Breaking: First Image Of Jason Isaacs From ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

Jason Isaacs as Captain Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery

Entertainment Weekly has dripped out another bit from their upcoming story on Star Trek: Discovery. This time they’re giving us the first image of Jason Isaacs as Captain Lorca of the U.S.S. Discovery. And they also revealed his first name: Gabriel.

Jason Isaacs as Captain Gabriel Lorca

The image ends any speculation that Isaacs is playing an alien as he appears to be very much a human. According to EW, Lorca is described as “a steely Federation Starship Captain who’s considered a brilliant military tactician.”

This image also gives us the first look at the bridge of the U.S.S. Discovery which is clearly different from the U.S.S. Shenzhou featured in the trailer released last month.

The bridge of the U.S.S. Shenzhou clearly has a different look from the U.S.S. Discovery

Producer talks about working with Isaacs

In case you missed our report last night, Discovery writer and supervising producer Ted Sullivan talked about working with Isaacs in an impromptu fan Q&A on Twitter yesterday.

More to come in next issue of Entertainment Weekly

EW promises “more Star Trek: Discovery scoop” in their upcoming issue. They released the cover today.

Star Trek: Discovery story coming in June 30 issue of EW

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.

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Fantastic! That bridge is well lit

Yeah, I’m glad it looks well lit. The progression might make sense since we saw the Kelvin having a darker bridge and the Shenzhou is probably an older ship so has the darker bridge. And the Discovery might show progression towards the brighter bridge of TOS.

Sorry, there’s little dramatic or cinemtatic flare in a cold-evenly lit set. It’s not real, it’s entertainment…I sincerely hope there are cinematographers and directors, on hand, that remember that, and know how to paint appealing visuals with light and shadow.

Zoinks!

That doesn’t look half bad! Those colors are straight from the 2250s. Looking forward to see more.

He wears the uniform well.

Here here!

Regulation snugness…

Very well said.

That’s an impressive image. Nice.

Image looks over-saturated. The uniform blue on Lorca is brighter than the other pic of the Shenzhou crew

There are actors and actresses that take roles in certain shows and just seem to go together. Going by this pic, it was like Jason Isaacs was destined to be in Trek. He looks so natural in that chair with the starfleet logo. Perfect casting IMO.

I agree a perfect fit for him.I think he will become a well known Captain along with the rest of the great actors that played a Captain

They picked the perfect image, because I thought Captain Lorca looked steely in that picture even before I read the text. :-)

Oh no, flood gates opening for “those fans”… another Kelvin bridge that does not look like prime 2250’s! lol. Isaacs looks fantastic, looks like a Picard type captain. Although its the slightest of peeks, the bridge looks good, I like the style and colours I see and the lighting. Although Ive never had a problem with any dim lit bridge. I like what I’ve seen of the Shenzhou bridge. Personally I if were working on a bridge I could not work on something as brightly lit and beige as 1701 D’s bridge, unless its the version from Generations. Out of all the series I would take Voyager and NX E bridge over TOS and 1701D any day. Im more of a submarine guy than a dentist office guy.

The Voyager bridge is actually my favorite one. I like how cool it looked but actually had real individual stations for crew officers like Tuvok and Kim. It just looked a lot more functional.

Ditto. But even back then, I’d always wished the Voyager bridge hadn’t been carpeted and had a big window (not as big as the Generations astrometrics lab, but, well, maybe that big) instead of that viewscreen.

Am I one of those fans? Bridge does not look Kelvinverse either so probably a yet another universe. Which is fine, whatever works.
I have been watching Galaxy Quest a lot lately and cannot help but have the Galaxy Quest TV theme play in my head as I look at this picture. >;>}

I’m ready for the fall premiere of the two part pilot episode ever since my favorite trekkie series enterprise then its become star trek enterprise before I watch the series before they debut two federation starship discovery and shenzhou because after season one is season two of star trek discovery keep star trek discovery on the air no cancellation or pull the plug then continues for another star trek series I love star trek Trekkie’s forever and please have paramount and skydance to work on star trek 4 and reveal the release date and title for the crew of the starship enterprise ncc-1701-A five year mission until the final chapter of star trek 5 Trekkie’s forever

Goods alright, if a bit oversaturated. But keep in mind this is from Entertainment Weekly. Their images always look oversaturated and plasticky. Studios should rethink debuting material with them.

