It's been 12 years since the last Star Trek TV series, Enterprise, went off the air, but the franchise is gearing up for its return to the small screen with Star Trek: Discovery. Rather than take place in the alternate timeline of the current movie series, the CBS All Access series will be set about a decade before The Original Series. So far only brand-new characters have been cast, but today it was revealed that Spock's father, Sarek, will appear, and he'll be played by Gotham actor James Frain.
CBS announced today (via EW) that James Frain's Sarek will be an important character in Star Trek: Discovery, although they wouldn't elaborate on how exactly he'll be involved. It's possible he could be a recurring character, but we'll have to wait and see if that's the case. Even though details are light, Sarek's inclusion is undoubtedly exciting for many Star Trek fans, and could perhaps open the door for other character from The Original Series to appear, albeit also played by different actors. Besides playing Theo Galavan on Gotham, Frain's credits include 24, The Tudors, Agent Carter, True Blood and Orphan Black.
For those of you who aren't hardcore Star Trek fans, Sarek was introduced in The Original Series episode "Journey to Babel," played by Mark Lenard (seen below), who had previously played a Romulan commander in "Balance of Terror." Although that was Sarek's only appearance in the first Star Trek series, Lenard later reprised the role in four Star Trek movies, as well as The Next Generation episodes "Sarek" and "Unification, Part I." More recently he was played by Ben Cross in 2009's Star Trek, which was set in the alternate timeline. Sarek, whose grandfather was one of the first Vulcan ambassadors to Earth, was also an ambassador, so we can presumably expect him to perform the same job in Star Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek: Discovery will follow the crew of the USS Discovery as they travel across the cosmos, with the season-long storyline revolving around an event that's been mentioned in Star Trek lore before, but never explored. So far its main cast consists of Sonequa Martin-Green as Number One, the main protagonist and lieutenant commander aboard the Discovery; Doug Jones as Saru, a science officer who is part of a new alien species being introduced; and Anthony Rapp as Stamets, a science officer specializing in "astromycology," the study of fungi in space. The recurring characters include Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou, the captain of the USS Shenzhou; and Shazad Latif, Chris Obi and Mary Chieffo as Klingons.
Although Star Trek: Discovery was supposed to air in May (after being pushed from its original February air date), it was also announced today that the series has been delayed again, and no new release date has been disclosed yet. However, production will begin next week, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress. For now, make sure to check out our midseason premiere guide.
