Paramount+ has rounded out the cast of its upcoming new original series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as production officially gets underway in Toronto. 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) are set as series regulars in the series based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise.They join previously announced Ethan Peck, Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn, who will be reprising their roles from Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery. A teaser video featuring the series’ cast follows below.
Produced by CBS Studios, Alex Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will follow Captain Pike (Mount), Science Officer Spock (Peck) and Number One (Romijn) in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
Strange New Worlds‘ premiere episode is written by Star Trek: Picard EP Akiva Goldsman from a story the Oscar winner wrote with Kurtzman and fellow EP Jenny Lumet. Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serve as co-showrunners, with Goldsman directing the premiere episode. Goldsman, Kurtzman and Lumet will executive produce with 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. Goldsman remains an executive producer and a key part of the creative team on Star Trek: Picard as well.
“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 favorite candy store and I am grateful,” said Goldsman, co-showrunner and EP. “With a hell of a cast and undying love for the original series, we boldly go.”
“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,” said Myers, co-showrunner and EP. “For someone who’s been dreaming of spaceships and alien worlds since I was little, this show is a dream come true.”
The series is distributed by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.
Olusanmokun’s notable television credits include Netflix’s Black Mirror, Marvel’s The Defenders, HBO’s Emmy-winning miniseries The Night Of and History’s Roots miniseries remake. He’ll next be seen on the big screen in the upcoming Dune and Wrath of Man.
Chong can currently be seen in the live-action adaption of Hanna Barbera’s Tom and Jerry and in The CW’s Bulletproof. Chong’s other television credits include Black Mirror, Doctor Who, the BBC’s Ill Behaviour and ABC event miniseries Of Kings and Prophets, among others. Film credits include Christmas Eve, opposite Patrick Stewart, and Johnny English: Reborn.
Gooding starred as Frankie Healy in Jagged Little Pill, a musical inspired by Alanis Morissette’s award-winning album, until the Broadway shutdown in 2021, and received a 2020 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her work. Past theater roles also include Urinetown and Fame.
Bush starred as Helen in the indie feature Skinford and recurred as Kendall in the Channel 10 series Playing for Keeps. Bush also appeared in the Australian series Halifax – Retribution and guest-starred in ABC’s Les Norton opposite Rebel Wilson and David Wenham.
Navia’s recent television credits include a recurring role on AMC’s Dietland and guest roles on Showtime’s Billions and Homeland. In March 2020, she made her Off-Broadway debut in the praised Bundle of Sticks at INTAR Theatre.