D’oh! That should be “Looks good alright…”

I rarely have a fashion stance, but the collar? I don’t get it

That is odd…lol Maybe something to furiously pull open (like the TOS film uniform) lol

Personally I like the blue uniforms, I dug Enterprise uniforms…when they didn’t look like a shade of purple. Ugh, the colour change for Enterprise on blu-ray is terrible, far too much into the magenta range.

Ever since the first glimpse of Discovery uniforms, Ive found the choices of gold, silver and copper for division colours very appealing. They all go so well on blue. Would be nice to eventually see an actual red and gold uniform, but if we never do, it won’t bother me.

@The Chadwick — I always hated that the lighting on VOY and DS9 made the gray turtlenecks look purple too.

An IDW comic chronicling the adventures of Number One suggested that the red shirts existed during THE CAGE era but only in actual engineering personnel. So it’s always possible that we’ll see the emplementation of these colors within the series. We know for a fact from canon that they were wearing gold shirts and black pants on the Enterprise. And that may have been the only ship in the fleet wearing them. So as long as we don’t see the Enterprise, it will be fine. Of course, as far as making the fans happy, I’d love to see a modern take on those original uniforms at some point to tie DISC into the Prime universe canon.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Starfleet_uniform_(2250s-2260s)#Apocrypha

Looks great. To get in on the nitpicking, I’d prefer the Delta being a little lower on his chest.

Remember when they first put Sisko in the gray-and-black vest on DS9, and his combadge was pinned not on the black fabric, but higher up on the gray-ribbed portion? So distracting for the next episode and a half.

Great pic! And yes the little we see of Discovery looks cool and advanced.

Oh and while not a big theory his uniform ends the idea either the Discovery or the Shenzhou come from a future timeline since they are both wearing the same uniform.

Not really sold on the new uniforms, unfortunately. (If TOS-era McCoy had to wear one he’d no doubt complain about his neck feeling like it was in a sling.) isaacs sure looks the part, though. Still very much looking forward to this show.

hubba hubba

Looking good, Captain Lorca! Can’t wait to see you take command in September!

Plot Twist: He’s from a line of Betazoids who don’t have dark eyes.

Can I just say that my favorite Starfleet uniforms are the ones from Star Trek the Motion Picture. These Discovery uniforms are my next favorite. I can’t wait to rock them with an old school communicator and phasor. Lorca looks like he’s fully in command thou I have a feeling he’s going to go rouge. #gettingexcited

I loved Admiral Kirk’s TMP uniform. Not so much the others.

After all the criticisms I’ve had of this show which are too numerous to count I must say I like this pic. Jason Issaacs looks good and the bridge is well lit. Very nice.

Someone mentioned here earlier, when he was first cast, about his resemblance to Patrick Stewart, and I have to agree. Shave his head and he’s a near dead-ringer for Stewart around the time of early TNG.

Not identical, obviously, but near enough he could have played a far more convincing clone than Tom Hardy!

I like that the bridge is more TOS-like, but I’m sooo disappointed Lorca is not an alien. Making another character the series lead was a great opportunity to do something more experimental about the captain character. But it seems it’s not proper Trek without a white male human (I’m guessing American) captain :/

Just curious: what about that close-in shot feels “TOS-like”? Aside from the Captain’s chair, I’m not seeing it.

OK, just the shape of the door and the increased brightness, I guess not that much :)

Fair enough. We won’t know until we see more, of course, but right now I’m getting a dreaded “iBridge vibe”–and while that wouldn’t be a deal-killer, man do I hope that’s not the case.

Well depends on what you mean by iBridge. If you mean touchscreen backlit displays, I’m not sure what you would have expected.

