Yahoo News Star Trek: Discovery casts Gotham star as Spock's father
We have good news and bad news about the highly-anticipated Star Trek: Discovery.
On the bright side, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the upcoming Star Trek TV series will feature Mr Spock's father Sarek - an original series character - in a major season one storyline.
(James Frain in True Blood)
Landing this coveted role is James Frain, who has most definitely creeped you out as Azrael in Gotham, the psychotic vampire Franklin Mott in True Blood and as Eric Renard in Grimm.
In other words, he's a genre favourite who stands a solide chance of appeasing dedicated Star Trek fans who love Mark Lenard's portrayal of the stoic vulcan ambassador in the original series and movies.
(Mark Lenard as Sarek in Star Trek III - The Search For Spock)
However, the bad news is that we'll waiting quite awhile to actually see the return of Sarek because Star Trek: Discovery has been delayed for the second time in the last year.
A spokesperson for CBS Television Studios explained: "Production on Star Trek: Discovery begins next week [in Toronto]. We love the cast, the scripts and are excited about the world the producers have created.
"This is an ambitious project; we will be flexible on a launch date if it's best for the show. We've said from the beginning it's more important to do this right than to do it fast. There is also added flexibility presenting on CBS All Access, which isn't beholden to seasonal premieres or launch windows."
The series was pushed to a May premiere date after Star Trek: Discovery's original showrunner Bryan Fuller left the show, and now it looks like we might have to wait until the autumn.
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the most recent delay might be down to CBS taking extra time to craft the prequel series' first storyline - and also so it doesn't air concurrently to its star Sonequa Martin-Green's other show The Walking Dead this spring.
Star Trek: Discovery is set a decade before the original series, and will explore the Federation's mandate through the eyes of the USS Discovery's lieutenant commander (Martin-Green) rather than its captain.
In addition to bringing back a legacy character such as Sarek, Star Trek: Discovery will also introduce us to a new fleet of Klingon warriors and the potentially-hostile captain (Michelle Yeoh) of rival ship the USS Shenzhou.
In spite of creative visionary Bryan Fuller's departure late last year, CBS Interactive CEO Jim Lanzone has promised that Star Trek: Discovery will still follow Fuller's creative vision.
"He's still the show's creator," Lanzone assured fans. "And Alex Kurtzman is still the executive producer. It's essentially the same team, but his full-time commitment was not something we were able to secure."
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