The series begins around ten years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, when Commander Michael Burnham's actions start a war between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. She is court-martialed, stripped of rank, and reassigned to the USS Discovery, which has a unique means of propulsion called the "Spore Drive". After an adventure in the Mirror Universe, Discovery helps end the Klingon war. In the second season they investigate seven mysterious signals and a strange figure known as the "Red Angel", and fight off a rogue artificial intelligence. This conflict ends with the Discovery traveling to the 32nd century, more than 900 years into their future. The USS Discovery finds the Federation fragmented in the future, and investigates the cause of a cataclysmic event known as the "Burn" in the third season. Burnham is promoted to captain of Discovery at the end of the season, and in the fourth season the crew helps rebuild the Federation while facing a space anomaly created by unknown aliens that causes destruction across the galaxy. In the fifth season, the Discovery goes on a galactic adventure to find a mysterious ancient power that other dangerous groups are also searching for.

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham: A science specialist on the USS Discovery who is promoted to captain at the end of the third season. Burnham is a human who was raised following Vulcan culture and traditions by Sarek, making her the adopted sister of well-known Star Trek character Spock; the reason Spock does not mention Burnham in other Star Trek media is explained in the second season. A non-captain protagonist was chosen to give the series a different perspective from previous Star Trek series, but the writers always knew that she would become captain eventually. Despite her logic-based Vulcan upbringing, Burnham has a rebellious side that she retains even as she becomes more vulnerable throughout the series. Co-creator Bryan Fuller chose to give the character a traditionally male name as he had also done with the female leads on three of his previous series. Doug Jones as Saru: First officer of the USS Discovery who becomes captain for the third season. Saru is the first Kelpien to enter Starfleet. A new species created for Discovery, Kelpiens were hunted as prey on their home planet and thus evolved the ability to sense the coming of danger. Prosthetics are used to portray Saru, and initially took more than three hours to apply to Jones each day of filming. Jones based Saru's walk on that of a supermodel, out of necessity due to the boots he wore to portray the character's hooved feet. The producers compared Saru to the characters Spock and Data from previous Star Trek series.

Shazad Latif as Voq & Ash Tyler: Voq, an albino Klingon, undergoes extensive surgery to pose as the human Ash Tyler. He becomes chief of security for Discovery, and starts a relationship with Burnham. Voq's accent is Arabic-inspired, and Latif tried to maintain a pharyngealness to Tyler's American accent. To conceal from the audience that Voq and Tyler were played by the same actor, Latif was credited under the pseudonym Javid Iqbal for some of his appearances as Voq in the first season. For the second season, Latif felt he was playing a third character that melded Voq and Tyler in a similar way. Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets: Chief engineer aboard Discovery and a science officer specializing in astromycology (the study of fungi in space) who developed Discovery's experimental organic propulsion system (the "Spore Drive"). The character is inspired by a real-life mycologist of the same name. He is the first openly gay character in a Star Trek series. Rapp acknowledged that Hikaru Sulu is portrayed as gay in the film Star Trek Beyond, calling that a nice nod, but said the series would actually explore Stamets and his partner in conversation, in our living quarters; you get to see our relationship over time, treated as any other relationship would be treated.

Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly: An ensign aboard Discovery who works under Stamets and is initially Burnham's roommate. The character was intended to represent people at the bottom of the Starfleet hierarchy, and season one co-showrunner Aaron Harberts said she was the soul of the series. She is temporarily promoted to first officer by Saru in the third season, and chooses to leave the ship in the fourth to become a teacher at Starfleet Academy. Jason Isaacs as Gabriel Lorca: Captain of the Discovery in the first season who was described as a "brilliant military tactician". Isaacs said the character was probably more messed up than any of the previously seen Star Trek captains. He plays the character with a slight southern U.S. accent, and initially ad-libbed the catchphrase "git'r done" before the writers pointed out that it was already widely used and trademarked.

Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber: Medical officer aboard Discovery and Stamets' husband. Cruz said portraying the first openly gay couple in Star Trek was "a long time coming" and praised the subtle way that the series explored their relationship. The character is killed in the first season, but returns from the dead in the second and subsequently goes through post-traumatic growth. He becomes an advocate for the mental health of the crew in the third season. Anson Mount as Christopher Pike: Captain of the Enterprise who takes temporary command of the Discovery in the second season. Mount described Pike as very by-the-book and a good person, while executive producers Heather Kadin and Alex Kurtzman said he was the opposite of Lorca with enough confidence and authority to apologize when he is wrong. Mount did not try to imitate original Pike actor Jeffrey Hunter's performance from The Original Series.

