'Star Trek: Discovery' Casts Tig Notaro

Comedian Tig Notaro is enlisting in Starfleet.

Notaro has been cast in a guest-starring role in Star Trek: Discovery's second season. The comedian will play chief engineer Denise Reno of the USS Hiawatha. No word on how many episodes Notaro is slated to appear in.

The USS Hiawatha is not a ship known from Star Trek canon. In the Star Trek video game Starfleet Command, and Akula-class starship with the same name is mentioned as serving Starfleet in the 23rd century, the era in which Star Trek: Discovery is set.

Notaro is known for her deadpan stand-up comedy. She's also a writer and actor. She's coming off of two seasons leading Amazon's One Mississippi.

Star Trek: Discovery is preparing to begin production in April. The writing has been at work since New Year's Day.

At WonderCon, the production team revealed a deleted scene from the first season finale episode "Will You Take My Hand?" that introduced Alan Van Sprang as the new character Leland and confirmed Section 31's involvement in Star Trek: Discovery.

Earlier this week it was announced that Anson Mount will play the role of Captain Christopher Pike in Star Trek: Discovery. Pike was the captain of the USS Enterprise before Jame Kirk.Star Trek: Discovery takes place a decade before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, meaning Pike is captain of the Enterprise at the time the Enterprise's distress call is picked up by the Discovery during the show's season one finale.

Star Trek: Discovery co-creator Alex Kurtzman is set to direct the second season premiere.

Showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts have teased that Star Trek: Discovery's second season will help establish the show's place in Star Trek continuity.

"When Gretchen and I signed on, which was when Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman were initially working up the pilot, the idea was always to be in the Prime timeline," Harberts said. "Obviously, there are questions and concerns and things that are different. Our technology is a little different. We have a ship that runs very differently. We're our own show in a lot of ways. Season Two is really exciting for us because this is our opportunity to really show how Discovery fits into this prime timeline. We are firmly committed to that. But I do like the idea of seeing other universes from time to time."

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada, and through Netflix in other international markets.