Sarek to feature in Star Trek: Discovery, and other updates

At seems at least one pre-existing character will be appearing in the pre-TOS setting of Star Trek: Discovery, as CBS have announced James Frain will be joining the cast as Sarek, the Vulcan ambassador, and father of Spock. We had some indication this might be coming before, as Bryan Fuller previously spoke enthusiastically about Amanda Grayson, Sarek's wife, potentially being part of the series. It remains to be seen if they couple will turn up, or just Sarek.

Frain might be a familiar face to you, having appeared in regular roles in rather a lot of TV series, including Orphan Black, Gotham, Agent Carter, Grim, True Blood, 24, and many more!

Also confirmed is that Discovery will finally start shooting at the end of the month, on the 24th report TrekMovie. More subtly CBS have indicated the series launch will also be pushed back again; in their press release noting "Star Trek: Discovery is coming to CBS All Access in 2017", no longer specifying May. According to Entertainment Weekly, this might be a marketing decision as much as anything else:

This switch has a few reasons behind it, a key one is that recently cast star Sonequa Martin-Green is on AMC’s mega-hit The Walking Dead, which is airing its current season through April. There’s a concern about marketplace confusion if CBS were to ramp up promoting her as the star of a new sci-fi show while her horror hit is currently on the air. The other reason is there’s still a lot of careful deliberation continuing to go into making Discovery special, from the choice of directors, to set design, to the special effects. 

Entertainment Weekly also received a statement from CBS which seems to confirm a slipping release date:

Production on Star Trek: Discovery begins next week. We love the cast, the scripts and are excited about the world the producers have created. This is an ambitious project; we will be flexible on a launch date if it’s best for the show. We’ve said from the beginning it’s more important to do this right than to do it fast. There is also added flexibility presenting on CBS All Access, which isn’t beholden to seasonal premieres or launch windows.

In other Discovery news, IGN recently released an interview with Doug Jones, aka Lieutenant Saru, in which he talks about developing the new alien species he plays, and how to pronounce his character's name!



Star Trek: Discovery is due to start some time this year, it will be distributed almost everywhere in the world on Netflix, except for the US where is will be available on CBS All Access, and Canada where it will be on Bell Media channels and services. To keep track of all the latest details from the new show, visit my Star Trek: Discovery guide page.