Star Trek: Discovery finally has its captain. Film and television veteran Jason Isaacs has just been tapped for the upcoming Trek series. In addition Discovery has also found a new cadet. More details on both castings below.
From Slytherin to Starfleet – Isaacs Takes The Discovery Captain’s Chair
Today CBS officially announced that 53-year-old British actor Jason Isaacs has been added to the cast of Star Trek: Discovery. According to the release, Isaacs has been cast in the role of Captain Lorca of the Starship Discovery. Isaacs has a career spanning decades with credits including Black Hawk Down, The West Wing, The Patriot, Armageddon, and Event Horizon. He is probably best known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film franchise. He also recently was seen as the lead villain in the Netflix series The OA.
Jason Isaacs in “The OA” – now headed to the final frontier as captain of the Starship Discovery
Isaac’s Lorca is reported to be a major role, however – in a departure from Star Trek shows of the past – the lead point of view character for Discovery will be the first officer, Lt. Commander Rainsford played by Sonequa Martin Green.
Isaacs followed up the announcement with one of his own on Twitter.
Nice chair. Hope it's comfy. pic.twitter.com/xwfdWAmBQW
— Jason Isaacs (@jasonsfolly) March 7, 2017
Discovery adds a cadet
CBS has also announced that actress Mary Wiseman will be cast as Tilly, a Starfleet Academy Cadet in her final year of study assigned to the U.S.S. Discovery. Wiseman, a recent graduate of Juilliard, has appeared in the current season of the FX series Baskets, and had a recurring role on Netflix’s Longmire.
Actress Mary Wiseman – cast as cadet in “Star Trek: Discovery”
Star Trek: Discovery is expected to premiere early this fall with the first episode showing on the CBS Television Network and all subsequent episodes available on CBS All Access, the Network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service. The show will seen on Netflix in 188 countries and in Canada on Bell Media’s Space channel and OTT service CraveTV.
For a look at the rest of the cast, revisit our previous articles on casting announcements: Sonequa Martin-Green, James Frain, Chris Obi, Shazad Latif and Mary Chieffo, along with Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, and Michelle Yeoh.
Great actor!
Who cares?
This series is heading for the bin, so it doesn’t matter who they cast at this point.
Yawn.
Try harder.
I care. I’m very excited for this show. Just to answer your asinine question.
move over cap’n the real captain is here, leave any bigotry in your quarters…
Based on what?
A lot of people care. The fact that you don’t is irrelevant.
It ISN’T “irrelevant”. He has every right in the world to say what he wants. You can disagree with him if you want, as is YOUR right, but he isn’t “disallowed” from saying it, by you or anyone else.
iPadCary,
Re: irrelevant
You are confused. Freedom of speech gives people the right to say irrelevant things. Identifying a point as irrelevant has nothing to do with disallowing their right to say it. People have that right to speak; just as others have the right to disagree and/or ignore it as irrelevant.
YOU are confusing yourself. Calling his comment “irrelevant” HAS EVERYTHING to do with disallowing it: it’s a de facto way of “shouting him down”, if you will, in print. The end result is an presumed disallowing. Stop splitting hairs. Besides, “Cap’n” is right, anyway. This is a clusterfuck just waiting to happen. I’m absolutely sure the real reason Fuller quit helming one of the hottest projects in pop culture right now is because he had better things to do …. /sarcasm
Boom! That’s more like it! Great cast!
I remember about a year ago, when there were so many people on this site adamant that the Abrams films had killed Star Trek, and that there would be no new Star Trek TV shows anytime soon. Where are those people now?
They’re the ones saying that show is terrible and will be canceled after one season.
Ha! Sad, but so true!
They are the ones saying ST:D happens not because but in spite of J.J.s movies
@Dingo – if you’re going to post BS at least get it close enough to accurate to be believable. No one said anything of the sort. In fact, Discovery was announced before Beyond opened and it was after Beyond tanked that people said it might be the end of JJ films.
