The first image from the forthcoming Star Trek: Discovery has been released and it features two of the show's leading female protagonists. The highly-anticipated series comes from the creative minds of Alex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller and takes place shortly before the timeline of the much-loved original Star Trek series starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts will be acting as show-runners and Jason Issacs will also be starring as the Discovery's Captain Lorca.

Although the franchise's popularity has never faded thanks to the legions of Trekkies around the world, Star Trek has seen a surge in popularity in the last decade or so thanks to the modernized series of movies that began with J. J. Abrams' Star Trek in 2009. The movies have, more or less, been critically and commercially successful - and the announcement of another stab at a CBS television show using Gene Roddenberry's legendary creation, was the next logical step.

As the production process continues, Star Trek fans now have their first glimpse of Discovery, as CBS have released the show's first official image (see the photo below). The still depicts two central figures, Sonequa Martin-Green and Michelle Yeoh who will be portraying First Officer Michael Burnham and Captain Philippa Georgiou, respectively.

The duo appear to be part of a landing party on a desert-like planet and First Officer Burnham has what looks very much like an old-school communicator (complete with famous flip action!) attached to her hip. The reference suggests that Star Trek: Discovery will include plenty of callbacks to the classic Trek series; likewise, it's already been confirmed that fan-favorite original series villain and the Final Frontier's worst husband, Harry Mudd, will be returning, played by Rainn Wilson.

With the new series seemingly unafraid of exploring established and recognizable elements of the Star Trek lore and the recent resurgence in popularity the franchise has experienced, fans can be forgiven for setting their expectations reasonably high for this new project. Additionally, Rod Roddenberry has been drafted in for a producing role, which should add an air of authenticity to the series.

However, the last Star Trek television series, Enterprise, was somewhat of a hit or miss affair with fans and critics and certainly didn't live up the success of previous outings. Furthermore, the popularity of the new movies does seem to be on a downward trend since the quasi-reboot in 2009 and there is certainly a possibility that Discovery could end up being a very expensive mistake - although hopefully this doesn't prove to be so.

NEXT: Can Star Trek: Discovery Revitalize the Franchise?

Star Trek: Discovery looks to premiere in Summer/Fall 2017.

Source: CBS