Quantcast
Star Trek Discovery casts Spock's dad - but there's more bad news - SciFiNow

Star Trek Discovery casts Spock’s dad – but there’s more bad news

More casting news, but Star Trek Discovery has been delayed again

Okay Star Trek fans, so we’ve got good news and bad news.

First up, the positive: another casting announcement has been made, with Entertainment Weekly confirming that James Frain will play Sarek, better known as Spock’s dad, in CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery.

Having made appearances in the likes of Orphan Black, Gotham, True Blood, The Lone Ranger, Tron: Legacy, Agent Carter, Grimm and The Cape among numerous other shows and films, Frain will be a recognisable face to most genre fans, with his versatility making him a sensible choice for his role – which we’re going to assume is in the ‘large supporting’ category.

Previously played by Mark Lenard in The Original Series, The Next Generation and a number of the films, and by Ben Cross in the 2009 movie, Sarek is the Vulcan ambassador to the United Federation of Planets, and a pretty formidable figure. His presence raises the hopes that we might well see a young Spock, since this is set ten years before TOS.

James Frain in Gotham.

Now, the bad news. While it has been confirmed that Discovery will start filming in Toronto next week, it looks like the release date has been delayed yet again, having previously been moved from January to May.

While there are a number of rumours as to why this could be the case (EW speculates that the later release date might be due to star Sonequa Martin-Green still having a prominent role in The Walking Dead), the general consensus seems to be that it’s just not ready yet.

CBS Television Studios seemed to confirm as much in the following statement: “Production on Star Trek: Discovery begins next week. We love the cast, the scripts and are excited about the world the producers have created.  This is an ambitious project; we will be flexible on a launch date if it’s best for the show.  We’ve said from the beginning it’s more important to do this right than to do it fast. There is also added flexibility presenting on CBS All Access, which isn’t beholden to seasonal premieres or launch windows.”

There’s no word on when it’ll actually be released (hopefully not too long), but with the confirmation that production’s starting soon, it looks like we’re finally getting somewhere.

Frain joins a cast that already includes Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Chris Obi, Mary Chieffo and Shazad Latif, with Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J Berg serving as showrunners.

Star Trek: Discovery will air on CBS All Access in the US later in 2017, and in the UK shortly after on Netflix. For all the latest TV news, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.