These trolling attempts are getting less and less interesting.
Eye rolling over other people’s exceptionally/unjustifiably negative predictions is not trolling.
It’s not BS–people here said it often back then. It’s not my problem if you don’t know that. Grow up, kid.
TUP, are an actual child or are you just socially inept? I can’t tell.
Cap’n is about two posts above this.
That remains to be seen. The delivery method of the show does not bode well… Unless CBS is counting on distribution methods other than their own subscription service.
So now we know his character will be the bad guy! It’s not like Starfleet captains never turn to the dark side or anything…
Ummm – huh? Mayhap I missed it, but I don’t see anything saying he’s playing a bad guy. Or is that an inference from past roles he has played?
I think you have Starfleet admirals in mind.
GREAT theory. Maybe that’s the reason he isn’t the main character. Having a morally “ambivalent” Captain would be a great choice for a change. Trek had moments like that, but only very brief ones. Captain Ransom (VOY Equinox) and Captain Jellico come to mind. BTW: Lorca sounds equally exciting as Ransom and Jellico.
Maybe Lorca turns out to be the big baddie (hence the fitting “dark side” actor who played Lucius Malfoy) and it’s Rainsford who has to stop him and take over command of the Discovery before Lorca can do some serious damage…
Lorca could then be kept in a holding cell for half the season, always on the verge of winning the ship back…you’re ongoing Gul Dukat threat, only this time from within their own crew… Lorca could have a secret agenda (Section 31, alien or any other origin), which Rainsford has to puzzle together.
This sounds exciting…
@ smike – I like the sound of your speculation for Issac’s captain. I like it a lot more than the possibility that might merely be killed off early in the show, that’s for sure.
If DIS fails, I’d happily watch your idea instead if someone produces it!
Yes there are rumors someone on the crew is actually a member of Section 31. It would be cool if it was the actual Captain who try to take them on a mission and people like Rainsford discovers (get it, huh?) what is really going on.
He’s a straight guy whos white …. OF COURSE he’s gonna be the “bad guy” ….
Starfleet captains usually wait until they are promoted to Admiral before they turn evil.
That’s like saying in 1966, following the announcement of the casting of Deforest Kelly: ‘So now we know his character will be the bad guy!’
Or, in the 1990s, saying that Cracker would be a comedy show because Robbie Coltrane was cast as Fitz.
If Jason Isaacs plays a bad guy yet again, that will be eyerollingly predictable and dull!
The guy has played both good and bad role! Yes everyone knows him for his more bad ones but my god it dosen’t mean EVERY role he’s a villain. I pointed out the guy had TWO TV shows where he played a straight good characters so yes he could play a bad Captain but there is ZERO evidence of that and he could be just another Captain. So yes lets wait and see first.
Starfleet admiral’s seem to go rogue all the time. That, and it’s incredibly easy to steal a starship. There are a few constants in the Trek universe, after all….
“Imagine a photon torpedo 10K km from your starship. You set it off, what happens? You burn your starship. You close your hull around the same photon torpedo and set it off… your wife’s gonna be repolarizing your hull plating for the rest of your life.”
Funny, just last night I was thinking..isn’t it time for another drop of Star Trek Discovery news.
Great choice for a Star Trek captain, he is an actor with presence.
Tremendous actor and choice I just so wish he’d be able to be a captain in an actual good Trek show. From the most recent stuff I’ve heard on this show it’s going to crash and burn before making it to air or will bomb on air and be canceled and then they’ll blame the fans. Too much studio head meddling.
I won’t dignify the extreme pessimism with too much of my own thoughts, but have you been paying attention? The show is already making money before it even airs. And, I must have missed the “studio head meddling.” When did that happen?
So, what if the show (that no one has seen yet) is actually good? I assume you’ll eat crow publicly on this site. Looking forward to it.
A YouTuber has recently put out a video with a lot of unsourced (and uncorroborated) doom and gloom rumors about the production. The sort of thing meant to sway those who’ve already made their minds up.
