‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Adds 5 Cast As Production Begins – L-R: Babs Olusanmokun, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Melissa Navia (Main pic – Ethan Peck, Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn)
The highly anticipated Paramount+ series ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ has begun production, and has also added five new cast members, including Babs Olusanmokun (Black Mirror, Dune), Christina Chong (Tom and Jerry, Black Mirror), Celia Rose Gooding (Jagged Little Pill), Jess Bush (Skinford, Les Norton), and Melissa Navia (Dietland, Billions).
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ is based during the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will feature fan favourites from season two of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’, Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Pike, Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
Whilst the show has announced five new cast members for the drama, frustratingly, they have yet to give any details of who they might be playing… However, joining the trio of Pike, Spock and Number One will be:
Babs Olusanmokun, whose television credits include his roles in Netflix’s ‘Black Mirror’, Marvel’s ‘The Defenders’, HBO’s Emmy-winning miniseries ‘The Night Of’ and History’s 2016 remake of the miniseries ‘Roots’. His film credits include the upcoming and highly anticipated ‘Dune’ and ‘Wrath of Man’.
Christina Chong, who can currently be seen in the live-action adaption of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon, ‘Tom and Jerry’ and in Sky One’s ‘Bulletproof’. Chong’s other television credits include ‘Black Mirror’, ‘Doctor Who’, ABC event mini-series ‘Of Kings and Prophets’, the hit BBC series ‘Line of Duty’, SYFY’s ‘Dominion’, and Fox’s event mini-series ’24: Live Another Day’. Film credits include ‘Christmas Eve’, opposite ‘Star Trek’ captain, Patrick Stewart, and ‘Johnny English: Reborn’.
Celia Rose Gooding starred as Frankie Healy in Jagged Little Pill, a musical inspired by Alanis Morissette’s award-winning album, until the Broadway shutdown in 2020, and received a 2020 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her work. Past theatre roles also include Urinetown and Fame.
Jess Bush starred as Helen in the indie feature ‘Skinford’ and appeared in the recurring guest role of Kendall in the Channel 10 series ‘Playing for Keeps’. Bush also played the role of Bella in the Australian series ‘Halifax – Retribution’. In addition, Bush went on to guest star on the ABC series ‘Les Norton’ opposite Rebel Wilson and David Wenham.
Melissa Navia has recently appeared in a recurring role on AMC’s critically acclaimed series ‘Dietland’ and guest roles on Showtime’s ‘Billions’ and ‘Homeland’. In March 2020, she made her Off-Broadway debut in the much-applauded Bundle of Sticks at INTAR Theatre.
You can see all the cast excitedly announce the start of production in the video below.
“In a career, there is never enough work that is pure joy. I feel that my friend Alex Kurtzman along with David Stapf at CBS Studios and Julie McNamara at Paramount+ have given me just that by letting me haunt the stock rooms of my favourite candy store and I am grateful,” said Akiva Goldsman, co-showrunner and executive producer. “With a hell of a cast and undying love for The Original Series, we boldly go.”
The series premiere was written by Akiva Goldsman with the story by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serve as co-showrunners, with Goldsman directing the premiere episode. Goldsman, Kurtzman and Lumet will serve as executive producers in addition to Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth. Aaron Baiers, Akela Cooper and Davy Perez will serve as co-executive producers. Akiva Goldsman remains an executive producer and a key part of the creative team on Star Trek: Picard as well.
“I’m incredibly grateful to be working alongside Akiva and our brilliant, multi-faceted cast to help bring the adventures of the Starship Enterprise to new life,” adds Henry Alonso Myers, co-showrunner and executive producer of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. “For someone who’s been dreaming of spaceships and alien worlds since I was little, this show is a dream come true.”
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ is now in production, and will premiere on Paramount+ in the USA… No idea where it’ll land yet in the UK. Could be Netflix, could be Amazon, could be somewhere else entirely… We’ll let you know when we hear something.
