R.I.P. Kenneth Mitchell, actor from Star Trek: Discovery and Jericho

Kenneth Mitchell, a character actor with 20 years of experience in TV, has died from complications related to ALS. The news was confirmed by Mitchell’s family, who posted a tribute to him on Instagram that points out that he played “an Olympic hopeful, an apoaclypse survivor, an astronaut, a superhero’s dad, and four unique Star Trekkers,” but that, more than anything, he was “a proud father.” The post also says that “he lived by the principles that each day is a gift and that we never walk alone” and that he “managed to rise above” the “awful challenges” he faced from ALS “with grace and commitment to living a full and joyous life in each moment.” The post also includes a piece written by Mitchell himself about his hope for the world after his death. Mitchell was 49.

Mitchell was diagnosed with amyotrophic later sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, a neurological condition that causes a person to gradually lose the ability to control their muscles) in 2018, and he spoke about it publicly for the first time in a 2020 People interview about trying to find the beauty in life and taking everything day by day. He also talked about having to give up a lead role in a TV show because of his condition, but he also said that Dan Shotz—who Mitchell had worked with on cult hit Jericho—specifically created a role for him on FX’s The Old Man where he could play an FBI agent who used a wheelchair (which Mitchell said was “really liberating,” since he didn’t have to “hide” what he was going through).

Michell also had various roles on Star Trek: Discovery, playing three separate Klingon characters in the show’s first two seasons. Like for The Old Man, he returned for the show’s third season as a character who used a hover-chair. He also provided several voices in one episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Before that, he appeared as Carol Danvers’ dad in flashbacks in Captain Marvel, had a regular role on The Astronaut Wives Club, and had one-off appearances in countless modern TV staples—CSI, NCIS, Castle, The Mentalist, and Bones, to name a few.

He is survived by his wife and two children.