David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker: The first person that Burnham meets in the 32nd century, Book helps introduce the third season's new future setting. He is a courier, an independent trader, and becomes a love interest for Burnham that the writers hoped would bring out new sides to her character in contrast to her tumultuous relationship with Ash Tyler in the previous seasons. The producers took inspiration from Star Wars character Han Solo for Book, especially for his costumes. The character has a pet cat named Grudge who is portrayed by two Maine Coons, Leeu and Durban. Rachael Ancheril as Nhan: A former Enterprise crewmember who becomes chief of security for Discovery in the second season. Nhan leaves the ship in the third season during the 32nd century. Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner: A war-time Starfleet captain struggling to adjust to peace.

Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal: A human bonded with a Trill symbiont. Adira is the first openly non-binary character to feature in a Star Trek series, and the writers worked with del Barrio and media monitoring organizations when developing the character due to there being no non-binary writers working on the series. Adira and their transgender boyfriend Gray, portrayed by Ian Alexander form a family unit with Stamets and Culber in the later seasons. Tig Notaro as Jett Reno: An engineer who joins Discovery in the second season. Notaro was a long-time friend of Kurtzman's when he asked her to join the series as comedic relief. The character was originally called Denise Reno, but she was able to change the name and chose Jett for singer Joan Jett. To accommodate Notaro's busy schedule of stand-up comedy and other projects, she filmed her scenes from different episodes at the same time.



Sonequa Martin-Green ..... Commander Michael Burnham
Doug Jones ..... Commander Saru
Anthony Rapp ..... Lt Commander Paul Stamets
Mary Wiseman ..... Ensign Sylvia Tilly
Wilson Cruz ..... Dr Hugh Culber
David Ajala ..... Cleveland Booker
Shazad Latif ..... Voq & Ash Tyler
Jason Isaacs ..... Captain Gabriel Lorca
Michelle Yeoh ..... Captain Philippa Georgiou
Anson Mount ..... Captain Christopher Pike
Rachael Ancheril ..... Nhan
Ethan Peck ..... Spock
Callum Keith Rennie ..... Captain Rayner
Blu del Barrio ..... Adira Tal
Tig Notaro ..... Jett Reno


Ache Hernandez ..... Kyheem
Avaah Blackwell ..... Ina
Andreas Apergis ..... Xi
Alex McCooeye ..... Lee'U
Annabelle Wallis ..... Zora
Adrian Walters ..... Taahz Gorev
Ali Momen ..... Kamran Gant
Alan van Sprang ..... Leland
Bahia Watson ..... May Ahearn
Chris Violette ..... Britch Weeton
Chelah Horsdal ..... Laira Rillak
Conrad Coates ..... Terral
Christopher Russell ..... Milton Richter
Clare McConnell ..... Dennas
Chris Obi ..... T'Kuvma
David Tomlinson ..... Linus
Damon Runyan ..... Ujilli
David Cronenberg ..... Kovich
Emily Coutts ..... Keyla Detmer
Giovanni Spina ..... Sta'Kiar
Harry Judge ..... Gorch
Hiro Kanagawa ..... Dr Hirai
Hannah Spear ..... Siranna
Ian Alexander ..... Gray Tal
Ian Lake ..... Tolor
Janet Kidder ..... Osyraa
Jake Weber ..... Zareh
Jayne Brook ..... Katrina Cornwell
James Frain ..... Sarek
Katherine Trowell ..... Bandra
Kenneth Mitchell ..... Kol
Luca Doulgeris ..... Leto
Linford Robinson ..... L'Teis Kardashev
Mary Chieffo ..... L'Rell
Mia Kirshner ..... Amanda Grayson
Noah Averbach-Katz ..... Ryn
Orville Cummings ..... Christopher
Oded Fehr ..... Charles Vance
Oyin Oladejo ..... Joann Owosekun
Phumzile Sitole ..... Diatta Ndoye
Patrick Kwok-Choon ..... General Rhys
Romaine Waite ..... Troy Januzzi
Rainn Wilson ..... Harry Mudd
Rothaford Gray ..... Tareckx
Raven Dauda ..... Tracy Pollard
Riley Gilchrist ..... Shukar
Rebecca Romijn ..... Una Chin-Riley
Ronnie Rowe Jr ..... Admiral Bryce
Rekha Sharma ..... Ellen Landry
Shawn Doyle ..... Ruon Tarka
Seamus Patterson ..... Harral
Sara Mitich ..... Airiam & Nilsson
Sonja Sohn ..... Gabrielle Burnham
Sam Vartholomeos ..... Danby Connor
Tara Rosling ..... T'Rina
Terry Serpico ..... Brett Anderson
Vanessa Jackson ..... Audrey Willa
















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