Back in March, we reported that Star Trek Online was getting a runabouts’-worth of Deep Space Nine cast members back for their 25th Anniversary “Victory is Life” game expansion which debuts next month — and this week we had the opportunity to chat with Trek actress Chase Masterson, who returns to Federation space to reclaim the role of Leeta.
In our conversation, we explore what one-time barmaid — and now wife of Grand Nagus Rom — is up to in the nearly two decades since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine concluded its on-screen adventure, as well as touch on several other topics close to the actor’s heart.
TREKCORE: One of your two Star Trek Online characters, Mirror Admiral Leeta, is the leader of the Terran Empire. Is she a bit more fun to play than the other versions of the character, such as “our” Leeta, or the holographic version of Leeta?
MASTERSON: Great question. All three are very fun to play in a different way. As we know, Mirror Leeta is ferocious. She would eat the Borg Queen for lunch, and still be hungry.
She stops at nothing to have power and control, and that’s absolutely the opposite of regular Leeta, who knows that the real power is in love. So it’s interesting to see how truly opposite these characters are, and diving into the purity of each character is what’s fun. So they’re equally fun, just in completely different ways.
Mirror Leeta is purely evil, but pure evil is always based on insecurity, right?
TREKCORE: She’s also very uninhibited as well, and that’s got to be a lot of fun to play, I’d imagine.
MASTERSON: Yeah, she breaks loose, and that is a lot of fun to play. I think regular Leeta is fun to play because she is so truly pure and has so much compassion, but not in a pushover way. Not in a soft way. You’ll find in this expansion that Leeta stands up to Quark, again, and is capable of holding her own. For all her grace and dignity and elegance, Leeta is very strong. So I think you’ll see more of that in this expansion set and it’s fun.
TREKCORE: Is there any change we’ll see Mirror Leeta encounter any of the prime universe’s Rom or Nog?
MASTERSON: Oh my gosh, what a fantastic idea! We don’t know if Mirror Leeta will ever meet up with Rom or Nog, that would be an incredible storyline. That would really be about the ultimate showdown, the ultimate battle, the ultimate good vs. evil.
But I will tell you, in the meantime, that this current expansion set is really wonderful is that regular “prime” Leeta does get to work with Rom, Quark, and the Ferengi again. We team up for a really cool adventure. There’s a lot at stake, and we’re basically trying to enact justice.
I don’t want to say too much more than that, because I don’t want to give too many surprises away, but you’ll see us being adventuresome and brave in a way you haven’t seen the Ferengi, particularly Rom and Leeta, being brave before.
TREKCORE: As a singer and voice acting artist, what are the challenges of vocal performance as opposed to live-action performance? Is it more liberating?
CHASE MASTERSON: Yes, it’s very liberating in a sense. One thing I love about voiceovers is that you don’t even have to wash your hair (laughs). It’s fun to have the freedom of literally being whoever you want to be, and not having your looks impact that in any way.
It’s really fun to find the freedom in a character. Working without visuals can be very freeing and that’s a great way to see it, and thank you for that.
TREKCORE: You also do voiceover work as Vienna for Doctor Who audio dramas. How do you compare Doctor Who and Star Trek fan bases?
MASTERSON: There’s a huge amount of similarity in the two fan bases. They’re equally passionate, which is a huge part of the fun for us. It’s a joy of seeing the fans just dig into both of these shows, with the cosplay, and it’s just so joyful. It really is energizing.
It’s hard to think of being at a convention for 12 to 16 hours a day, 3 or 4 days in a row and feeling energized after that. But you guys do that for us, you give that to us.
TREKCORE: It goes both ways, I assure you!
MASTERSON: Thank you, and I see that in the gaming community too. Star Trek Online has got such a great community in terms of the fans that interact with each other, and the characters that interact with each other. That’s a really big part of this particular game; the love for Star Trek within this world.
It’s very much community based. That’s very energizing for us to see.
TREKCORE: Regarding Star Trek Online, do you have a wish list for your characters going forward?
MASTERSON: Wow, I’m always for characters going boldly into a place we think they wouldn’t go. I’m always for characters having huge surprises. So that’s what I love, like in this expansion set, that Leeta is part of something very risky and brave. She’s not just a Ferengi wife.
Let’s not forget, Ferengi women aren’t even supposed to wear clothes. That’s how subdued they are, under-the-thumb of the male Ferengi Empire. Leeta, as a Ferengi wife, particularly in the work ahead, we’re seeing empowerment. And that’s the one thing that I hope for, and that I see happening.
So I have reason to hope for that in the future. Empowerment.
TREKCORE: Which also fits into tour anti-bullying charity, Pop Culture Hero Coalition.
MASTERSON: It really is the message of Star Trek; it’s about empowering each other, empowering ourselves and realizing that things aren’t always as they seem. It’s a wonderful theme of Trek.
