Walking Dead‘s Sonequa Martin-Green Cast as Star Trek: Discovery Lead
A Walking Dead actress is about to forge the final frontier.
Sonequa Martin-Green has been cast as the lead in the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery, EW.com reports.
Martin-Green will play a lieutenant commander in the sci-fi reboot, a role then-executive producer Bryan Fuller described at last summer’s Television Critics Association press tour as having “caveats.”
The 13-episode first season, which will be available weekly on CBS All Access after launching with a two-hour premiere on CBS network in May, follows an incident in the history of Starfleet that other series/movies in the franchise have touched on but never fully explored. Per Fuller, Discovery will tell “that story through a character who is on a journey that is going to teach her how to get along with others in the galaxy.”
CBS declined to comment on the casting.
Fuller stepped down as showrunner earlier this fall due to creative differences. “I’m not involved in production, or post-production,” he recently confirmed. “So I can only give them the material I’ve given them and hope that it is helpful for them. I’m curious to see what they do with it.”
Martin-Green’s casting is sure to raise questions about the future of her Walking Dead character, Sasha, who remains very much alive on the AMC hit. An AMC rep maintains that the actress remains a series regular on the AMC series.
She joins a cast that includes Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Doug Jones (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Anthony Rapp (Rent), Shazad Latif (Penny Dreadful) and Chris Obi (American Gods).
Technically this would be shooting between seasons of Walking Dead so she could do both of them.
Oh, for real? Cool.
Technically she could but have a feeling she won’t be doing both
I am digging sasha this season and in fact all the women on TWD. I’d hate to see her leave.
The last time that happened in a show I like, the actress gave up multi-tasking and chose the other show which turned out to be crap. This is yet another obvious sign that TWD is beginning to fall apart.
Uh-oh. Sasha’s donzo.
But this means I’ll absolutely have to check out Discovery now. But with Fuller gone now and this only being on streaming, I’m not sure it’ll even get more than a season.
Considering CBS said that the international distribution fees paid by Netflix covered the entire production cost of the first season already, any revenue from CBS All Access is frosting on the cake. Which means the show is practically profitable already.
It’s streaming on Netflix in Canada, I’m pretty sure. And to split hairs, CBS All Access is web streaming…
What distinction are you making by calling it “web streaming”? Unless you think you can only watch it on a browser on your computer. You can watch it on all kinds of devices, just like Netflix. Amazon Fire, Apple TV, XBox, PS4, iPhone/iPad app, Chromecast, Roku, etc.
Its still web streaming, even if you are streaming it from any of those devices
That’s how I see it, too. Thanks.
Making distinction based upon using a web address/IP/VOIP/proxy server to access your content as opposed to using a remote control on a cable box. I’m no techie though, so if I’m wrong I don’t care :)
It will on Crave in Canada, not Netflix.
Dang. So tired of reading stories about intl Netflix arrangements but having the writers not differentiate between US and Canada.
The premiere with be on CTV and then subsequent episodes will air on Space.
Which would be the indication that it will stream on Crave, as it’s another Bell property just like CTV and Space. Thanks for clarifying, Dante.
It is not streaming on Netflix in Canada. It’s streaming on Netflix everywhere but the US and Canada. They haven’t announced for sure how Canada will get it
With Fuller leaving it has a greater chance of lasting longer. He has a reputation of not having shows that last very long.
Considering how long they go without showing some characters they could just not show her all season.
Good for her!
Considering she’s not a central character on TWD and one we don’t see that often, I doubt there would be much of a conflict.
It’ll definitely be a bit weird at first to see her in a Starfleet uniform though.
And considering this is a summer series that starts shooting in January and walking dead doesnt start back up till april they can probably make it work.
Highly unlikely they’ll just ship off Sasha to a quiet community to lessen her presence and keep her alive with this Saviors war arc going on.
I have a dreaded feeling she’ll mirror comic Holly’s death in the season finale. A shame, she’s one of the strongest and underrated actors on the cast.