He just hates it that there’s so many women, non-whites, and a gay person. Especially, the gay person.
I’d expect nothing less from someone who posts a reply like you just did. I dislike every creative decision that has been announced since the announcement of this show being in the prime timeline. Even my closest liberal friends,?who hate being straight white males more so than many on here, don’t like the decisions that have been made about this show.
I won’t be watching the show and it being “good” is a subjective opinion. I almost walked out of The Force Awakens it was so bad and I consider it one of the worst movies ever made yet it gets almost universal acclaim. If by some miracle I change my mind and do watch this show and find it “good” I’ll gladly come on here and eat crow. Im quite confident that won’t be the case however. I like very few of the recent movies and shows based on popular franchises and IPs including the JJverse films yet I will say I did somewhat enjoy Beyond and respect what it tried to do. Btw I’m not some old curmudgeon. I’m 32 years old I just like what I like. I don’t like reboots, remakes, reimaginings, reinventions, or re- whatever buzz word studios and Hollywood want to through out when what they’re really doing is taking the easy way out and purposely ignoring canon and continuity to serve warmed up, repackaged left overs. Many people gladly enjoy gulping this slop down and come back for seconds. Not everyone does though. Not everyone uses the lowest common denominator of an attitude “as long as it’s good that’s all I care about.” There are still fans out there who care more about their favorite franchises than they just be considered “good.” While that might be incomprehensible to some and laughable to others I quite respect the fact that there are different sects of fans out there.
Fake news!
Tremendous. Making Star Trek great again.
;)
Booyah! Good call!
Malfoy is the captain? Interesting… He is a good actor for sure.
Very interesting! Could be significant that they are casting an actor known for villainous roles — not that he couldn’t be playing against type. But it might allude to some less-than-shining aspects of the Discovery’s captain.
DeFirest Kelley was known for playing the bad guy in westerns before he became the good doctor.
Very true, excellent point.
Um, no. DeForest Kelley was known for nothing before Star Trek (and after Star Trek).
Don’t get around much, do you?
Might want to fact check that comment there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hKGezANH4
Good point, moauvian waoul. And Leonard Nimoy was usually the bad guy of the week in the TV shows he guest starred on, before he became a character so good that he could be canonized. :-)
I just can’t quite wrap my head around the captain of the titular ship being a villain. Don’t think it’s going to happen. Now, might he be a complex individual? I certainly hope so.
Also, it’s interesting that Tilly is on-board Discovery during her final year of study at the Academy. That doesn’t sound like Discovery being some sort of super-secret experiment, but more like a normal ship.
I love that we still really have no idea what is going on with this show. I’m not sure how long they can keep everything a secret.
I have a feeling Shenzhou might be blown up in Episode one.
Agreed. Since Martin-Green’s Number One is being positioned as the show’s protagonist, it would make for more interesting story possibilities if her captain had some, let’s say, “difficult” personality traits to cope with.
Can’t wait for our first official look at footage from the show!
Welcome aboard!
Only several weeks into filming, perfect timing lol.
Good actor. Some of the worse character names in the history of the franchise though. But as long as the acting and writing is good, thats what matters.
I love the names Lorca and Tilly. Lorca sounds mysterious, almost sinister and yet full of power and grace!
Tilly was a commander during the Thirty Years’ War in Europe. An old stronghold in my hometown, which now serves as a WWI museum, is named after him. So I feel kinda uplifted by that name…
I remember when Jean-Luc Picard was announced as the name of the new captain. Let’s just say people weren’t exactly ecstatic. That worked out ok. Like most things, we’ll get used to it then never think about it again.
Think about it. Worf, Troi Data. I imagine those names sounded strange before actual characters were born and a face put to them. I wasnt alive when that show began, so maybe not?
No love for Zap Brannigan?
