If you don’t know the name Sonequa Martin-Green by now, you soon will.
Sonequa Martin-Green, known by many fans thanks to The Walking Dead, has been tapped to star in the first Trek series in a decade. Martin-Green makes history as the first African-American woman to lead the cast of one of the franchise’s ensembles. She’ll play a lieutenant commander on the Discovery, according to EW, who first reported the news.
It’s a milestone that been over five decades in the making.
Fifty years ago, Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, kissed William Shatner’s character Capt. Kirk. This scene was one that broke racial, cultural and entertainment barriers. Coming off a year packed full of representation thanks to TV hits such as This Is Us, Greenleaf and Insecure, it’s exciting to see that we can also see ourselves in the sci-fi world.
The 13-episode first season, which will be made available weekly on CBS All Access following a two-hour launch on CBS in May, will follow an incident in the history of Starfleet that other series/movies in the franchise have touched upon, but never actually explored.
Melissa Kimble is the Senior Social Media Manager for the EBONY brand. An advocate for Black Creatives via #blkcreatives, you can connect with her on Twitter at @Melissa_Kimble.
