Huge Walking Dead Death Spoiled by Star Trek Discovery Cast Announcement?

Just one day after CBS announced the casting of the firstKlingonsinStar Trek: Discovery(Chris Obi,Shazad LatifandMary Chieffo), the series has found its leading actor.Sonequa Martin-Green, best known for playing Sasha Williams on AMC’sThe Walking Dead, has signed on for this historic role, which makes her the first African-American woman to lead the cast of aStar Trekseries, and it will also be the first time the the lead character is not a captain, with former showrunner Bryan Fuller describing this character as a “lieutenant commander with caveats,” before he left the show. This casting also leads to speculation aboutSonequa Martin-Green’s future onThe Walking Dead.

Entertainment Weeklybroke the news on this casting, claiming that the actress will continue to serve as a series regular onThe Walking Dead, presumably splitting her time between AMC’s zombie show and this CBS All Access series, which will start production in January. Production has already wrapped onThe Walking DeadSeason 7, with the back half of the season set to debut Sunday, February 12 at 9 PM ET on AMC. While there doesn’t seem to be any production conflict as of yet, the casting of aWalking Deadactor on a different show or movie has always lead to his/her death on the show. And EW may just be covering that up here. Sasha could definitely be the next to go.

Back in Season 2, it was reported thatJon Bernthalwas cast in the new TNT pilotL.A. Noir, which would eventually air under the titleMob Cityfor its first and only season. The news was confirmed by the network, just one day afterThe Walking Deadepisode aired where his character Shane was killed. Then in Season 3,Sarah Wayne Callieswas cast in the filmCategory Six, which was released under the titleInto the Storm, while production was still under way, and she was eventually killed during that season. And, most recently,Steven Yeunstarted filming a new Netflix original movie entitledOkjaforBrad Pitt’s Plan B productions, whileThe Walking DeadSeason 7 was in production. Fans learned in the Season 7 premiere that his character Glenn was one of two characters killed by the nefarious Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), along withMichael Cudlitz’s Glenn.

As forSonequa Martin-Green’s Sasha, it’s possible that she could end up splitting her time betweenThe Walking DeadandStar Trek: Discovery, but if the production schedules overlap, it may become quite difficult, especially sinceThe Walking Deadfilms in Atlanta, Georgia, and this newStar Trek TV serieswill be shot in Pinewood Studios Toronto. Then again,Sonequa Martin Green’s character Sasha only appeared in three of the first eight episodes ofThe Walking Dead Season 7, so even if she isn’t killed off, her role may be even more limited, after taking on this show. It’s also worth noting that Sasha Williams is one of the few characters who was created specifically for the show, who doesn’t have roots inRobert Kirkman’s comic books.

The casting signifies that the show is still moving forward with their push for diversity, as enacted under former showrunnerBryan Fuller, who still serves as an executive producer, although he won’t be involved in the day-to-day operations of the show.Star Trek Discoverywill also feature the first openly-gay character, Lt. Stamets, played byAnthony Rapp, an astromycologist, fungus expert, and Starfleet Science Officer aboard the Discovery. The cast also includesMichelle Yeohas Captain Georgiou, the Starfleet Captain aboard the Starship Shenzhou,Doug Jonesas Lt. Saru, a Starfleet Science Officer and a new alien species to the Star Trek universe,Chris Obias T’Kuvma, the Klingon leader seeking to unite the Klingon houses,Shazad Latifas Kol, the Commanding Officer of the Klingons and protégé of T’Kuvma andMary Chieffoas L’Rell, the Battle Deck Commander of the Klingon ship. Hopefully we’ll have more news aboutStar Trek Discoverycasting soon.