Newest crew at Starfleet
They range from hardcore “Star Trek” fans to those who wouldn’t know a phaser from a tricorder, but to a one, the actors on “Star Trek: Discovery” are thrilled to have gained admittance to Starf leet. Here are a few you’ll be seeing when the show premieres Sept. 24.
Michelle Yeoh
Where you’ve seen her before: Kicking butt in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”
Plays: Philippa Georgiou, captain of the USS Shenzhou. “I hope she will be admired for who she is,” says Yeoh, a fan of all the previous captains but striving to bring her own qualities to the bridge. “I love my writers, because they have written her to be very elegant, very strong, yet at the same time very compassionate and can kick ass when it needs to be.”
Nerd alert: “It was pretty cool when I had to say the line, ‘We have engaged the Klingons.’ ”
Anthony Rapp
Where you’ve seen him before: On stage and screen as Mark in “Rent” and sweet teen Tony in “Dazed and Confused.” Plays: Lt. Paul Stamets, an astromycologist (fungus expert) and, incidentally, the first openly gay character on a “Star Trek” television show. “He’s the smartest person in the room most of the time. He doesn’t have a lot of patience for people having to catch up with him.” Nerd alert: “There’s a scene in which I’m holding a communicator and a phaser and I say, ‘Energize.’ And that made my little nerd head explode.”
Doug Jones
Where you’ve seen him before: Under the makeup for roles in everything from “Pan’s Labryinth” to the titular villain in “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” Plays: Kelpien Lt. Saru, an all-new alien species in the “Trek” universe. “I’m a prey species. Where I come from, apparently, we are the ones who are eaten, hunted and farmed. I’m the first of my kind to rise above that and to have gone through Starfleet Academy and have become the high-ranking officer on a bridge of a Starfleet ship. I’m very accomplished for my type.” Favorite “Trek” iteration: “I was born in 1960, so the one that marked my childhood was watching it on the network as it aired the first time.”
Shazad Latif
Where you’ve seen him before: On this side of the pond, viewers may recognize the Brit as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde from Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful.” Plays: Lt. Ash Tyler, who has been a prisoner of the Klingons. “I don’t think we’ve seen a character like this in any ‘Star Trek’ so far, and the way we’re focusing on drama and the complexity of the characters rather than just them in action.” Favorite “Trek” iteration: “I was a [‘Star Trek: The] Next Generation’ guy. It was the one I grew up with. I wasn’t a super-fan, but my granddad and my uncle were. I think it was on after ‘Fresh Prince [of Bel-Air],’ so I always watched a double bill.”