While Star Trek: Discovery's streaming-only announcement has caused a point of contention amongst widespread fans eager for more Star Trek, the upcoming show has more than made up for it with consistently phenomenal casting decisions. Jason Issacs, Doug Jones, Michelle Yeoh are just a few of the headlining names for Star Trek: Discovery, and now The Office's Rainn Wilson is joining the fold for a role that fans of the classic series will certainly remember.
Rainn Wilson will join Star Trek: Discovery as the iconic Harry Mudd, first introduced in the original Star Trek series. His current iteration for the CBS All Access show is described as an "intergalactic criminal" and "charismatic conman," according to TVLine, which falls right in line with the original that we remember. Wilson will be stepping into a role formerly played by actor Roger C. Carmel, who frequently played the character in the show's original run. All encounters the Star Trek crew ever had with Mudd were interesting, to say the least.
While Harry Mudd is seen as a villain in the Star Trek universe, his antics are always comedic, as opposed to dramatic. Mudd often finds himself caught up in situations like being sentenced to death for his crimes, only to escape and become ruler of an Android universe. Star Trek writer Stephen Kandel has likened Mudd's character to somewhere between The Wizard from The Wizard Of Oz and a pimp. That is certainly a role I'd like to see Rainn Wilson bring to life!
Rainn Wilson will not be the only cast member of Star Trek: Discovery bringing back a character from the Star Trek lore either. Wilson will be joined by James Frain who will play the father of Spock, Sarek, who has appeared in several iterations of the series. Call backs to the past Star Trek shows in other shows are not uncommon in the franchise, but are welcome, especially now as each revelation draws clues as to the exact timeframe in which the series will take place in the series timeline.
Prior to this announcement, Bryan Singer teased to fans the timeline of the series could be found in correlation to the ship number in Star Trek: Discovery. Now that we know Harry Mudd (who is human) will be appearing, we can say with more certainty that the series takes place anywhere from a couple decades before, after, or during the original Star Trek. Sarek officially dies in Star Trek: TNG, and Mudd was sentenced to indefinite rehabilitation in his final encounter with the Star Trek crew. So the main question fans want to ask is will we be seeing Mudd's before his rehab or did he escape yet again?
Man, my inner geek is exploding with happiness right now. I can't say I expected the same guy who made Dwight Schrute a household name would be appearing in a Star Trek series, let alone a classic comedic villain. I love the casting, and the more news I'm seeing about Star Trek: Discovery, the more excited I get.
We still have no official release date for the new and consistently delayed series yet, but CBS officials have indicated a release of late summer early fall on CBS All Access, so keep checking our midseason premiere guide and summer premiere schedule to see if it pops up on the list here soon!
