While we’re still down that Bryan Fuller is no longer showrunner on Star Trek Discovery (worse, he even admitted in a recent interview that he’s barely involved with it), there’s still the fact that this is a new Star Trek series, and whatever happens it’ll be an event.
Excitingly, as things build up to the expected May 2017 release date, three new additions have been made to the cast, all of them playing Klingons: Chris Obi, Shazad Latif and Mary Chieffo.
First up, Obi (who is also down to play Mr Jacquel in Fuller’s American Gods, and will star in the live-action remake of Ghost In The Shell) is playing T’Kuvma, described by Entertainment Weekly as “a leader seeking to unite the Klingon houses” – so we’re guessing that he will be the most prominent of the three.
Meanwhile, Latif is Kol, a Klingon Commanding Officer and subordinate of T’Kuvma. Probably more familiar to TV fans, you may recognise him as Tariq Masood in UK MI-5 drama Spooks, or as Clem Fandango in Matt Berry’s comedy series Toast Of London. More recently he has popped up in Penny Dreadful as Dr Henry Jekyll.
Finally, Chieffo is playing L’Rell, described as “the Battle Deck Commander of a Klingon ship”. Her credits to date aren’t as familiar as her co-stars (Miss Dial, Herpes Boy, Natural Disasters), but we’re sure that her presence in Star Trek Discovery will change that.
They join a cast that already includes Michelle Yeoh as Captain Georgiou, Doug Jones as Lt Saru and Anthony Rapp as Lt. Stamets, with Gretchen J Berg and Aaron Harberts now serving as showrunners.
Star Trek Discovery will air on CBS All Access in the US in May 2017, and later on Netflix in the UK. For all the latest TV news, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.
