As we reported back in January, Star Trek: Discovery actor Jason Isaacs was nominated for an Empire Award, an annual entertainment award from Empire Magazine, and this week the former Captain Lorca snagged a win in the contest for Best Actor in a TV Series.
Discovery actor Shazad Latif was on hand at the Empire Awards, who was stopped briefly at the ceremony’s red carpet to chat about Season 2; the actor noted that he’ll “start again [on Discovery] in May,” a bit later than the announced return to production in April.
(That being said, with the season-ending Enterprise cliffhanger, Ash Tyler’s journey to the Klingon Empire may not begin until a few episodes into the second season.)
In addition to his win, Isaacs has been touring the media circuit discussing his new film The Death of Stalin, and in a recent interview with Chicago-based Third Coast Review, the actor spoke about his experience becoming part of the Star Trek universe, and his upcoming travels to both the 2018 Las Vegas convention, and next January’s Star Trek cruise.
[The Star Trek community is] amazing. Obviously I’ve been in the Harry Potter films, so I know what fandom is like. I’ve met some of the fabulous, passionate fans, but they’ve only been fans since the year 2000. There are many people I’ve met now who have been obsessed with “Star Trek” for 50 years.
It’s overwhelming, but it’s a new and wonderful thing. Jonathan Frakes, who played Riker [on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”] and directed some of our episodes, has been my guide and mentor though the madness of it all, and he persuaded me to sign up for some of the truly extraordinary “Star Trek” experiences like going on a “Star Trek” cruise with fans.
I said to him, “I can’t imagine anything worse.” He said, “I did it, and it’s great, and you’re coming.” It’s a very eclectic bunch of people, as you would imagine, who have in common only that they love “Star Trek” for different reasons—some of them because they like the ships and uniforms, some of them like the philosophy—but they are drawn from a very, very interesting pool, that’s for sure.
I’ve done some Harry Potter conventions recently, and the Trek fans have found me there, but I’ve never been to an exclusively “Star Trek” thing. Subject to work, I’ll be going to Las Vegas this year, which apparently turns into a giant “Star Trek” city for a week. I can’t pretend I’m not looking forward to it.
I’ve only met lovely people and had lovely conversations, and they are slightly insane, often, but in a great way.
We don’t yet know if Isaacs will make any future appearances in Star Trek: Discovery, but here’s hoping we haven’t seen the last of Gabriel Lorca.