‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Cast: New Ship Captain May Be A Black Woman, Bryan Fuller Hints

Nothing definitive about the cast of Star Trek: Discovery has been confirmed, but what little we do know points to a black woman helming the new Star Trek show and its ship, the U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031.

Bryan Fuller and Heather Kadin, two of the executive producers on Star Trek: Discovery, confirmed during the Star Trek Comic-Con panel that Discovery would continue the Star Trek tradition of political leftism, particularly when it comes to assembling a diverse cast. Kadin addressed women specifically:

“I take it really seriously. Fortunately, so does Bryan,” Kadin said. “Yes, I think as a female you’ll see, when you start to hear more about the series, that’s a big part of it.”

Of the five Star Trek captains — James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway and Jonathan Archer — only Janeway is a woman. When it comes to assembling a diverse Star Trek cast, it starts with the captain. And since Fuller kept the Star Trek Comic-Con panel doggedly focused on diversity and utopianism, it’s safe to say that a white, male captain is among the least likely scenarios for Star Trek: Discovery.

So what leads us to believe the Discovery will be captained by a black woman? Check out what Fuller said in an interview with Moviefone:

“I think that Star Trek is a show of firsts. And in researching the characters for this new iteration of Star Trek I’ve been talking to Mae Jemison, who’s the first black woman in space, and who saw Star Trek in the ‘60s and who saw Nichelle Nichols on the bridge of a ship and said ‘I see myself in space.’

So there’s something wonderful about the legacy that Nichelle Nichols represents as giving a gift to people who weren’t previously able to see themselves in the future. We are going to be continuing that tradition of progressive casting and progressive character work to be an inclusive world.”

It’s hard to imagine a better model for the captain of the Discovery than Mae Jemison. Not only is she the first African-American woman in space, but like Captain Picard she’s a polymath: a physician, dancer, engineer and astronaut.

Jemison’s also dedicated to a utopian future built out of scientific advancement. Jemison founded a company to develop Trek-like medical technology to monitor the human nervous system and created a foundation to develop experiential science curriculums for deployment in educational settings the world over. This foundation, the Dorothy Jemison Foundation (named after her mother), recently won a joint NASA/DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) grant to develop a 100-year business plan to steer the human race toward interstellar travel (It’s called 100 Year Starship and it even has a boss Star Trek-sounding mission designation: 100YSS).

Mae Jemison is among a select few living humans who would be a worthy Star Trek captain, so is it any wonder that Fuller and the Star Trek: Discovery team are looking to her for inspiration?

While no official casting announcement has yet been made for Star Trek: Discovery, all signs point to a starship captain worthy of Trek ’s long legacy of racial inclusiveness and political utopianism. Engage.