A new SFA cast member & a series' return were announced during this year's SDCC panel.
Two surprises dropped during the first portion of the Star Trek Universe San Diego Comic-Con panel. Karim Diane, who plays Starfleet Academy’s Klingon cadet Jay-Den Kraag, was obviously star struck and thrilled to represent Trek at the event. However, he also revealed that actor Ruaridh Aldington would be joining the cast of Starfleet Academy for its second and final season.
The other surprise announcement was that new episodes of the children's series Star Trek: Scouts would return with new episodes on Sept. 8, aka Star Trek Day.
It seems only right that the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was on hand to handle the spellbinding introduction, but only after a sensational sizzle reel lit up the darkened room, as the beloved franchise celebrated its 60th anniversary with numerous devoted fans in the fabled Hall H at this year’s SDCC.
Hosted and moderated by Scott Mantz, Rod Roddenberry thrilled the crowd with a powerful Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC) speech to kick off the event. Legacy actor George Takei, who first played Hikaru Sulu when The Original Series debuted in 1966, was without question the most iconic name announced to join the fun ahead of time. So, I wasn't at all surprised when Hall H gave Takei a well-deserved and emotional standing ovation.
Michael Dorn, who played Worf in The Next Generation, four Star Trek feature films, and the third season of Picard was without question the person I was most excited to see in Comic-Con’s vaunted Hall H this year. The actor who played the franchise's most-beloved Klingon told those in attendance what a honor it was to portray Worf — the honor was all ours, though.
I was sad to see that Connor Trinneer, from one of my favorite Trek series, Enterprise, wasn't able to attend, especially after the way his character Trip was treated during the show’s final episode. Thank heaven for Lower Decks and the revelation of Trip's marriage to T’Pol (Jolene Blalock).
However, Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed) of Enterprise fame was in attendance to represent the classic show in Trinneer's place. Keating and Trinneer are real-life friends who host the must-see D-Con Chamber podacst together. Keating joked about standing in for Enterprise NX-01's on-screen captain, Scott Bakula, who couldn't join the fun in America's Finest City.
In addition to Dorn, and speaking of Lower Decks, I was delighted that Jerry O'Connell (Commander Ransom) was present and accounted for, given how much I love that character’s contentious relationship with Mariner (Tawny Newsome) throughout the animated series.
O'Connell also brought up his Stand by Me (1986) co-star and fellow Trek alum Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher/The Traveler), who was among the first to congratulate O'Connell when he was cast as the USS Cerritos' first officer.
Robert Picardo was also on hand to represent his beloved EMH Doctor from Voyager, Prodigy, and most recently, Starfleet Academy. Deep Space Nine mainstay Jake Sisko himself, Cirroc Lofton sporting a cool cap, also showed up to celebrate the Star Trek franchise’s 60th anniversary.
Other actors supporting 60 years of Star Trek included Doug Jones (Saru from Discovery) and Michelle Hurd (Raffi from Picard), who brought up the importance of Nichelle Nichols to the franchise.
Who were you most excited to watch representing Star Trek at this year’s massive San Diego Comic-Con panel? Share you choice(s) with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.
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