Star Trek: Discovery returned to the Starfleet fold after landing in the far future this season, and with the new era came surprising casting in the form of legendary horror director David Cronenberg.
Cronenberg portrays the mysterious Starfleet representative Kovich, introduced during Philippa Georgiou’s debriefing in “Die Trying” earlier this season, and the “man of widely-varying interests” revealed during an interview this week with Variety that he’ll be continuing his stint on Discovery not just into the final run of Season 3 episodes, but also into next year’s Season 4.
The famous filmmaker also spoke a little bit about his casting in the series, which he joked was due to his Toronto residency — where the series currently filming for its next run of episodes.
I’m cheap and I’m available. I live in Toronto, and it’s being shot in Toronto. I think that’s my main qualification.
But I just got a note through people that I know, casting people, saying that [executive producer] Alex Kurtzman was really thinking of having me do a spot on the show. I said, of course, I’d be absolutely delighted. Who wouldn’t be, especially as an original Star Trek fan — and for Canadians, too.
I mean, because William Shatner, one of the lead actors on the [original] show, he was a very well known Canadian actor. To have him be in a successful U.S. TV series was quite thrilling.
So it’s kind of come full circle that “Star Trek” should be shooting in Toronto. And so of course I was delighted to be a part of the multiple universes of “Star Trek.”
Cronenberg didn’t speak much to who his still-secretive character truly might be, or position within Starfleet’s ranks, but he did talk a bit about his thoughts on the Discovery sets and production team.
They are fabulous sets. I don’t think I’ve ever built a set myself that was as complex and as inventive in that particular sci-fi way as they have here in Toronto. Very impressive. I mean, I’m really a kind of a dilettante dropping in the show which has been ongoing for years, as you know.
They’re just so polished and everybody is so professional, and it’s a lovely experience. And, of course, I was interested in the handling of the visual effects and what was there on the show that was practical and what was obviously going to be done later in post-production.
It was just kind of seamless, really, and some of it was surprisingly simple. I was very interested to see that, because of course I’ve dealt with visual effects myself, but I hadn’t done tons of CG — you know, computer graphics. The director part of me was very intrigued by that.
Star Trek: Discovery returns Thursday, December 17 with “Terra Firma, Part 2” on CBS All Access and CTV Sci-Fi Channel. International viewers get the episode December 18 on Netflix, in all other global regions.