. Saru, a Starfleet Science Officer), Anthony Rapp (who will portray Lt. Stamets, an astromycologist, fungus expert, and Starfleet Science Officer), and Michelle Yeoh (who will play Starfleet captain Georgiou).

For the show's Klingon characters, actors Chris Obi (who portrays T'Kuvma, a leader seeking to unite the Klingon houses), Shazad Latif (who plays Kol, a Klingon Commanding Officer, and protege of T'Kuvma), and Mary Chieffo (who plays L'Rell, the Battle Deck Commander of a Klingon ship) were chosen to join the cast, as reported by Variety.

Featuring a new ship, new characters, and new missions, "Star Trek: Discovery" is set to premiere sometime in May on CBS before its episodes get streamed online on CBS All Access. The sci-fi series will also be distributed by Bell Media in Canada and by Netflix in 188 countries.