Spoilers DISC*ACTORS* and future direction for the show

Newbie here who has spent hours ploughing through quite a lot of Discovery threads recently but can hardly claim full knowledge so go easy on me if this point has been raised already. It concerns Jason Isaacs (Lorca) the actor. Now, don’t get me wrong, casting him was in some ways inspired – IMHO he is, along with Patrick Stewart, the finest actor to sit in the Star Trek centre seat (or stand near it a lot as he does). However, let’s get real here – he was NEVER going to last long. Why? Because he is the most critically and commercially acclaimed (famous) actor ever to be cast in the centre seat at the START of a Star Trek iteration – in all three media of movies, TV and the theatre. Now, he’s definitely been in box office duds – I watched “A Cure for Wellness” last night and although he personally was excellent that was 2.5 hours of my life I’ll never get back – but he’s entering that period of a great actor’s career in which very successful stage, movie and TV roles were being won. Scott Bakula was perhaps equivalent in TV but certainly not equivalent OVERALL. Patrick Stewart was (outside of the theatre) a nobody when TNG started and regrets that “losing” those 7 years meant he was too old to play a lot of Shakespearian theatre roles he really wanted to play. Of course Stewart got his 2nd wind (due to TNG, which he graciously now acknowledges) in all three media but I’m willing to bet Isaacs’ contract was “one season only; if DISC hits the ball out of the park then one more, but 2 seasons MAX”. He (IMHO) will NOT want to close off other opportunities when it’s clear his star has been rising so fast.

Now I won’t claim I predicted he was actually the MU Lorca early on – but I did think there’d be a big story arc to get rid of him, maybe as an anti-hero that Starfleet pensions off, or as a big reveal baddie who dies....or something. But I knew he wouldn’t be around for more than a season or two....him going was a better bet even than a Sean Bean character dying ;-)

FWIW I don’t think they’ll kill him....I think they want to leave open the possibility of guest appearances in future without going to convoluted-Tasha-Yar explanations! But given the lack of an engaging ensemble cast otherwise (I say with regret – I really like the show) I can’t help but wonder if CBS DO in fact recast every couple of seasons to set up a “new” iteration to fill gaps in the timeline as originally envisaged. Let’s face it, they don’t seem to be powering toward a long-term viable/believable iteration of ST with the cast who’ll remain around....I do acknowledge that DISC has hit its stride a LOT earlier than previous iterations of ST (as various regulars have noted)....but when people are more explicitly paying to watch this (compared to the old TV model), the bar is higher and I worry that “better than season one in the others” is simply not enough. I wondered what others thought about where the show will go without him....and if Fuller's original concept might end up being followed if they can't forge a good ensemble cast once the "necessary deaths/write-offs" have happened?

 

we will get other actors to fill the space Lorca/Isaacs will leave. no worry about that. The same goes for Michelle Yeoh.

the reason why I'm not worried is a) a lot of actors in that age/talent/price range grew up on Star Trek and are either fans themselves or knowlegable enough that geek cred nowadays can lead to better roles in movies b) since the production tem knew Lorca and Georgiou won't last the season from the beginning it means they had time to plan for the casting of next season very early and it is more than likely they are already in talks with some names on the Isaacs/Yeoh level

 

My guess is they'll bring in a new security person - a transfer from Farragut - played by Liam Hemsworth or Robbie Amell.

And the new captain will be either Sarah Shahi or Cote de Pablo.

 

Thanks, both. I really do hope you're right - I actually hope the name is NOT on the Isaacs/Yeoh level (for same reason Isaacs won't stay) but that they find someone like Stewart who is brilliant but hasn't been discovered (excuse the pun) yet.

 

Unfortunately I agree entirely :-( To quote another franchise entirely "I have a bad feeling about this"

 

I love the show so far but I'm not sure I'd return for season 2 if they did that,

 

Why would a starfleet Admiral captain a ship for a long period of time?

Also, the actress played her in a very wooden and forgettable manner.

 

I'd give it a try but they'd need to up their game - fast. Yes I (and others) have said, they're doing better than previous ST iterations but the rules (how we pay for TV and what we expect) have changed. The bar has been raised. They simply can't afford the show-runner/production fiascos they had at the start. Season 2 needs to hit the ground running.

 

Is there any past history of this in Trek canon? My understanding is you are basically a desk jockey once you become an admiral, which is why Kirk bristled in the position. You might get to command ships on special missions, but you spend most of your time at Starfleet command or on starbases strategizing.

 

Admiral Kirk commanded the Enterprise-A for 6 years.

 

Admiral Anderson commanded USS Europa in the opening episode.

 

He had been demoted back to Captain when they gave him the Enterprise-A. However, your general point may be valid (if not strictly in canon) in that we don't know (on screen) what rank he "officially" held after ST:TMP. Various novels suggested he did "keep" his rank of Admiral before once again giving up the Enterprise to accept the training position at Starfleet, which he held at the start of ST:TWOK.

 

Yep. Pretty sure Lorca was here for a season.
Just like Ned Stark.

 

^^^
Ask James T. Kirk.

 

To add to the short list of flying Admirals, Adm Ross flew the USS Bellepheron

 

now that we have established that ship commandeering admirals are a thing in starfleet and that one of them was Kirk himself, which actors do you all have in mind for season 2?

 

If we rule out admirals seen so far in DISC then two names spring to mind that might keep fan interest: Robert April (assuming he didn't die in canon and was promoted after Pike succeeded him) or Admiral Nogura (sp?) from ST:TMP. But so much is tied up with how the USS Discovery itself is refit, where the season "goes" - I don't believe (IMO) the spore network will survive to season 2 since they must start tying it into TOS soon or the "unrest" over canon will erode CBS's bottom line. I'm not fanatical about canon myself but there've been *so many* things that seem odd that I think they have to start answering fan questions soon.

 

Even though you guys proved me wrong about Discovery, it still stretches credulity that an admiral would pick Discovery - technologically advanced but underpowered ship - rather than a Connie to take command of. Particularly since it's looking like the spore drive will be inoperable by Season 2.