I’m a big fan, but he seems to have gone through more than one show that only lasted one season. And the rumours of studio meddling, the alleged truth behind Fuller’s departure, and claims Netflix virtually bankrolled the show and are now questioning the investment, don’t inspire confidence. But I’ll wait and see, and give it a go, what else can I do? I won’t get too attached, and if I do find myself a few years down the line looking back on a successful and acclaimed TV show then I’ll feel the luckier for it.
What are the rumors about Fuller’s departure?
https://youtu.be/Km5qVwZvjm8
That sums it up. To be taken with a very large pinch of salt of course.
@Lee – On one hand, I dismiss most rumor-based YouTube videos, especially when so much of the speculation is based on “I’ve heard” and “People are saying” hearsay.
On the other hand, he presents a cohesive and believable argument that I can easily see being true. I fear that he is right while I hope he is wrong.
Yep, take that video with a whole salt lick! ;)
Oh yes. Rumours only get you so far. But there’s nothing there that seems wildly unlikely. And unlike the “I won’t be watching” brigade, some of whom have stuck their oar in on this thread, I’m prepared to give it a chance. But there’s no doubt the PR for this show has been massively bungled. I’m presuming it’s whomever also managed to $€%£¥ up the promotion to Beyond…
Excellent!!!!
Wow great choice!
I actually just recently watched him in the show The OA, which is from Netflix and he was great in that (and yes played a villain lol) but this guy has been in TONS of stuff lately and no not all villains. In fact he starred in two other shows where he played the all around good guy: Awake and Dig. Both only lasted one season but was a fan of both.
Also the latest actor to have both a Star Trek and Star Wars connection although the latter is animated with Star Wars Rebels.
Is he Thrawn? I THOUGHT Thrawn sounded a heck of a lot like Malfoy’s dad
Thrawn is voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, brother of Mads Mikkelsen Aka Galen Erso
BTW, I think Jason Issacs played the Inquisitor in the first season of Rebels
Thanks Harry, I can hear it in his voice even more. Great character, especially when they finally revealed his backstory.
Hello to Jason Isaacs! Seriously though, a fantastic actor who steals every scene he’s in effortlessly (even though I know he’s not the main star).
http://startrekdiscovery.it/2017/03/01/star-trek-discovery-svelato-laspetto-dei-vulcaniani-nella-serie-star-trek-discovery/
Night Isaac’s be playing a non human Captain !?
*might
http://startrekdiscovery.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/STD-vulcan.png
http://startrekdiscovery.it/2017/03/01/star-trek-discovery-svelato-laspetto-dei-vulcaniani-nella-serie-star-trek-discovery/
Yes guys this is Sarek from 2009.
LLAP
I’m not understanding the point. Are you saying this is some sort of official image from the Star Trek: Discovery production? Or is it just a picture of Abrams’ Sarek pasted on top of the new Starfleet emblem?
Question 1: No.
Question 2: Starfleet emblem pasted on Abram’s Sarek picture.
B Kramer always posts odd random stuff here. No one knows why he posts most of it since it rarely has anything to do with the subject. That and the fact he never bothers to explain it lol. I guess the emblem is why he posted but not sure what it has to do with anything. Just look like a fan artwork.
How does the most notorious and sneaky troll get to be a moderator?
https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-thefinalfrontier/star_trek_the_final_frontier_disqus_channel_1st_year_anniversary/
This keeps on getting better and better. Awesome cast so far. Didn’t like The OA, but he was brilliant in it!
Yeah the OA rubbed me the wrong way too. It started off decent enough and an interesting premise but the ending was just bizarre to say the least and it was obvious they was hoping to get a second season with that vague ending. But I agree I liked him in it a lot.
I love his work. Great addition! :)
Jason scarred the hell of of me in The OA!!
Great actor! Despite being not at all interested in the CBS pay-to-view mandate or the time period the show will be set in, I have to say I find the cast impressive.
Oh, and I’m over 50, so I guess to some here, my opinions don’t matter anymore. But I’ll continue having them anyway, thanks.