As soon as I heard about this casting, I thought “Oh geez, Holly”
Haha same here. She’s definitely Holly
Characters now appear in maybe 4 or 5 episodes a season so she’d have plenty of time for both.
Not sure about her acting chops however.
Considering TWD needs to sacrifice actors for gore’s sake, and Sasha’s essentially been a dead character walking in a narrative sense since her brother died, even more since Bob and Abraham both died, (and since her loosely modeled comic character never made it out of the prison), it would hardly be surprising. That said, Sonequa is great and deserves a lead role, in a new series that isn’t in the process of circling the drain.
She’ll be getting 5x what she is paid on TWD too – I doubt she’s worried IF she is in Gimple’s cross hair plans
I’m Hopping there will be a lot of Action in this series, I mean common there has to be because the Budget is good and they went on a streaming site so they did not have to listen to Broadcast Standards and Rules and we have Nicholas Myer the Man who Brought us The Wrath of Khan so this is looking to be a great series so Far.
I’ve always liked her, so I think that’s casting. A shame for Walking Dead fans if this turns out to be a spoiler though.
I think it’s GOOD casting. I know it’s casting.
Well if I recall didn’t fuller say something about wanting a Rosario Dawson type for a lead role? I’m going out on a limb here but this is close enough for me. And good on them for continuing the series’ progressive trend by having a black woman as the lead.
Star Trek is pretty much built on saying “hey, you know how we’re demonizing/oppressing/generally being ****s to (insert subset of human race here)? In the future, we’re all working together.
(And really Sasha has been going nowhere fast for a couple seasons now. A new gig is practically merciful)
Why isn’t she the captain? The Captain isn’t there, or otherwise she wouldn’t be the lead. So whats up with that? Is this some silly experiment in Star Trek history where they got rid of the chain of command?
I think the whole point is we are seeing a Star Trek series from the perspective of what would have been a secondary character on any other show. How would TNG have been different if, say, we had been following Geordi or if Sulu or Bones on the original series had been the lead? Our view of Picard and Kirk would have been very different…that’s I think what the aim is. To put an outside perspective on the captain’s actions.
Also,Sisko didn’t start out as a captain.
They made a point of saying the lead WOULDNT be the captain. Remember the Captain is really isolated… theyre separated from the crew. Its better to have someone a few steps away from Captain as the lead.
To quote Captain Picard, “I implore you, do not continue with this… proceeding. End it now.”
I doubt she will do both. She is dead meat. Just like the Chris Rock kid was supposed to do two series as once.
This is the best casting news I’ve ever heard. Sonequa is an incredibly talented actress! If that means she’s leaving TWD, its sad to see Sasha go since Sasha is one of the most 3-dimensional and captivating characters, but good for Sonequa of getting off that sinking ship.
That must mean sasha will die by the end of season 7
She worked on Walking Dead and Once Upon a TIme at the same time when she started on TWD. It didn’t seem to be a big deal then
Big difference between once upon a time and the movie Star Trek. Plus, this isn’t the first time I saw this. This actress I used to like did the same as her. She juggled it for a while and quit the show I loved her in in the end. To this day I can’t stand her.
So many errors in your comment I dont know where to begin. . So I won’t.
Ah, speaking of ‘errors’, there are still problems with unwanted pop ups when viewing on a phone or tablet and it doesn’t go away for a few seconds, very frustrating and off putting you know.
Man, first Michelle Yeoh and now her. The show has now cast two of my least-liked actresses ever. That and with Fuller leaving, this is just crushing me.
Canada is really going to represent for this show, it will be aired same day on their cable channel SPACE! You know most of the pirated copies will be sourced from there.
This means she won’t be on The Walking Dead no more she a main character on Star trek discovery
I can live with it. Would have liked an Indian Actor as a lead, though. Would have been nice to know we made it into space
Hrmm… I only know her from TWD. Kinda lukewarm about her.
Yes way a go girl, I’m sold. Will be watching