Star Trek Discovery Cast Rundown
Here’s the Star Trek Discovery cast that we know of so far.
The actors: Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Sam Vartholomeos, Maulik Pancholy, Terry Serpico, Jason Isaacs, Mary Wiseman, Shazad Latif, and Rekha Sharma (all of Starfleet), James Frain (Vulcan High Command), as well as Chris Obi, Mary Chieffo, Kenneth Mitchell, Clare McConnell, and Damon Runyan (Klingons), and Rainn Wilson (human, non-Starfleet)
Who Are the Star Trek Discovery Cast Members?
Here is a current run-down of the full Star Trek Discovery cast as of April 30th, 2017.
Sonequa Martin-Green
Sonequa Martin-Green will be playing the series lead character, Lieutenant Commander Michael Burnham (AKA “Number One”), USS Discovery’s First Officer. In addition to being part of the Star Trek Discovery cast, Sonequa is also currently in AMC’s The Walking Dead where she is a repeating character. No official announcement has been made on CBS’ Star Trek Discovery casting page, however StarTrek.com itself has confirmed Sonequa’s casting on their website, so the announcement is official. It’s unclear why CBS’ page makes no mention.
Doug Jones
Doug Jones is slated to be part of Star Trek Discovery‘s cast playing an alien species never before shown in the Trek universe. This is in fitting with Jones’ previous roles. He’s often featured in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. He’s often wearing heavy makeup to play nonhuman characters. We suspect he may be doing the same on Discovery.
Anthony Rapp
Anthony Rapp is probably best known for his role in Road Trip, where he played a university professor’s creepy Teaching Assistant. Rapp was cast to Star Trek Discovery to play the roll of Lieutenant Stamets, Star Trek‘s first openly gay character on any series. He is also a stage actor best known for his role of Mark Cohen in the Broadway production Rent, and for the film version.
Chris Obi
Obi has already had a busy 2017. In addition to Discovery, he also has prominent roles in American Gods and on the upcoming feature film Ghost in the Shell. He was also in 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsmen.
Obi will be playing T’Kuvma, leader of the Klingon Empire.
Be sure to check out Chris Obi’s Twitter account for what must be the most energetic posts of any Star Trek Discovery cast member ever!
Shazad Latif
Shazada Latif, who will be playing Commander Kol of the Klingon Empire Lieutenant Tyler of Starfleet, is best known for playing Tariq Masood in BBC One’s Spooks. He also spent a short period studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Mary Chieffo
Standing at 6 feet tall, Mary Chieffo will make a most formidable Klingon. She has been added to Star Trek Discovery‘s cast as L’Rell, Klingon battle deck commander.
Chieffo is a 2015 BFA graduate in Group 44 of The Juilliard School’s Drama Division.
Michelle Yeoh
Yeoh is probably the most well-known of the Star Trek Discovery cast. She is best known in the West for her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She has been in countless productions over a decades-long career.
Yeoh will be playing Captain Philippa Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou. A ship that’s secondary to the featured star ship, USS Discovery.
James Frain
Frain is an both English stage and a screen actor. His best known role is of Thomas Cromwell in the TV series The Tudors. Frain will be reprising an existing role – Spock’s father, Sarek. According to Frain’s IMDB page, he has a reputation for bold, intelligent performances in a diverse body of work. He has collaborated with some of the finest actors and directors working today.
Sam Vartholomeos
Sam Vartholomeos is a relative newcomer, with credits including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Following. Sam will be playing Ensign Connor, who is a Junior officer aboard the USS Shenzhou and is still enlisted with Starfleet Academy
Maulik Pancholy
We were to first to break that Maulik Pancholy had joined the Star Trek Discovery cast. Pancholy is best known for his work on 30 Rock television series, but he has a long list of appearances under his belt. Pancholy will be playing Dr. Nambue, Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Shenzhou.
Terry Serpico
Terry Serpico has been cast to Star Trek Discovery, playing Admiral Anderson of Starfleet. Serpico has past credits that include 100 Centre Street, The Departed, Army Wives, Rescue Me, Sneaky Pete, Elementary and The Purge: Election Year. Admiral Anderson is said to be of high rank.
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs has been cast to play Lorca, Captain of the USS Discovery. A British actor originally from Liverpool, Isaacs is best known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. He can also be seen in The OA, another Netflix original series. Isaacs has had an illustrious career spanning three decades of film and television.
“Trekkie fans are desperate for any kind of homeopathic hint of what’s going on. I can tell you that it’s called ‘Star Trek Discovery’; I can tell you I’m in it and I have started shooting. It is absurdly cool, I feel like a five year old. Anything else I tell you would just ruin it for you.”