You do realize that no one on here knows you are “over 50”, right? People can only see your screen name and that’s all the info that they have. So how would you think that anybody would think your “opinions don’t matter anymore”? Sloppy, mulled and unclear thinking. And who thinks people over 50 shouldn’t have an opinion anyways?? Wow. Get some confidence. Ew.
Luke, he’s over 50, clearly he hasn’t taken his brain medicine today. Can you blame him for the unclear thinking?
I also dont understand this whining about the OTT service. Maybe its something with older people who dont embrace new technology. But they act like all their other shows are delivered to them for free and evil CBS is the only one asking them to pay for it.
Dont want to pay? Dont. If enough people dont, then CBS will go in a different direction. But make no mistake, OTT is the way things are going and will continue to go. There’s a reason stations like HBO create their own OTT, not to comepete with itself but to keep those customers who want more options and/or are moving away from cable.
It would be nice if every TV show from the Networks, Cable, HBO, Showtime, Netflix etc was all on one platform for one low price. But I also wish I could go to Wendy’s and get McDonald’s fries but I cant.
Except… Networks like HBO are not abandoning their TV and cable outlets. They are simply adding another outlet for those who don’t have cable. Nothing wrong with that at all. Now if HBO were to become internet only, (As CBSAA is) that would be another story altogether.
Very positive casting. This man is an accomplished actor. May well bring a bit of Kirk and Picard into his character. Quite excited to see his stamp on the latest Star Trek captain.
è una notizia molto rassicurante , certe cose sono sacre!
Fantastic!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km5qVwZvjm8
Ooops, someone already posted this sorry
We know of 4 female characters and 9 male characters now. So again a very male heavy casting, just like with all the other Star Trek shows. After all this talk, that they want a diverse and progressive cast, it is really pathetic, that they are far away from gender parity.
Don’t be so binary.
Boy, the producers really can’t win, can they?
Why must there be “gender parity”? Stop this attitude that every production must check off ever gender, every race, and ever sexual orientation in the casting list.
@ Ted
If it would be the other way around, that most characters would be female, you would surely be the first to complain. You just sound like a typical sexist male.
He’ll be an arrogant, unethical, incompetent prick who screws up, puts the ship in danger so the brave non-white/non-male character can save the day with her superior morals, talent and good judgement.
So predictable.
Just shut up already.
Someone’s got issues.
I’m guessing Mommy hasn’t taught you where babies come from yet.
For a split second I thought that was Jon Hamm.
So does that mean that the captain is the ‘bad guy’?
Cue the usual self-hating fans whining endlessly.
They started whining about this casting before they even heard about it. First it was “where’s the captain? Where’s the captain!” then it was, “ugh, probably going to cast another minority!” and now it’s “show is in trouble because it took so long to cast him!”
These losers are “moving the goal post” types.
I wonder why it took so long to cast the Captain’s role and after production has started.
Yes this is really the BIG question and my guess why people don’t think he’s going to really last very long. I wrote this a month ago how odd we had so many casts but no Captain. Its great we have one now but they been filming for over a month now so its….odd. But hey everything has been odd about this production lol. It seems pretty weird. But yes it could just mean he’s either going to show up later or his part is not that big meaning its just for a few episodes.
I was thinking about this, and there’s a few possibilities that came to mind on why it took so long:
1) they wanted to get a key casting JUST RIGHT and were willing to wait a bit.
2) negotiations with their top choice dragged on longer than expected.
3) the character doesn’t actually show up until a later episode, perhaps he’s been captured and the story is a rescue mission, for example.
4) the character plays a small but crucial role. Perhaps this is a Picard/Stargazer type story where the young lieutenant has to take charge after the death of her captain.
5) Isaacs was signed months ago, but some contractual stipulation prevented them from announcing it.
Yeah I think 1, 2 and 5 are a possibility. People were speculating they were trying to either snag a big star OR had someone in mind who was on another project and had to wait until they could officially announce it after it was over. Or obviously both. And it could be they wanted him and maybe it took longer to negotiate.
