'Star Trek: Discovery' release date, casting news: Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp join Michelle Yeoh in 'Star Trek: Discovery'
It looks like two more actors are going to be joining Michelle Yeoh in donning Starfleet uniforms for the first season of "Star Trek: Discovery." CBS has announced that "Rent" star Anthony Rapp and "Hellboy" actor Doug Jones will be climbing aboard the ship, and the two of them are going to play interesting roles.
Rapp will be portraying the U.S.S. Discovery's science officer, Lt. Stamets. The character is an astromycologist and a fungus expert. TVLine has reported that Stamets is the gay crew member that former showrunner Bryan Fuller was talking about earlier this year. The actor is best known for playing the role of Mark Cohen in the award-winning Broadway musical "Rent" in the mid-'90s.
Jones will portray a Starfleet science officer named Lt. Saru. The character will be a member of a new alien species in the "Star Trek" universe. Jones is perfect for a role that requires a lot of makeup and prosthetics. He has already done this in a number of films including "Pan's Labyrinth," "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," and the two "Hellboy" films.
Meanwhile, it was also revealed that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star Yeoh will be playing Captain Georgiou, the captain aboard the Federation starship Shenzhou.
Even if the role of the gay Starfleet officer has been filled, the studio still has a lot of work to do. Sources say CBS is also looking for actors to fill the roles of a male Klingon captain, a female admiral, a male adviser, a male admiral and a British male doctor. The last one is quite specific. It has to be a British actor.
"Star Trek: Discovery" is scheduled to premiere on CBS on May 2017 before it moves to CBS All Access. Episodes will be made available on Netflix 24 hours after they premiere.
