TV Quick Hits: ‘Nashville’ season 5 teaser; ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ castings; ‘Z Nation’ renewed

Let’s begin this new edition within the realm of “Star Trek: Discovery,” given that the upcoming CBS All Access series has found another pair of notable names to add to their cast.

First, motion-capture expert Doug Jones (“Hellboy”) has been cast at Lt. Saru, a member of a brand-new alien race to the series and someone who is a Starfleet Science Officer aboard — and someone who could be potentially aboard the new ship at the center of the series. As if this news wasn’t enough, veteran stage actor Anthony Rapp is also going to be coming aboard as Lt. Stamets, also a Starfleet Science Officer and a astromycologist. Specifically, his expertise is dealing with matters of the fungal kind — it’ll be interesting to see how exactly it is that he starts to factor into the world of the series with that skill set.

These two castings were announced to go along with “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” actress Michelle Yeoh, who is playing the Captain of another ship. This series will premiere on CBS proper in the spring before going over to the streaming-only service.

“Z Nation” renewed – For everyone out there who loves the Syfy series, rest assured that there is at the very least one more batch of episodes coming! This news was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, which is great news for anyone out there who prefers their zombie series crazy and violent.

“Nashville” teaser – While you await the fifth season premiere on Thursday, January 5, may the preview below serve as a good reminder of all of the craziness that is coming courtesy of the epic plane-related cliffhanger at the end of last season.

It’s probably going to feel like a different show in some ways thanks to the move over to CMT, but there are going to be a few things that are very much the similar, including the focus on music. The one bummer is that Connie Britton is departing the show at some point during the season. (Photo: CBS.)