Star Trek’s George Takei is joining the cast of AMC’s The Terror, the critically acclaimed Ridley Scott-produced anthology series.
Season one starred Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies and Ciarán Hinds and told a fictionalised account of Sir John Franklin’s lost 1845 Royal Navy expedition to the Artic which encountered a local supernatural force.
The second season moves the action to World War II and centres on an uncanny spectre that menaces a Japanese-American community from its home in Southern California to the internment camps to the war in the Pacific.
Season two is co-created and executive produced by Alexander Woo (True Blood) and Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla), with Woo also serving as showrunner.
Takei joins the show as a consultant and series regular, alongside the previously announced actor Derek Miowill who stars as Chester Nakayama.
Made famous for his role as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, Takei’s career spans more than six decades in film, television and the stage.
As a child, he was imprisoned in two Japanese-American internment camps after the outbreak of World War II. His personal experience and knowledge of this chapter in U.S. history led him to become a leading figure and activist for social justice.
As a consultant, Takei will work closely with the executive producers to ensure the accuracy of historical events and storytelling. On the acting side, he will play Yamato-san, a former fishing captain and community elder.
Production is scheduled to begin in January in Vancouver, with the ten episodes series airing on AMC in 2019. The channel remains exclusive to BT customers in the UK.
Additional casting includes Kiki Sukezane (Lost in Space) as Yuko, a mysterious woman from Chester’s past; Miki Ishikawa (9-1-1) as Amy, a Nakayama family friend; Shingo Usami (Unbroken) as Henry Nakayama, Chester’s father; and Naoko Mori (Everest) as Asako Nakayama, Chester’s mother.
Josef Kubota Wladyka (Narcos) will direct the first two episodes.
