Meet the first three crew members in 'Star Trek: Discovery'

Star Trek: Discovery has announced the first three crew members beaming aboard the upcoming CBS All Access series, which is slated to premiere next May.

CBS has confirmed the casting of Michelle Yeoh, who will play Captain Georgiou, the leader aboard another Starfleet vessel, Starship Shenzhou.

Also joining the cast is genre mainstay Doug Jones (known for his prosthetics work in projects including Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth and The Strain) who will play Lt. Saru, a Starfleet Science Officer and a new alien species to the Star Trek universe.

Rounding out the casting announcement, Anthony Rapp has been cast as Lt. Stamets, an astromycologist, fungus expert, and Starfleet Science Officer aboard the Starship Discovery. (If you're wondering what an astromycologist is, you're not alone: it's apparently someone who studies "earth-derived fungi in space.")

Lt. Stamets will be the first openly gay character conceived for a Star Trek series, Mashable has confirmed -- although iconic Trek character Lt. Sulu (John Cho) was retroactively revealed to be gay in the franchise's latest big screen iteration, Star Trek Beyond. That decision was met with criticism from George Takei, Sulu's original portrayer, who didn't approve of liberties being taken with Gene Roddenberry's creation.

Discovery executive producer Bryan Fuller confirmed plans for an LGBT character at the show's Television Critics Association panel in August, where he revealed that he had always hoped to introduce a gay character to the Trek universe, as far back as when he was a writer on Star Trek: Voyager.

Star Trek: Discovery premieres May 2017 on the CBS Television Network with all subsequent episodes debuting in the U.S. on CBS All Access. The show will be distributed concurrently by CBS Studios International on Netflix in 188 countries and in Canada on Bell Media’s Space Channel and CraveTV.