‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ cast on Season 2: ‘We took a lot of big swings’

When the cast of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” got down to work on the show’s second season, they didn’t let the fact it was a hit go to their heads.

In fact, they didn’t know the sci-fi series was a hit when they first returned to the Mississauga set last year. Season 1 didn’t debut until three months after they began shooting Season 2, “so we were on set together experiencing that,” actor Melissa Navia said about the show’s rave reviews.

“For us it was validation that everything we thought ‘Strange New Worlds’ was going to be really did land,” said Navia, who plays Erica Ortegas, the hotshot pilot who can fly the USS Enterprise in just about any condition. “In some way it was a relief and then also excitement. And also, we then had this mandate to really push the envelope.”

In a separate Zoom interview, Rebecca Romijn, who plays first officer Una Chin-Riley, echoed that. “The reaction from Season 1 really gave us so much wind behind our sails going into Season 2. And then there’s that added pressure of, well, can we do it again? … We really had a blast with (Season 2). We took a lot of really big swings with genre and got to really play outside the box, and we’re very proud of it.”

“Strange New Worlds” has been the most successful of the new crop of “Star Trek” spinoffs, which includes the Toronto-shot “Star Trek: Discovery” and the recently concluded “Star Trek: Picard.” “New Worlds” was the most watched original series debut on Paramount Plus in the U.S. and has placed high in critics’ rankings of “Trek” shows, in some cases above the 1966 original and favourites like “Deep Space Nine” and “The Next Generation.”

Its second season premiered Thursday in Canada on Crave and the CTV Sci-Fi Channel.

Like the TV program that introduced “Star Trek” to the world almost 50 years ago, “Strange New Worlds” is an episodic series with weekly instalments in which its starship crew gets an hour or so to solve a problem, often involving alien species or planets.

After all, its very name comes from the beloved opening credits of “Star Trek: The Original Series,” in which William Shatner’s Captain Kirk describes the five-year mission of the starship Enterprise as being “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Anson Mount’s Captain Christopher Pike, Kirk’s predecessor, repeats those words in the opening credits of “Strange New Worlds,” except it’s not just men who are boldly going this time around.

The original series, created by Gene Roddenberry, was known for its embrace of racial, not to mention species, diversity, but it had a blind spot when it came to gender. Lieutenant Uhura, played by the late Nichelle Nichols, was the only female member of the bridge crew, although the character was essentially a space telephone operator.

The Nyota Uhura of “Strange New Worlds,” portrayed by Celia Rose Gooding, is a linguistics expert who speaks 37 languages and is part of the decision-making aboard the ship. She is joined on the bridge by Ortegas, Chin-Riley and security chief La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) among other women.

That gender balance is part of “an understanding that you don’t have to be a cis het white guy lady killer in order to have a story worth being told,” said Gooding.

Australian actor Jess Bush, who plays Christine Chapel, a member of the ship’s medical team, said it was a joy to have so many women in the mix and also a relief “not having to fight for those places.”

Bush, Gooding and other members of the cast had the daunting challenge in the first season of breathing new life into characters who have been part of the franchise since the very first show.

Gooding said her appreciation for Uhura deepened while making the second season.

“Her honesty and her candidness is something that is so inspiring to me because that level of candidness is not always accessible to people who live on intersections of marginalization … Uhura says a lot of things that Celia wishes that they could say,” said Gooding, who uses both she and they pronouns.

“There comes a point, usually around the second season in my experience, that the character starts to become more second nature,” said Mount in a separate interview about playing Pike. “So there’s less angst about, ‘Am I going to get the character right today?’ Then you show up, you put on the boots and you’re kind of there.”

One actor for whom there were still nerves was Paul Wesley, playing a version of the original “Trek” captain, James T. Kirk.

“It’s absolutely daunting,” he said. “I’m slowly sort of becoming more and more comfortable with it. I’m grateful that he’s not the Kirk that we all know. He’s not the sort of William Shatner Kirk. He’s still figuring himself out. He’s still a lieutenant. So it allows me to have room to grow into some of those beloved characteristics.”

Speaking of beloved, Mount’s Captain Pike had already become a fan favourite during his appearances on “Star Trek: Discovery,” leading to the “Strange New Worlds” spinoff. But one captain does not a series make. Luckily, the actors playing his crew have a winning mix of charisma and camaraderie. And this season, the series digs even deeper into their stories.

“Rebecca and Ethan and I all knew each other going in,” said Mount, referring to Ethan Peck, who plays Spock. “But we didn’t have any part in the hiring process, so you’re never sure who’s going to get thrown in there, but it’s a great group. Rebecca, would you agree our favourite days are the bridge days?” he asked Romijn, referring to the Enterprise bridge set.

“Even though they’re a slog, because there’s so much coverage (shots) you have to do, the fact that everybody is there makes it a tremendously good time.”

There’s a new addition to the cast this season who has added to their enjoyment: veteran actor Carol Kane (“The Princess Bride,” “Taxi”), who plays Pelia, the Enterprise’s new chief engineer.

“Immensely talented,” “fun,” “wonderful,” “delightful,” “wildly spontaneous” and “a sunflower of a human being” were some of the words her cast mates used to describe her.

“I found myself watching her while I was acting opposite her as opposed to being in the moment,” Wesley said. “I was like, ‘Wow, what is she going to do next?’”

“I love this cast in the show,” added Navia. “I think … fans new and old are going to fall in love with the show in a way that is going to remind them what makes ‘Star Trek’ so beautiful, why it has lasted as many generations as it has and just get them excited for what’s still to come.”

Debra Yeo is an editor and a writer for the Star’s Culture section. She is based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @realityeo

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