Or could just be 4 and a short time gig where he appears briefly to establish Rainsford which I think is a big possibility.
One of the best pieces of casting news so far and, to me, akin to Patrick Stewart being cast as Picard. Some of the other casting smacks of being too PC, the world has moved on during the last 2 or 3 years and I’m definitely not too sure about the Rainsford character. Time will tell, but Isaacs is a good hire!
Equal representation is not being overly PC, it’s a good thing. Would you consider any non caucasian lead role as being overly PC? That’s a) crazy and b) totally against the very spirit of Star Trek! Come on, Rob.
You’re not sure about the Rainsford character because you think casting a black actress smacks of PC?? Wow. How do you get your KKK outfit so white, Rob?
And the casting of Uhura, Sulu, Geordi, Yar, Troi, Crusher, Sisko, Dax, Major Kira, Chakotay, Janeway, Kim, Tuvok, Hoshi, and Mayweather, they were all just awful, too, right? Because diversity and equality is garbage, and minorities should stay where they belong, off TV, right?
But hey, cast a white male captain and it’s just GREAT NEWS isn’t it?
So your argument is they casted a white guy to play the Captain so thats obviously the right call. Anyone else not white or mostly male automatically falls into the ‘PC category’ because they just can’t cast black, women and Asian people like they cast white people I guess.
Its truly amazing some of these people call themselves Star Trek fans.
Well said, Tiger2
I liked Voyager. Mostly it wasn’t terrible. The cast was likable and obviously got along together. But the ‘diversity’ on that show was so over the top it was like a Saturday Night Live sketch. Just ridiculous. So yes, excluding white men from a science fiction show because ‘diversity’ is not a good thing.
It seems Tiger2 when people other than white are cast these days it’s due to their skin color first and their talent last. It’s all about an agenda and ticking off the boxes. Not sure how you came to you ridiculous conclusions based on Rob’s comment.
@Ted – do you know you’re racist or are you in denial?
So we are following two starships on this series? What happened to the ship that Michelle Yeoh was supposed to be Captaining?
I have a feeling it gets blown to bits.
He would make a good Vulkan
Wow, hadn’t considered that. His name being “Lorca” there’s a distinct possibility he’s not human…
Though they’ve not been shy to announce when a character is a non-human, to this point.
When I googled the name Lorca to see if it means anything, the top hit was for a person:
“Frederico Garcia Lorca – Spanish poet and dramatist who was shot dead by Franco’s soldiers soon after the start of the Spanish Civil War (1898-1936)”
Does that suggest the rumours that this character might not last too long might be correct? Something kicks off, and it’s the end for Lorca?
What a coup that is. Very pleased and very impressed!!
Excellent choice. Jason Isaacs is perfectly suited to play a Star Trek captain.
Bomb. Period.
Original. Wow.
Awesome bit of casting, very excited at the way this is turning out!
Wait….he’s white!? Oh that’s right, the main character is a black woman.
Jason Isaacs as the captain in a Star Trek Show?
You had my curiosity. Now you have my attention.
Exciting news and what a great casting coup! I cannot wait to see Discovery! A new Star Trek has been too long absent from television!
I didn’t know who this guy was until I saw the OA. Judging by his performance on that show I am very pleased and think he’s a great choice.
So lemme get this straight …. The show was pushed back to May. I thought it was because shooting & post weren’t finished yet. Yet here we are FOUR WEEKS AWAY and they still haven’t even finished casting for a MAJOR character??? So where the fuck were they in September, when the show was four MONTHS away? How unprepared are these dopes, anyway? Jesus, no wonder all the staff bailed on this POS last year. They have ZERO quality on this one. Guys, unless a Trekkie billionaire buys the rights from Viacom (or who the fuck ever) the “Star Trek” that you & both love so much and have followed for so long IS DEAD, NEVER TO RETURN.