No problem with backlit displays–what I’m referring to was J.J. Abrams’ over-cluttered, over-lit, plastic-y notion of what the Federation’s flagship bridge should look like. A series largely set on such an eyesore could conceivably still be great by every other measure, of course, and well worth watching. But I hope I don’t have to find out.

And how do you get any sense of that from this picture?

Mainly the door behind Isaacs. It looks more like a hatch, very much like the iBridge and not TOS or the spinoffs. But I also know that’s very little to go on. We’ll see.

It doesn’t look like the apple store bridge at all.

Seeing as how he’s not the main character and the adjectives like “steely, grounded, intimidating” I’m inferring he’s not necessarily a good guy or at less intended to be less sympathetic than most ST captains.

Bank on it

Yeah, I thought the same thing when I read “brilliant military tactician”. That’s pretty much always indicative of a heel turn in Trek. Not to mention that I don’t remember Isaacs ever playing a sympathetic character.

Wasn’t JTK also a brilliant tactician?

Yes and it will be nice to see more of a man of action, military strategist, shoot first ask questions later type. All the Captain’s since Kirk have been more in the vein of diplomat or pale imitators.

I disagree. Pike wasn’t your cheerful Starfleet captain and neither are a lot of the captains we’ve met. Anyone remember Jellico? He wasn’t a bad guy, he was just much more in line with a lot of commanding officers in real life. I take it that’s what Lorca will be like. Tough, smart, and overall a good guy but not the comfortable type of captain we usually see on the bridge of an Enterprise.

Jellico WASN’T a bad guy? David Warner’s Cardassian torturer caused fewer problems in those episodes. ;)

No, he was not a bad guy (and yes I know you were joking). Jellico was certainly a foil in the episode, an “antagonist” in the sense that he was the foil for the Enterprise crew in the B plot, but it doesn’t make him a bad guy.

So I could see Lorca will being a foil at the very least– someone who challenges and gets into conflict with our lead character Burnham– but a bad guy? I suppose anything possible, but no evidence of that yet.

Star Trek Discovery: Exploring the galaxy in search of colors other than blue, yellow, and orange.

It is odd to see the costume color scheme carried over to the sets as well. Odd but we’ll designed in it’s on way. From what we’ve seen it looks like the Klingon sarcofogus ship has a lotore warm gold’s and browns going on. This set lighting and design will contrast well.

@AlanMorlock — Id say this fits with THE CAGE era perfectly. And you can’t really say that with a straight face when referring to TOS.

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x00hd/thecagehd0863.jpg

And perhaps my favorite example — the transporter pads are lit with the same colors as the division colors! Maybe you had to stand on the proper colored pad to match your division in order to beam down!

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x00hd/thecagehd2039.jpg

Am I the only one who thinks Lorca is a code name and it will actually be Garth of Izar?

Yes.

The Garth of Izar of this new Star Trek universe. Discoveryverse?

It’s the prime universe.

I posted the same thing. Especially the way Isaacs is described…

Where would be the advantage of hiding that fact, though? And Fuller specifically said the “historic incident” he referenced wasn’t the Battle of Axanar.

But if it was, I don’t see the point of making that a surprise. It’s not something most of the viewership would be gobsmacked over when revealed. Khan at least was a pop culture icon. And I’m sure CBS wouldn’t make the same mistake the movies did by doing that.

And at least Khan was a famous historical figure to Kirk and Crew; I mean, it’s not as if the Discovery crew is going to be shocked by his real name, and be afraid to enter the Axanar planetary system because they know what awaits them.

I do think there are surprises yet to be revealed. Important to the story. But I dont think Garth is one of them.

But I do think the time period is important to the story and not just a dart thrown at a wall of “eras”.

Surprises are fine, but hiding that it’s Captain Garth is not something worth keeping a secret. There’s no value in hiding that. He’s not an icon like Garth, nor is his name something that would offer any kind of story twist to audiences or the characters.

*not a pop culture icon like Khan

The costumes certainly look a lot like Gsrths tunic.

