Veteran actorCallum Keith Renniewill join the cast of the final season ofStar Trek: Discoveryas the alien Captain Rayner, and now we know what species he is. Fans have speculated that Rayner’s pointed ears mark him as a Vulcan or a Romulan, but a new interview reveals that he is a member of the Kellerun, an obscure species fromStar Trek: Deep Space Nine.TrekCore.comhas the details from SFX Magazine’s feature onDiscovery’s upcoming fifth season, which will premiere on Paramount+ early next month.
Rayner’s species will apparently be important to his characterization and the mysterious missionhe joins theUSS Discoverycrewfor, as they race against time in the show’s final bow. Says showrunnerMichelle Paradise, “He’s Kellerun, which is a minor planet mentioned in one of the other iterations… we learn more about his personal backstory and how that plays into who he is, and why he is how he is. We learn about that as the season goes on, and the planet he’s from has a lot to do with that.” It won’t be the first time an important character onDiscoverycomes from a one-off alien race; Commander Nhan (Rachael Ancheril), who debuted in the series' second season, is a Barzan, a race that had up to that point only appeared in the third-seasonNext Generationepisode “The Price”.
Who Are the Kellerun?
The Kellerun made their first and (so far) only appearance in “Armageddon Game”, which first aired in 1994 as part ofDeep Space Nine’s second season. A species with distinctive large, pointed ears, they had been at war for centuries with their neighbors, the T’Lani, in a conflict that utilized the Harvesters, deadly biological weapons. After the two races made peace with each other, Starfleet sent in Deep Space Nine crew members Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Miles O’Brien (Colm Meany) to help dismantle the remaining Harvesters. However, the Kellerun and T’Lani insist that all knowledge pertaining to the Harvesters must be destroyed - which means killing Bashir and O’Brien, too. The two have to make a desperate race for survival as their friends attempt to save them from the two alien species.
Although the Kellerun did not appear on the series again, the episode established Bashir and O’Brien’s friendship, which endured for the rest of the show’s run. Canadian actor Callum Keith Rennie is a veteran of science fiction productions, having starred inBattlestar Galactica,Impulse,The X-Files,Jessica Jones, andThe Umbrella Academy. Discovery will be his first Star Trek appearance.
Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth and final season willpremiere June 16, 2025 on Paramount+, wehere past seasons are also streaming. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and watch the trailer forDiscovery’s fifth season below.
Star Trek: Discovery
Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk’s Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.
Watch on Paramount+
