Star Trek: Discovery has added yet another actor to its cast in a surprising connection to Star Trek: The Original Series. Via Variety, Rainn Wilson, veteran of the U.S. version of The Office, has joined the show and will play Harry Mudd, a character from the original series who came into conflict with Captain Kirk and the Enterprise on a few occasions.
Mudd was a con-man who swindled the galaxy’s inhabitants out of their money and weapons plans all to make a profit for himself. He appeared in two episodes of The Original Series and one episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, making him and Khan the only Star Trek villains to face Kirk more than once, at least in live action. Mudd also got a quick reference in Star Trek Into Darkness when Chris Pine’s Kirk refers to the smuggling shuttle they received from “the Mudd incident”.
Wilson joins a cast that includes The Walking Dead’s Sonequa Martin Green, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Obi, Doug Jones, James Frain and Shazad Latif.
Star Trek: Discovery is set to air on the streaming service CBS All Access in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally. It was originally slated for premiere in May, but has since been pushed back, and a new date is yet to be announced.
Originally published March 31, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
