Friday, December 2, 2016

Star Trek Discovery: Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp

After the announcement of Michelle Yeoh joining the cast of the forthcoming Star Trek: Discovery TV series, I was wondering how famous the rest of the cast might turn out to be, whether they'd be recognizable (like Yeoh) or obscure.  Given how most Star Trek casts have been assembled, I expected additional names to be lean toward the obscure, but the next two have been named, and they're recognizable.  You can read a more complete write-up, including details about the characters they'll be playing, here.  But here's some quick info on where you might've seen Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp before:

Doug Jones
  • Hellboy (2004) His breakout role was as the aquatic Abe Sapien, who was otherwise voiced by David Hyde Pierce.
  • Pan's Labyrinth (2006) He worked with Guillermo del Toro as the standout Pale Man.
  • Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) He performed the role of the Silver Surfer, which was otherwise voiced by Laurence Fishburne.
  • Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) Reprised his performance as Abe, plus appeared as a few other characters.
  • John Dies at the End (2012) Oh, um, spoiler alert...
  • The Neighbors (2012-2013) Sitcom about aliens.
  • Falling Skies (2013-2015) TV show about an alien invasion.
  • The Strain (2014-2016) TV show based on a concept by del Toro.
Anthony Rapp
  • Rent (2005) With Rapp I'm going to summarize his career with his lead role in this breakthrough musical about the emerging new mainstream, which he originated in the Broadway debut and reprised in the later movie adaptation (starring opposite Rosario Dawson in that version; how awesome would it be to see her stop by Star Trek?).  He'll be making franchise history as the first openly gay character conceived as gay (remember the retrofitting of Sulu in this past summer's Star Trek Beyond), and he's got the history to prove he'll be taken seriously for it.

2 comments:

  1. Scott Bakula was the biggest name I remember being front runner of a show. Given, maybe he wasn't big to many people, but I was a Quantum Leap fan. It will be interesting to see who else they get.

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  2. Bakula was arguably the most famous Star Trek actor to that point in franchise lore. I think that added to the resistance fans had to him and his series in general. But now we're in the thick of an era where TV actors are almost expected to be famous already, so in that regard these casting announcements aren't that surprising.

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