Callum Keith Rennie compares Star Trek: Discovery to Battlestar Galactica

Star Trek: Discovery's big new addition to the cast, in our opinion is Callum Keith Rennie. Currently playing the Federation officer Rayner, Star Trek fans may better remember the actor for his time on the hit SyFy (then Sci-Fi) series Battlestar Galactica. He played one of the human-looking Cylons, named Leoben Conoy, also known as Number Two.

He's among a few Battlestar Galactica actors who have been on both franchises over the course of his career, giving him unique insight into how different, or similar the two shows actually are. It's actually something he commented on recently.

Adam Holmes of CinemaBlend recently spoke to Rennie about appearing for both Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica and asked him what kind of similarities and differences the two shows had, and Rennie gave a very honest response, describing them as quite different.

Rennie goes on to explain;

""Battlestar was such a long [time ago]… I mean, to me it feels like such a long time ago. There’s a difference because it’s a different energy. Battlestar had a real earthy feel… there I am, playing a Cylon, but it felt earthy, the dialogue had an earthiness to it. But again, another space show with a wonderful group of people that you really care about everybody, everybody cared about each other. So that was interesting because Discovery had that, Battlestar had that, where everybody’s on everybody’s team and trying to build them up, and everybody does their best. It was very nice.""

It's not surprising that the shows are as different as they are similar. The two franchises are vastly different, with Battlestar being a show that justifies survival at any cost, and the disagreements that go along with that belief, and Discovery being more about exploring the universe and the differences between one another.

Yet, the closeness of the cast is also something that both shows had, and it makes sense. Both shows tackle heavy topics that likely inspire conversation and debate among the cast, which can bring a bonding experience that really fortifies the closeness that each actor and actress has with one another.

Bringing on Rennie was a stroke of genius and one we hope to see repeated more often with different Star Trek series pulling from Battlestar.