The centre seat is filled.
Discovery has it's captain with the news yesterday that Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs will be giving the orders as Captain Lorca.
Following in the footsteps of Shatner, Stewart, Brooks, Mulgrew and Bakula, Isaacs joins an illustrious line of commanding officers but this time there's a big difference - Lorca won't be the lead character in the show. The less than human sounding name also makes me think that this could be the first time that the captain of the series vessel is not human.
Isaacs casting set the fandom alight last night and it all seemed to be positive. I couldn't be happier and loved him as Lucius Malfoy. Could this new captain have a Sisko-style darker side to him? Say yes, please!
Having both him and Michelle Yeoh on board as the older commanding officers is big. The news that the Liverpool-born actor was joining the crew was, it seems, announced by Isaacs a little too quickly and then rapidly taken down from his Twitter feed (thanks to Ian Kimmins for grabbing this screenshot) before confirmation from CBS officially broke.
I think this is fantastic news. Isaacs is a solid, experienced casting with credits including The Patriot, The West Wing, The OA and a lot of voiceovers including Star Wars Rebels. In no way can I see this in a negative light. Everything about this screams quality and I can't see why Isaacs would do the show unless it was good in his eyes (cough pay-packet cough). How significant the role of Lorca will be in the show and how it will play alongside Sonequa Martin-Green's Rainford could shape the show. Their relationship and how it develops may well define the nature of the series and where it goes in years to come.
Somewhat overshadowed by the news of the Discovery captaincy casting was the announcement that Mary Wiseman will be onboard the title ship as a Starfleet Cadet in her final year of training. Now that's a big turnaround because previously cadets have only been added to the show later (Nog in Deep Space Nine) so we might be seeing this one developing from the start and ending up in quite a different place and role by the time the show concludes. The lowest starting rank we've had before this was Chekov or Kim as ensigns.
Wiseman is another fairly new arrival into the TV world with only six credits to her name since 2012 with the most recent being Baskets (not seen it, can't comment).
So here's my dilemma - so how many of these guys are going to be "main" and how many are going to be "recurring" and I'm still thinking we have more announcements. Perhaps we've being teased to be left wondering how everybody will fit into the big picture and if there will be enough room.
The diversity of experience is exceptional bringing some real class acts along with young/new starters into what will easily be the most radical departure for Star Trek since someone suggested setting the show on a space station (like that'll work...).
We've already discussed the potentials for crossovers in the show and at least that has come to fruition with that link to The Original Series with a younger Sarek taking to the screen plus a new revision of the Klingons (apparently). Does this leave some room for a send-off from a character from Enterprise perhaps? Could we get a hand-off from T'Pol or even Archer? It would stick with tradition as each show since The Next Generation has indulged - McCoy, Picard, Quark, Cochrane...
I suspect they may avoid that now since Sarek will provide the link to the rest of the franchise but we will have answers by the later half of the year at least if Moonves is to be believed - this time. I'm not going to speculate over the rumours of Fuller being removed from the production and a whole host of background issues that mean Discovery "won't work" because they will only be proved or disproved by the end result that makes it to the screen. That said, I am running low on salt...
What's your expectation from Discovery? Are you happy with the castings?
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