Posted in: TV | Tagged: Anthony Rapp, bryan fuller, cast, casting, doug jones, michelle yeoh, star trek, Star Trek Beyond, star trek: discovery
Doug Jones And Anthony Rapp Join The Cast of 'Star Trek: Discovery'
CBS and Entertainment Weekly announced that Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan's Labryth, The Strain) and theater actor Anthony Rapp (Rent) have joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery. They are only the second and third cast members that been announced, besides Michelle Yeoh, for a series that is set to premiere in May of next year.
Doug Jones will play "Lt. Saru, a Starfleet Science Officer and a new alien species to the Star Trek universe." This isn't that surprising since Jones is a master of making creature designs believable and captivating to watch.
Anthony Rapp will play "Lt. Stamets, an "astromycologist," fungus expert, and Starfleet Science Officer aboard the Starship Discovery. Lt. Stamets is the new gay character; previously, Trek icon Lt. Sulu was revealed to be gay in this year's movie Star Trek Beyond." The common outcry from fans when a character is changed from the original canon, such as Sulu, is to say that we should make new original characters. It appears that Rapp will be playing a new character who is gay. The thing that the writers will have to do now is making sure that Rapp's character isn't defined only by his sexuality. We are defined by who we are and our actions and not who we are attracted to.
Michelle Yeoh has been confirmed to play "Captain Georgiou, the Starfleet Captain aboard the Starship Shenzhou."
Executive producer Bryan Fuller has mentioned how he is pushing for diversity in Star TrekL Discovery. So far it appears that they are moving forward with that.
Star Trek: Discovery will premiere on CBS Access in May of 2017.