Mary Wiseman
Mary Wiseman will be playing Cadet Tilly in Star Trek Discovery. Wiseman is a relative newcomer and is best known for her role in Longmire.
Rekha Sharma
Rekha Shanti Sharma is a Vancouver actress best known for playing the character Tory Foster on Battlestar Galactica. She was also in the television series The 100. Interestingly, Sharma played Avi Samara in Star Trek: Continues – the fan-made streaming series based on Star Trek: The Original Series.
Kenneth Mitchell
Kenneth Mitchell is a Canadian actor. He’s best known for his roles in Jericho, The Astronaut Wives Club, and the Minority Report television series.
Mitchell is expected to appear in all 13 episodes if the first season of Discovery.
Clare McConnell
Clare McConnell is a Toronto-based newcomer, best known for Dim the Fluorescents. She’s also known for performing sketch and improve around Toronto.
More about McConnell is available on her website at www.claremcconnell.com.
Or check out our feature article on her role in Star Trek Discovery.
“I’m very excited. I’ve known since December, so I’ve been hiding it from all my friends.
The actors have really been encouraged to make it their own. I’ve even been encouraged to make the Klingon language my own.”
Damon Runyan
Damon Runyan is an actor and director based out of Toronto. He is best known for his roles in Gangland Undercover, Degrassi: The Next Generation, and One Starry Christmas.
Runyan is expected to appear in all 13 episodes of the first season of Discovery.
History of Star Trek Discovery Casting
Note: italicized items are rumors or speculation
In June 2016, Bryan Fuller, talking about casting for Star Trek Discovery, said he had “met with a few actors, and it’s an interesting process. There’s a few people that we like and we want to carry on what Star Trek does best, which is being progressive. So it’s fascinating to look at all of these roles through a colorblind prism and a gender-blind prism”.
Update (January 18, 2017): James Frain has been added to the cast. Frain will be portraying Sarek, Spock’s father.
Update (December 14, 2016): News that Star Trek Discovery has finally cast its leading role. Sonequa Martin-Green has been brought on to play Lieutenant Commander Rainsford (aka Number One). The addition comes just days after the last casting announcement of three Klingons.
Update (December 12, 2016): Things just keep on heating up on the Discovery casting front. Today, CBS announced three additional cast members of Star Trek Discovery. All three are slated to play Klingons. Today’s announcement featured Chris Obi, Shazad Latif and Mary Chieffo. It’s unclear if the Klingons will be presented with ribbed foreheads, or if they’ll look more human, like the Klingons shown in Star Trek: The Original Series.
Update (November 29th 2016): Things are starting to heat up. Over the past few days, rumors have surfaced about a few actors that will join the Starfleet ranks. Today, CBS officially announced three actors to appear in Star Trek Discovery‘s cast. Michelle Yeoh, Anthony Rapp, and Doug Jones have been confirmed to appear in the show.
Update (August 29th 2016): We probably shouldn’t expect to learn about actors in Star Trek: Discovery for another month or more. According to KERN-FM’s Nerd World Report, Bryan Fuller is reported as saying that “we’ll probably have some announcements in October. We’ve met with fantastic actors and of course there are people I’ve worked with before that I’d love to see on Star Trek. We’re trying to figure out everybody’s schedules.”
To get an idea of what Fuller may be looking for, a few years ago he stated he’d love to head up a new Star Trek series, casting Angela Bassett as the captain with Rosario Dawson as ship’s commander. It’s unlikely we’ll see either of these two talented ladies as primaries in the show, but it bodes well for keeping in line with Trek’s stance on race and gender.
Star Trek Discovery Cast Diversity
Speaking of gender, both Bryan Fuller and Heather Kadin have eluded to the possibility that there may be one or more LGBTQ members of the Star Trek Discovery cast (confirmed)- at long last. Heather was quoting as saying “[it] is something that’s very important to Bryan, and very important to all of us to portray.” Heather is also quoted as saying “on one hand, I think Gene Roddenberry’s original vision reflected what the world looked like more than what a lot of television does today”, primarily referring to minority representation. So it’s sounding more and more like Star Trek Discovery cast will be a true “Team United Nations” – or should we say “Team United Federation of Planets”.
Personally, I feel that Indians (those from India as opposed to aboriginal “Indians” to my American friends), Pakistani, and Chinese are way under-represented in Star Trek. I’d like to see both in the Star Trek Discovery cast in major roles.
Stay tuned and we’ll bring you the latest on the Star Trek Discovery cast as its announced.