No trailer as of yet, but the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds had some big announcements to make for Star Trek Day… including some familiar (now recast) faces.
Strange New Worlds is a show meant to cover the period of time that Captain Christopher Pike was in command of the USS Enterprise, before Kirk’s legendary tenure. Basically, it’s the show that Trek’s first pilot episode “The Cage” might have produced had the network not demanded extensive changes to the lineup.
But there were plenty of familiar faces on board the Enterprise at that time, and two prominent recasts have been announced: Jess Bush in the role of Nurse Christine Chapel and Celia Rose Gooding… who will take on the role of Cadet Nyota Uhura. Gooding was on hand to personally announce how “thrilled and honored” she was to take up the role made famous by the unforgettable Nichelle Nichols. There’s a brief glimpse of her from the show in the video above.
Babs Olusanmokun will play Doctor M’Benga, who appeared in Original Series episodes “A Private Little War”‘ and “That Which Survives.” There are new faces as well: Bruce Horak will play Hemmer, Melissa Navia will play Erica Ortegas, and Christina Chong will play La’an Noonien-Singh. And if that last name sounds familiar, that would be because it is a last name shared by one of Star Trek most infamous villains: Khan.
These new crew members will join Anson Mount’s Captain Pike and Ethan Peck’s Mr. Spock. Rebecca Romijn had already taken over the role of the previously elusive Number One, but now her once-fanon name has been canonized: Una Chin-Riley. Romijn talked of how enjoyable it was to finally flesh out a character first brought to life by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and promised audiences that the character was far more complex than anyone knew.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has no premiere date as of yet… but here’s hoping it will grace our screens soon.
