With news earlier this month that a new Star Trek series has been confirmed, it's all gone rather quiet as production begins to take for its 2017 release.

It's been confirmed that Alex Kurtzmann and Heather Kadin are working as executive producers, however there's been no word on plot, what time period it'll be set in, whether it'll even feature the Enterprise or if it's set on Earth or a space station. Naturally, that leaves a vacuum of information with which we're going to throw in our wild speculations and conjectures on what the new series should be.

First and foremost, Star Trek needs its captain. Since we're not sure on the plot, we've used the existing captains as a mean for what we're looking. In other words, they've got to be over 40, have played a leader or officer in the past, be comfortable with technical dialogue and have enough gravitas that you could believe they're the captain and be a recognisable enough name / face that people will get on board with.

With this in mind, we've rounded up eight possible choices to play the new Captain Kirk / Picard / Sisko / Janeway / Archer.

 

8. LANCE REDDICK

Audiences will remember Reddick as Lt. Daniels from The Wire, so that's the commanding officer bit down. He also turned up on Damon Lindelof's Fringe, so that's both a connection to the series AND an ability to play sci-fi convincingly. He also turned up on Lost as well, again strengthening that connection to its showrunner. Not only that, he's a pretty damn good actor. You could very easily buy him as a Starfleet captain, one that's perhaps a bit more hard-edged and militaristic than what we've seen.

 

7. AMY BRENNEMAN

Amy Brenneman has been fantastic in The Leftovers as Laurie Garvey, the emotionally-damaged mother who left everything behind to join a mysterious cult after 2% of the world's population disappear. That's a HBO show, so it's unlikely if she'll move from something like that to a serialised TV show like Star Trek. However, considering the twisty nature of The Leftovers, she could be killed off in a minute's notice and be free to take the role on. We also know that she can convincingly play a leader from her years on Judging Amy and on NYPD Blue.

 

6. WILLIAM FICHTNER

William Fichtner's one of those actors that nobody really considers for unusual roles, but when he's good, he's really good. He's done quite a few TV roles, such as Entourage and Prison Break and he's done sci-fi like Elysium, Ultraviolet and Equilibrium. He's got that commanding-but-calming voice that a captain needs, much like Patrick Stewart or William Shatner. Plus, his name kinda sounds like William Shatner. We're not saying that's a reason to give it to him, but it's definitely one to consider.

 

5. MICHAEL KELLY

Audiences will know Kelly as Doug Stamper, President Underwood's henchman from House of Cards. Kelly received an Emmy nomination for his role and he's been consistently brilliant in a show that's been anything but. He's also played a leader type in the vastly underseen Generation Kill as Captain Patterson, so we know he's able to play to that role. He's also done a lot of cable TV shows like Criminal Minds and Person of Interest, so he's used to the sort of shooting schedule and long-term commitment that comes with a show like Star Trek.

 

4. CARRIE-ANNE MOSS

Although we know her as Trinity from The Matrix, Carrie-Anne Moss has always been an underrated actor and Marvel's Jessica Jones proves that. Playing the ice-cold attorney Jeryn Hogarth, Moss displays the kind of range and sensibility that would make her perfect as a Vulcan captain. Think about it - all the captains that have led Star Trek have been human. There's been Vulcan captains, sure, but never one that's led a TV series. Why not have a Vulcan captain for this new series? She's already got the cropped hair, all she needs is the ears and she's good to go.

 

3. LIAM CUNNINGHAM

Our own Liam Cunningham's been knocking it out of the park on Game of Thrones as Ser Davos and he's also signed on for Star Citizen, a new PC game that people are hailing as one of the most immersive and richly detailed games ever made. For us, Cunningham's the closest on our list to Patrick Stewart and Captain Picard. He's got that gravitas and booming voice that's closer to a sea captain of the 1800s than a starship captain in the 24th century. Of course, at the minute, he has his hands full with Game of Thrones - which makes him an unlikely choice.

 

2.  KEVIN McKIDD

Yes, we might all know him from Trainspotting or Grey's Anatomy, but Kevin McKidd has quite a few sci-fi roles under his belt. He led a short-lived TV series known as Journeyman that was sort of like a cross between Quantum Leap and Back To The Future. He's also got some experience as a military type on HBO's Rome, starring alongside Ray Stevenson. Again, like Liam Cunningham, he's got that gravitas and booming voice that's more in line with Picard than Kirk. He does a very respectable American accent, so he could change it all up and go for a rough-and-tumble Kirk type thing as well.

 

1. MEKHI PHIFER

Mekhi Phifer, we think, would make a perfect Captain for a new series of Star Trek. He's done a ton of sci-fi work, such as Torchwood, the Divergent series of films, the Dawn of the Dead remake and he's done cable television shows like Lie To Me and, of course, ER - so he's capable of committing himself to a role for an extended period like Star Trek. Logistics aside, anything we've seen him, he's been brilliant. He's got that essential mixture of serious, almost stone-faced determination and an ability to crack the outer layer when needed. Just watch him in ER, he was fantastic in that.