Star Trek: Discovery premieres this Sunday on CBS. Before the series begins, lets get to know a key player in the series, Sarek.
Sarek is a very well-known Star Trek character. He is a Vulcan ambassador to Earth and Spock’s father. Spock was the first officer on the Enterprise during Star Trek: The Original Series. Spock’s relationship with his father Sarek was explored in depth on The Original Series, The Next Generation, and in the Kelvin timeline of films by J.J. Abrams.
Father to Another
In Star Trek: Discovery, Sarek is also the father of First Officer Michael Burnham. Sarek and his human wife Amanda Grayson adopted Burnham after her parents were killed on Vulcan. His role as Burnham’s surrogate father will factor into Discovery a great deal.
Sarek’s inclusion into Star Trek: Discovery is a clear message to Trek fans that all timelines are seen, all characters are relevant, and that this show does perfectly fall into the prime timeline. Sarek’s skills as an ambassador lead to a role in the future Treaty of Alliance between the Federation and the Klingons. Considering the bulk of this season will deal with Federation/Klingon battles, it will be interesting to see how Burnham calls on her diplomatic “father” for help easing tensions.
Sarek is played by actor James Frain. Frain might be the most seasoned genre actor on Discovery. He previously played Theo Galvan on Gotham, Ferdinand Chevalier on Orphan Black, Leet Brannis on Agent Carter, Eric Renard on Grimm and Chess on The Cape. Frain also played Jarvis in TRON: Legacy, the computer program who decided to fight for the user after his master, Clu, had failed.
To learn more about Sarek, check out the video above.
Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS this Sunday, September 24, 2017.
