Star Trek: Discovery finally has its star.
Entertainment Weekly and Deadline are reporting that the upcoming CBS All Access Series Star Trek: Discovery has cast Sonequa Martin-Green as Lieutenant Commander Rainsford, also known as the first officer Number One, the lead character in the new Star Trek series.
Martin-Green joins Doug Jones as Lieutenant Saru, a Starfleet Science Officer; Anthony Rapp as Lieutenant Stamets, an astromycologist, fungus expert, and Starfleet Science Officer; Michelle Yeoh as Starfleet captain Georgiou; and Chris Obi, Shazad Latif and Mary Chieffo as Klingons.
Martin-Green, 31, is best known as Sasha Williams on the hit AMC series The Walking Dead. According to the articles, she will continue as a series regular, although her character's fate certainly seems to be up for speculation. Her other television work includes episodes of New Girl, Once Upon a Time, Gossip Girl, The Good WIfe, Army Wives, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
She'll be the first African-American actress to lead a Star Trek series, and the second lead to not start the series as a Captain, after Commander Benjamin Sisko (played by Avery Brooks) on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
According to previous reports, Rainsford is a "Lieutenant Commander — with caveats," said former showrunner Bryan Fuller. "We've seen six characters from the captain's point of view. In order to understand something that is so completely alien from her, she must first understand herself. That's part of our journey on this planet to get along, and that's part of our journey in this first season."
Star Trek: Discovery is currently scheduled to premiere on CBS in May 2017, with the next 12 episodes airing on CBS All Access.