Wouldn’t it be something if the original idea was for the show to explore the Battle of Axanar, but CBS had to alter their plans after that stupid fan film?

Wow, the coloured lights sure look TOS-y.

Now here’s some food for thought concerning the “What’s up with the uniforms?”-hullaballoo.
Firstly: From what we’ve seen, the division colors in DSC appear to be gold, silver and copper (or bronze). The “Cage”-era uniforms, as they appeared onscreen were a greenish yellow (technically lime, but they sure looked yellow or even gold-colored on film), a pale reddish ochre (or even salmon) and pale blue.
Now what if those uniforms were actually just a sort of variant – maybe an off-duty variant or something – of the deep blue metallic-trimmed uniforms, with yellow corresponding to the gold department color, ochre(salmon) corresponding to copper and blue corresponding to silver?

Maybe the folks on the Enterprise were just a bit more casual in their approach and chose the variant over the more strict standard uniform…

Secondly: Let’s keep a sense of proportion. The turtleneck-uniforms were actually seen as the standard Starfleet uniforms in merely two episodes (three if you count “The Menagerie”).
This actually makes their status within canon equal to that of ships travelling at warp 10 (or faster).

This is stretchier than gum.

Sure is… but it’s still possible!

That’s one helluva theory – unlikely as it is. Still interesting though. For one, it would sorta suit the insignia on the Cage/WNMHGB-uniforms being embroidered on the shirts rather than worn as a pin (like on the Kelvinverse undershirts – twofold continuity, you see) but more importantly the thing with the division colors strikes me as a rather astute observation.
I also agree to your second point though. We shouldn’t get too worked up about something that was seen in two TOS episodes.

@JAGT — those Command uniforms look pretty green to me in the restored HD versions of both THE CAGE and WNMHGB. And the beige uniforms look red because of the lights. They were beige. In fact the color scheme is actually representative of Roddenberrys background in the military: green/army, blue/Air Force, khaki/navy/marines.

Where is the rank insignia?

Pips are in the delta. We’ll have an article breaking down the uniforms tomorrow :-)

Seems like males have 5 shoulder stripes and females 4.

Hmmm are the stripes also an indication of rank because it seems you’re right (Lorca vs Burnham anyway).

@Matt – when??? Im refreshing all day waiting for this lol

The sideburns look right too!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If you don’t want to use a look and feel similar to that of The Cage from the same time period, then produce Star Trek: The Next Next Generation and don’t poop on all of the awesomeness that has come before.

Or set it in yet another alternate universe which is apparently what they are doing.

No it isn’t. The show is made withodern production values but that won’t change the writing and their intent to set it in the prime universe.

No they arent. And no it doesnt.

Geeze guys. Havent even seen it yet.

Sorry, that uniform looks utterly ridiculous. (I like the actor though)
Three things scare me.
1) The design was created by someone who thought it looked great.
2) It was signed off on by someone in a higher office that thought it looked great.
3) That very same person has, no doubt, signed off on every other aspect of the production’s aesthetics.

Very scary, indeed.

That’s a big dose of pessimism from one shot.

I like it.

Keep up the critical reviews, jonboc and remember…

DON’T LITTER!

I think Jonboc makes some great points. I agree 100%

“a steely Federation Starship Captain who’s considered a brilliant military tactician.”

Sounds a lot like Captain Garth. I wonder if ‘Garth’ was a nickname for the brilliant Starfleet tactician that Kirk met in “Whom God’s destroy”?

Of course, Lorca doesn’t have to be Garth to go insane, and learn to metamorphose into anyone he want’s….

Just sayin’

The new cptn. reminds me of the “evil captain” from VOY who lost his spirit and lived from abused and slaughtered alien individuals – because he could. Janeway terminated him eventually.

My tweets are all over Trekmovie.com :D

I’ve always noticed people named Gabriel on tv shows turn out to be bad guys. Wonder if that will happen here?

That uniform looks terrible. it looks like the shirt has half a collar? Can’t say much good about the bridge either. Very likely not going to watch.

