After five years portraying Sasha on The Walking Dead, actress Sonequa Martin-Green's time with the show has come to an end, which has actually worked out quite well as she's already begun filming her new series, Star Trek: Discovery.
On April 3rd, Discovery's Twitter page offered, "From walkers to Klingons, Star Trek: Discovery is pleased to officially welcome @SonequaMG as First Officer Michael Burnham." While every previous Star Trek series has had a first officer, Discovery is the first that will put the focus of the series on that person.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin-Green confirmed, "Being the first officer on the ship is going to be a wild ride, because we haven't seen that happen before in the Star Trek canon; we haven't seen the story be told from the perspective of the first officer rather than the captain. It's going to open up so much potential for new storylines, because not being the captain automatically gives you a different perspective. It's going to be a wild ride and everybody on board — in front of the camera and behind — I've been floored by the performances... I'm astounded by the people we've got assembled on Star Trek. I'm really excited."
The actress' The Walking Dead co-star Andrew Lincoln expressed his enthusiasm about her to Variety, noting, "She’s an incredible personality with incredible grace and strength and tenacity. She’s a very impressive woman. She will be leading that starship with the same class and fortitude. That is going to be one happy spaceship. I’d love to beam myself up at some point in some kind of Greg Nicotero special effects makeup.”
In the fifty-plus year history of the Star Trek franchise, there have been a number of first officers. In Gene Roddenberry's original 1964 pilot, "The Cage," Majel Barrett (who would eventually marry Roddenberry) played Number One (a title given to Michael Burnham as well). On The Original Series (which Discovery takes place about a decade before), that position, of course, was filled by Leonard Nimoy's Vulcan, Mr. Spock. For The Next Generation it was Jonathan Frakes' William Riker (also called Number One by his captain, Picard), while Nana Visitor was cast as Bajoran First Officer Kira Nerys on Deep Space Nine, with Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay on Voyager; Jolene Blalock as the Vulcan T'Pol on Enterprise, another prequel series set before the original; and in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Stephen Collins portrayed Captain turned Commander William Decker, bumped down in rank by William Shatner's returning James T. Kirk. Hey, nobody outranks The Shat.
Star Trek: Discovery will be debuting late summer/early fall on CBS All Access in America, and Netflix everywhere else around the world.
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