As CBS gears up for the next Star Trek series, they are releasing news as to who will be joining the ship’s crew. Star Trek: Discovery has its first confirmed crew member: legendary kung-fu star Michelle Yeoh.
For those unfamiliar with Yeoh’s work, she is best known for her role in the famous Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or her role as Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady. However, she’s no stranger to sci-fi, as she played a botanist in the space thriller Sunshine. There’s no word on what the role will be, or even what the character’s name is but speculation is that she will be in some kind of command position. This will be Michelle Yeoh’s first television role.
The series remains somewhat shrouded in mystery, there is some information floating through the web. Nicholas Meyer, who wrote the iconic Star Trek films Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, and The Undiscovered Country (i.e. the best Star Trek films). Bryan Fuller recently stepped down as show runner, with producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts taking the helm, but filming is still set to start after the winter holidays. It is likely that more casting news will be revealed in the coming months as CBS gears up their promotional materials.
The show will be set ten years before the start of the original series, following the adventures of the USS Discovery as it makes its way across undiscovered space. The first season will supposedly revolve around an event that’s been discussed but never explored. Could it be the formation of the Federation? The start of the antagonism with the Klingon Empire? It could be any number of events, but it’ll be interesting to see where it’ll go with it.
Star Trek: Discovery will debut on CBS All Access in May of 2017.
