Since the very first season of the original Star Trek, the Klingons have been the Federation’s #1 adversary. We’ve seen their evolution from thinly-veiled stand ins for the U.S.S.R to allies of the Federation with their own unique culture and language in later series like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Klingons have become as important to Star Trek lore and fandom as Vulcans or the Enterprise itself. So Trek fans everywhere should be happy to learn that Star Trek: Discovery has just cast three actors in Klingon roles for the upcoming series.

Actors Chris Obi (American Gods, Ghost in the Shell) will star as “T’Kuvma,” described as a Klingon leader seeking to unite the Klingon houses. Shazad Latif (Penny Dreadful) will star as “Kol,” the Commanding Officer of the Klingons and protégé of T’Kuvma. Finally, Mary Chieffo will star as “L’Rell,” the Battle Deck Commander of the Klingon ship. Obi, Latif and Chieffo join previously announced cast members Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp.

So this indicates that the Klingons will have a big role on the series, bigger than previously thought. This brings up a lot of interesting questions for Star Trek fans, of course. Discovery is going to be set roughly a decade before the adventures of Kirk and Spock on the original series, which means the Federation and the Klingon Empire are supposed to be bitter enemies.

Also, during this point in the Star Trek chronology (and I’m speaking of the original series timeline, not the JJ Abrams rebooted universe), most of the Klingons look more human. The bumpy-headed Klingons were not added until Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and that remained the look throughout the rest of the films and all subsequent TV series.

Now, the real life reason Klingons didn’t have bumpy foreheads in the original series was due to budget, but in an episode of the prequel series Enterprise, they made it a point to finally explain away that discrepancy, saying that in the 22nd Century, Klingons were infected with a virus that altered their DNA and made them appear more human, a virus that affected most of the species. The effects of that virus wore off by the time the feature films rolled around. This was the producers of Enterprise’s way of explaining away why the original Klingons looked the way they did. But does that mean these new Klingons are going to look vaguely human? Too soon to say.

Another reason that the Klingons might have a bigger role in the series–the first images of the U.S.S. Discovery that were released last summer showed a Federation ship that looked suspiciously like a cross between an original series Klingon cruiser and a Federation starship. Could there have been a secret Klingon/Federation alliance ten years before Kirk’s time that we simply never knew about? The Star Trek timeline says that peace did not occur between the Klingons and the Federation until the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but what if there were an earlier, secret alliance? There are may intriguing possibilities here.

What do you think about having a large Klingon presence on the show? What other classic Trek species do you wish to see on Discovery? Let us know down below in the comments!

Star Trek: Discovery is set to premiere on CBS sometime in summer 2017, then moving to the CBS Access streaming service.

Images: CBS / Paramount