Alien and Gay Character Revealed, Star Trek Discovery

It’s been a busy week keeping track of all the Star Trek Discovery news coming out.  First, the recent confirmation by CBS that Michelle Yeoh will be playing Captain Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou.  If that wasn’t enough of a surprise, Star Trek Discovery now has two new members joining the upcoming show.  Both characters are males, but their diversity is in keeping with Star Trek tradition.  Not a whole lot has been revealed, but here’s what we do know about the new characters.. And the actors that will be playing them.

Lieutenant Saru of Starfleet

Doug Jones, best known for his role in Hellboy, will be playing Lieutenant Saru.  As previously reported, Saru is an alien from a species never seen before in Star Trek. He is also a Starfleet Science Officer.  Discussing Saru months back, all Bryan Fuller would say was “It’s a character named Saru who has… a wide… it’s a character named Saru.”  Not much meat in that.

Lieutenant Stamets of the USS Discovery

Remember the creepy guy from Road Trip?  Well, the other announcement is that Anthony Rapp will also be in Star Trek Discovery. Bryan Fuller has been saying that Star Trek television franchise will finally gets its first openly gay character.  Rapp’s character, Lieutenant Stamets, will play that role.  Stamets is an Astromycologist, specializing in fungi, and like Saru is also a Starfleet Science Officer.  ‘Astromycologist’..  We’re going to have to look that one up.

Stamets is a crew member of the USS Discovery. It’s unclear if Saru will also be aboard the Discovery, or possibly a member of the USS Shenzhou.

“Absolutely We’re Having a Gay Character”

Discovery’s executive producer Bryan Fuller, who is openly gay, has stated all along that it’s important for Star Trek to include a gay character.

And finally, Yeoh, who was previously reported as joining the cast, will play Captain Georgiou, the Starfleet Captain aboard the Starship USS Shenzhou.