Sonequa Martin-Green stars in “Star Trek: Discovery”
As TV networks scramble to fill their fall slates amid production delays caused by COVID-19 restrictions, at least one broadcaster has come up with a strategy to use content originally created for its streaming service, giving more sci-fi fans access to a fresh series from an iconic franchise.
Sonequa Martin-Green (“The Walking Dead”) stars as Michael Burnham, a disgraced officer who’s recruited to work as a science specialist on board a Starfleet ship, despite committing mutiny on another ship, in the first season of “Star Trek: Discovery,” which kicks off Thursday, Sept. 24, on CBS. Set 10 years before the events of the 1960sera original series, “Discovery” has been airing on the subscription service CBS All Access since its premiere in 2017, but now CBS will bring it to an even broader audience.
Science fiction fans who haven’t been able to watch the series because they don’t have CBS All Access will likely be thrilled by the move. When the network added “Star Trek: Discovery” to its fall schedule, CBS executive Kelly Kahl made no bones about the fact that it was broadcasting the show while it was waiting for other series to get rolling.
“This is hardly a traditional fall season, but we are prepared with a strong slate of original content while our regular scripted series begin production,” Kahl explained.
It’s lucky that CBS could pull the popular series despite the fact that it wasn’t designed to air on traditional broadcast television. When it was announced in 2015, “Star Trek: Discovery” was set to be the first new series in the franchise since “Star Trek: Enterprise,” which ended its run on UPN in 2005. “Discovery” was the first series to be ordered for the then-fledgling CBS All Access service, and it’s been a big draw. To pique the interest of potential subscribers, CBS initially aired the show’s first episode on its broadcast network way back in 2017, so, technically, this week’s airing isn’t a premiere. However, subsequent episodes will be broadcast debuts in the United States, though they have aired in other countries on specialty channels.
With a strong Black female lead, “Star Trek: Discovery” seems perfectly poised for the times as the Black Lives Matter movement sweeps around the world. In the July 2017 issue of EW, show creator Bryan Fuller (“Pushing Daisies”) explained the inspiration behind the character.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about how many Black people were inspired by seeing Nichelle Nichols on the bridge of a ship,” he explained in reference to Nichols’ portrayal of communications officer Nyota Uhura, a groundbreaking role at the time as it was one of the first times a Black character was seen in a non-menial role on American television.
Unlike other series in the sci-fi franchise, “Star Trek: Discovery” is not told from the point of view of the ship’s captain. MartinGreen’s Burnham is the foster sister of original series character Spock (Leonard Nimoy, “Mission: Impossible”), having been raised by Sarek (James Frain, “Gotham”) after her parents were killed by Klingons. She became the first human to attend the Vulcan Learning Center and the Vulcan Science Academy, where she excelled before joining the crew of the USS Shenzhou prior to her science post on Discovery.