Star Trek: Discovery: David Cronenberg Confirms His Season 4 Return

Star Trek fans are fascinated by David Cronenberg‘s role as Kovich in Star Trek: Discovery. The character stands out from the rest of the 32nd-century Starfleet with his outdated sense of fashion and his deep knowledge of alternate universes and time travel. When Kovich first appeared in the Season Three episode “Die Trying,” many assumed the movie director’s role was a cameo. That theory was proven wrong when Kovich showed up again in the most recent episode of the series, “Terra Firma, Part 1.” It seems Cronenberg’s involvement with the CBS All Access series won’t end there. As part of an interview with Variety, Cronenberg confirmed that Kovich will be on Star Trek: Discovery in the show’s upcoming fourth season.

Cronenberg also discussed what it’s like playing Kovich on the Star Trek series. “I was certainly a fan of the original Star Trek, and so that’s my main credential,” Cronenberg says. “I dipped into a couple of the series a bit and also, you know, JJ Abrams’ movie, but I hadn’t been following Discovery. And of course, in each case, it’s quite a complex universe with a lot of characters and in fact more than one universe, as it turns out. So I can’t say that I have untangled every possible knot in the show at all. [I’m] concentrating, like a good actor, mainly on my character and his particular role at the moment. Really, it’s a “be here now” kind of thing, because I still haven’t figured everything out.

“I’m cheap and I’m available. I live in Toronto, and it’s being shot in Toronto. I think that’s my main qualification. But I just got a note through people that I know, casting people, saying that [executive producer] Alex Kurtzman was really thinking of having me do a spot on the show. I said, of course, I’d be absolutely delighted. Who wouldn’t be, especially as an original Star Trek fan — and for Canadians, too. I mean, because William Shatner, one of the lead actors on the [original] show, he was a very well known Canadian actor. To have him be in a successful U.S. TV series was quite thrilling. So it’s kind of come full circle that Star Trek should be shooting in Toronto. And so of course I was delighted to be a part of the multiple universes of Star Trek.”

New Star Trek: Discovery episodes debut Thursdays on CBS All Access.