TREKCORE: When you first began your Star Trek journey, did you ever imagine that your involvement with it would still be going on so strongly years later?
MASTERSON: I honestly never imagined. There is more passion for this show, particularly for Deep Space Nine, than I or any of us could’ve possibly predicted. Although I will tell you this; part of the reason that I got on Star Trek was because I knew about this fan passion and I knew that there were extensions of it.
I knew that was the type of show this is, where the fan passion was multi-tiered and ongoing. I’ll tell you this, I knew that because I was in an acting class with Jonathan del Arco, who played Hugh the Borg on TNG. This was before I was on the show.
While he was going Next Gen, he would come to class and tell us about these conventions where he got to go and meet people who were fans of the show, and I thought, “Wow, that’s the show I want to be on.” To be a part of such important stories and to go meet the people who make it possible, which is you guys… the fans.
That’s what I wanted, so I made it a point to meet the casting director. I auditioned for one other role, and based on my audition for that other role, they wrote the role of Leeta for me. So in a certain sense, I got into this purposely because of all that Star Trek means.
But this is even more than I could’ve ever predicted, and being part of the game is such an essential part of that. People have asked us for such a long time, “Will there be a Deep Space Nine movie?” And we’ve had to say, sadly, no. But Star Trek Online takes the place of that.
We get more of each of these characters, we get their ongoing storylines, and we get to live in the world of Deep Space Nine, instead of just watching it. I can’t tell you what a treat it is to be a part of this game, and how I just love it. Current players and new players will really love what’s happening in Star Trek Online.
TREKCORE: And, as opposed to a two-hour movie, this is an interactive experience; a deeper experience than a movie could ever be.
MASTERSON: Yes, very well-said. You get to make decisions in this Deep Space Nine. You get to be a part of the action, which is so fun. And so well-made, too. I was looking at the game, both with friends and in the office and the way you move through the Promenade
The way you move through the hallways and parts of the space station, it really feels like you’re there. They pay such attention to detail. And the modeling and art is so good. You have to see it, it’s incredible.
TREKCORE: It’s the closest thing we have to a holodeck, right?
MASTERSON: Exactly!
TREKCORE: Your anti-bullying charity, Pop Culture Hero Coalition; what was the impetus in creating it?
MASTERSON: The reason I created Pop Culture Hero Coalition is because I truly see bullying and oppression as the main problem in the world. Bullying and oppression can lead to lifelong pain, and that impacts the choices that we make and our identities. The issue of oppression is the same, whether it’s kindergarten bullying, grade school, middle school, high school, or workplace bullying or relationship bullying or racism, or misogyny or war.
It’s all undue oppression. It has no place in society, and it would be a whole different world, and people would make entirely different choices in their lives if we could live in a world with more empathy — so I created this coalition because I feel that the stories in pop culture are truly transcendent.
That is why these stories these stories are the highest rated at the box office, (and) the most well-loved stories of all time. It’s why science fiction is so popular. These stories ring in our hearts that inclusion is the key and that justice is the key; using these stories to lead people, and to create empathy and justice in the world is, to me, an easy fit. And if we can start with people early, teach these lessons in schools, in ways that kids find relatable with fun stories.
Not with finger-pointing, but with an element of relatability and fun we can change the world.
TREKCORE: How has the Coalition changed your own life?
MASTERSON: I think this is something that Trek fans can relate to, and the more you think about these stories the more they become a part of you. The more we focus on empathy and inclusion, the more we’re likely to think in that way.
TREKCORE: I’ve seen the fan-scape change quite a bit.
MASTERSON: Well, the geeks are inheriting the Earth, and it’s about time! Insofar as our energy is rallied to make the world a better place, don’t you feel that, right after you’ve watched something really inspiring? I think those are the times when you think, “Gosh, I can do that. I want to be a hero too.”
Working on this coalition every day and focusing on empathy and inclusion every day, it has changed me. It’s made me more compassionate. Compassion and empathy are like a muscle; the more you use it, the more you have access to it and the stronger it gets. We can do that in ourselves. We can actually teach ourselves to care, more and more.
Caring takes place on a lot of different levels. A lot of people care emotionally, but they don’t care actively. When we focus on using empathy and compassion and inclusion like a muscle, it does get stronger. Our tendencies tend to get more empathetic as we practice empathy. That’s how it changed me and I’m very grateful for that.
I find my responses being more likely to be more compassionate which I wasn’t always, in the early days of my life and my acting career, I didn’t have the set of values that I have now, that I hope I have now. So it’s just a really interesting way to look at our own hearts and see who we are as people, and what are values are in the world, and what we want to leave the world with.
We can create change, not just in the world, but in ourselves.
Star Trek Online’s newest expansion, “Victory is Life,” debuts for PC on Tuesday, June 5, and will follow for console players later in 2018.