Star Trek: Discovery has added Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp to its cast. According to Entertainment Weekly, Rapp will be playing a gay character, the franchise’s first originally written as such. As you may recall, earlier this summer Star Trek Beyond revealed that John Cho’s Sulu is gay, a decision that pissed off George Takei, who felt that it altered Gene Roddenberry’s vision. Takei said he advocated for a wholly new LGBT character. Now that will happen, just not on the big screen. Rapp, a Rent veteran, will star as Lt. Stamets, who is on the Starship Discovery as an “‘astromycologist,’ fungus expert, and Starfleet Science Officer.” We’re very curious to see how “fungus expert” is one of his most relevant titles.
Meanwhile Jones is going to be in the role of Lt. Saru, a member of a “new alien species.” This is fitting given that Jones knows his way around prosthetics, having frequently worked alongside Guillermo Del Toro. (He had the twin roles of the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth.) On top of all this news, CBS has also now confirmed that Michelle Yeoh will indeed be in the All Access series as a Starfleet captain on the Starship Shenzhou.