Good. it would be nice if all the “this already sucks, I hate it, I wont watch” folks dont show up after the premiere to whine about things they were going to hate no matter what.

While I like the overall look of the new costumes, I think they’re a little too busy for duty uniforms with that silver decorations on the sides. Might be better suited for dress uniform.

Whats funny is the original TOS pajamas are probably among the best duty uniforms because they looked comfortable (maybe not the micro-mini’s for the women).

The DS9 jumpsuits and Enterprise flightsuits look comfortable too, though pain if you have to use the washroom quickly (or in the field).

Discovery uniforms look perfectly fine as military uniforms but if you werent really fit, they wouldnt be very comfy. Ill assume they are made of some spaced-age material that keeps them very cool and stretchy lol

At least they can use the bathroom rather easily in them.

These costumes seem heavily influenced by Garth of Izars tunic. http://68.media.tumblr.com/a088ed3d340d0ef02ad0fb55a12c712e/tumblr_npwhizV8K71t2csimo1_1280.jpg

All the bling makes this look like a Ferengi costume

No, they don’t.

I see a resemblance Visitor1982. AlanMorlock posted “seems” not “are”.

You’re right…ferengis have better tastes.

Interesting observation. So what’s the canon here? That this era focuses on the incident that sends Garth to Elba II?

You’re right, it’s blue, it must be Captain Garth. Who’s the dork in the photo, btw?

The casting of Jason Isaccs is reassuring to me. He is a top tier actor that I doubt the producers are intending to waste in a secondary role. The delay in the debut of the series, I am hoping, was the producers coming to their senses about the primacy of a woman in the top staring role. The country is rejecting the political correctness of recent years.

Winomaster “coming to their senses”

Just change your name to Whine-O-Master. Or Whine, *I’m* Master.

That is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard on this site and I hope you’re just trolling. Yes, he’s a great actor. Has ZILCH to do with having a woman as the lead. And, yes, SMG is still the lead. If that bothers you in any way, you’re just being sexist.

Aww man, With the name of Lorca, I thought they’d make him an alien, the first alien Captain in a Star Trek main cast.

The question is: is this a picture from an episode or is it from an extra photo shoot for EW?
If it is from a photo shoot then it will look quite different the in an episode as the lighting and post production of the photo could be wery different then what we will see on TV.

Who is approving the production design of this show? Gadzooks.

Ah, but for the days of Herman Zimmerman and Richard James.

And the prize for worst designed rank insignia goes to DSC. You have to invade someone’s personal space to check out their rank.

I thought the same thing, actually. The pips are really hard to see because they’re the same colour as the rest of the insignia. Should be black.

Cody and TUP, you said it. But it could change. Uniforms are always changing in Starfleet. By S2, they could be upgraded to have braid on the sleeves. Remember “The Cage,” when only the officers had braid? And only one strip apiece! Try figuring out who the senior officers are using THAT system.

Yeah it doesnt really bother me, its just difficult to see. Perhaps in HD on TV it will show better. or they will realize it doesnt show well and adjust it.

That’s a fantastic picture of him. Haircut reminds me of Jonathan Archer.

It looks like he has only 3 pips on his delta insignia. Can anyone else confirm?

Pretty sure I see 4. “There are FOUR Pips!”

Regarding the bridge wish they could put computer monitors/consoles around like the TOS bridge. The whole circle concept was based on the thought that the Captain of the ship would want to look around to get instant updates from all the various departments of his or her complicated ship in space. It was always exciting to see that behind Kirk were officers and crew doing something, computers blinking, security guards guarding the bridge door at Red Alert, etc. Blank walls on the bridge (can anyone say TNG bridge??) make you wonder why they made the bridge so big for no reason. Wish they would go more “combat information centre” than hotel lobby.

I’m okay with a white man’s presence as long as it doesn’t feel forced. I mean, aren’t they in everything? Seems like pandering. /sarcasm ;)

Jason Isaacs is a good actor and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does here. I’m actually hoping he plays against type and isn’t the bad guy.

…yeah, continues to be very disappointing =(

Bad series looks bad.