Star Trek: Discovery has found its lead. It has been announced that Walking Dead star Sonequa Martin-Green will play the main character in the upcoming small screen return of the long-running sci-fi franchise.

　　As reported by Deadline, Martin-Green will play Lt. Cmdr. Rainsford. It had been know for some time that Discovery's lead would be female, and for first time in the franchise's history, would not be a captain. "The story that's fascinating for me now is not from the captain's perspective," co-producer Bryan Fuller said in August. "We've seen six series from the captain's point of view and we wanted to do something different."

　　Martin-Green is known for playing Sasha on The Walking Dead. Deadline's sources state that she will continue to appear on AMC's hit zombie drama, although it's worth bearing in mind that its writers frequently kill off main characters.

　　Last month, CBS announced some other cast members for Discovery. Anthony Rapp (Dazed & Confused, Rent) will play crew member Lt. Stamets, while Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy) will portray science officer Lt. Saru, part of an alien race never seen before in the franchise. In adition, Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) will portray Captain Georgiou, the commanding officer on a different vessel.

　　Star Trek: Discovery will debut in May. The first season will comprise 13 episodes, and while the first episode will screen on the CBS network channel, all subsequent ones will appear on the company's All Access digital subscription service.

　　Netflix has the rights to the show outside of the US and Canada, and every episode will hit the streaming service within 24 hours of its US broadcast. In Canada, it will be screened on the streaming channel CraveTV.

　　Check out the first look Star Trek: Discovery trailer on CBS.com

　　Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company.