Sonequa Martin-Green Says Her Star Trek: Discovery Role’s A Deep Honor

Star Trek Discovery has made history by featuring the first woman of color as a lead character in the franchise. Sonequa Martin-Green plays Lieutenant Michael Burnham on the CBS All Access show and it seems like portraying the character, and the milestone that this represents, means a lot to her.

While attending the Much Music Video Awards in Toronto, the former Walking Dead star spoke to CTV on the red carpet and revealed that “the deep honor” of playing Michael and pushing the Trek franchise forward is enough to move her to tears.

‘It makes me cry. It’s incredible. It is such a deep honor and I feel that stories have a duty to do what we are doing, which Star Trek has always done. And so I just consider it such an honor and blessing and God is good.”

While on stage at the same event, Martin-Green spoke about Star Trek‘s “legacy of inclusivity” as well, as she made a stirring point about the importance of representation in media.

‘Star Trek has a legacy of inclusivity. And every day we play characters that are not just from different planets, but also different sexual orientations, different genders, and different races. And it’s not just science fiction, right? This is the world that we live in. And loving each other, as we are, is how we win. I look out at all of you beautiful, multicultural crowd and now, more than anything, representation matters.”

Star Trek: Discovery was something of a controversial entry into the Trek mythos, but Martin-Green was widely praised for her performance as the human protagonist with a Vulcan upbringing. Viewers of the series will know that Michael was adopted by Sarek, father of Spock.

Speaking of whom, the iconic logician will be joining the show’s cast in the upcoming second season as Ethan Peck has been signed up as the third actor to take on the role following Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto. As Discovery is set 10 years prior to the events of TOS, Peck’s Spock will be a little more human than the older Vulcan we know and love – more in line with his portrayal in the original 1966 pilot episode, “The Cage.”

And, on the subject of “The Cage,” Inhumans’ Anson Mount will also feature in season 2 as Captain Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Enterprise as originally depicted in the pilot. X-Men‘s Rebecca Romijn, meanwhile, will serve as his Number One (possibly the same Number One from “The Cage,” though that hasn’t been confirmed yet).

Star Trek: Discovery season 2 is currently filming in Toronto and will arrive on CBS All Access in early 2019.