September’s Star Trek Day event brought news for all of the currently-in-production Trek shows, but perhaps no announcement was more surprising than the casting of legendary comic actress Carol Kane as the new chief engineer of the starship Enterprise.
Joining the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast for show’s upcoming second season, Kane will portray “Pelia,” a new engineer who is described as “highly educated and intelligent, this engineer suffers no fools; Pelia solves problems calmly and brusquely, thanks to her many years of experience.”
During press time at the Star Trek Day festivities, we caught up with Strange New Worlds executive producer Henry Alonso Myers — along with stars Celia Rose Gooding (Uhura) and Christina Chong (La’an Noonien-Singh) — to talk about how Kane became the newest member of the Enterprise crew.
TREKCORE: Tell us about Carol Kane joining the Enterprise crew in Season 2!
HENRY ALONSO MYERS (Executive Producer): Well, we needed a new engineer character after Hemmer’s death, and and wanted someone who was very different from anyone who’d been on the Enterprise — someone who had a very different presence.
We wanted someone who was surprising — maybe someone who we wouldn’t expect to see in an engineer’s uniform — and someone who was older, because that’s not something you often see on the Enterprise, which has mostly younger crew.
CHRISTINA CHONG (La’an Noonien-Singh): Carol Kane is the most hilarious person I know.
CELIA ROSE GOODING (Uhura): Yeah, she truly brought an energy to set that we really didn’t have in the first season. She’s such a character and such a light; she has this wiseness, but also this silliness about her that’s so intoxicating.
CHONG: I was literally on set like this [covers mouth] during all her close-ups.
GOODING: Just shuddering, trying to contain our laughter. She’s amazing, and she’s going to be a fan-favorite, for sure.
TREKCORE: How did you land on Carol for the ‘Pelia’ role?
MYERS: Our casting people came up with Carol. Akiva Goldsman and I discussed it, we discussed it with the writers, and thought it was an amazing idea! [Laughs] “Is she interested? Does she really want to do this?” we thought — it turns out she was!
We had some conversations with her, and she was like, “Do you really want me?” It turned out to be a delightful match. I can’t wait for people to see her — she’s a recurring character throughout the season.
TREKCORE: What can fans look forward to from Uhura and La’an next season?
GOODING: I’m excited for people to see how Uhura is reeling and recovering from the events of Season 1. She went through a lot, and and there’s more she goes through! She’s in an incredibly human, vulnerable state.
CHONG: For La’an, there’s one particular episode…
GOODING: Oh! [Smiles]
CHONG: …one episode in particular that I’m just so excited for. [Sings] We cannot say anythiiiiing! But it’s a very good episooooode!
GOODING: It’s a really good La’an episode. Mmm-hmm!
TREKCORE: You’re not talking about the Lower Decks crossover episode?
CHONG: Oh no!
GOODING: Oh, no no no!
CHONG: I mean, the crossover’s great, too.
GOODING: If you loved Season 1, you’re going to love Season 2 because we up everything to like the umpteenth level. We really give it to you!
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 is in post-production now; it is expected to arrive on Paramount+ in the first half of 2023.
Along with regions where Season 1 has already debuted, the first season of the show is expected to arrive on Paramount+ in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria “later this year.”