Breaking just ahead of today’s San Diego Comic Con Enter the Star Trek Universe panel, it’s been officially announced that the next season of Star Trek: Discovery will feature a new addition to the cast: Supergirl vet David Ajala.
Joining the series next year, after the Discovery crew jumped ahead nearly 900 years from the 23rd century, Ajala will play Cleveland “Book” Booker, a character the crew encounters in the far future.
According to the casting announcement revealed on Deadline, the character will be “smart and capable [with] a natural charisma and devil-may-care attitude that tends to get him into trouble as often as it gets him out.”
Also released is a photo of Ajala in character, with the photographer credit listed as Lilja Jónsdóttir — an Icelandic name if we’ve ever heard one, which certainly ties back to our reporting that Discovery has been shooting part of the upcoming season on location in Iceland.
David Ajala say hi to the crowd. He plays a character named Book (spelling to be confirmed). #StarTrekSDCC pic.twitter.com/vcbc4Ayseg
— TrekCore.com 🖖 (@TrekCore) July 20, 2019
Ajala also joined the Discovery producers and series lead Sonequa Martin-Green at the SDCC panel, where it was revealed that when the Discovery crew makes it to the other side of that millennium-spanning wormhole, Michael Burnham will find herself separated from her ship and crewmates.
In these brand new photos from the Iceland filming of Episode 301, Burnham has her first encounter with Book an a far-flung world:
There’s lots more Star Trek news yet to come today — keep checking back for all the latest updates!