When ranking the coolest members of the crew on Star Trek: Discovery, I don't think it's much of a conversation about who is sitting in the top spot. Commander Jett Reno joined the crew in Season 2, and while she does pop in and out of the show due to real-life actor Tig Notaro's comedic pursuits, all her appearances result in awesomeness. I think part of it lies in the name itself, and my thoughts on that only strengthened when the actress told CinemaBlend the original name for her character and the cool origin for the finalized moniker.
I had the honor of speaking to Tig Notaro shortly before "Labyrinths" became available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription, and I made a somewhat embarrassing confession in telling the actress there have been times when I mistakenly called her character "Janet Reno." You know, the same name as the first female U.S. Attorney General. I was ultimately happy about the admission, however. When I asked if she ever made the same mistake, she revealed the original name that was pitched for her character by Alex Kurtzman:
I have not tripped up. When I first was presented this role, the character's name was Denise Reno. I told Alex that I just did not feel like a Denise Reno.
I 100% agree with her. I've seen a lot of Tig Notaro's movies and shows, and if she would've had the name "Denise" in any of them, it would've bugged me. It's certainly not a name that fits the cocky and capable demeanor of Jett Reno, who she's previously stated is based on Star Wars' Han Solo. Plus, the name makes me think of actress Denise Crosby, and I'm still upset about her character's exit in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Jett Reno is the best name, regardless of how similar it sounds to former employees of the United States government. As it turns out, there is someone that Tig Notaro based the name on, and it's a connection readers may be shocked they didn't put together sooner:
[Jett Reno] is kind of an ode to Joan Jett. I don't know, it just struck me as like, ‘I feel like this character is Jett Reno,’ and he was like, ‘Oh, I like that,’ and people have definitely pointed out that it kind of sounds similar to Janet Reno. But, because I came up with the name and I pictured Jett so concretely in my brain. I would never, I don't think, ever trip up on that.
When it comes to badass women in pop culture, a rock icon like Joan Jett ranks pretty highly. It's no wonder then that Tig Notaro would like to have her character named after The Runaways guitarist, and the homage is just subtle enough I never really saw the connection until she brought it up. If only there was a scene where she tells another character to put another dime in the jukebox, baby.
It's good that Jett Reno got a moment to shine in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, especially considering that none of the cast and crew knew the show would be canceled until wrapping the initial production. Had they known, one would wonder if maybe additional concessions would've been made to put Saru into more of the season, as Doug Jones had press commitments elsewhere during shooting.
Many fans know by now that Discovery was granted extra filming after wrapping up production to film a coda to give the series a satisfying conclusion. We here at CinemaBlend can only speculate on what will be featured in the final scene of the series, but I know a good number of us hope it's a setup for more upcoming Trek shows down the road. Additionally, let's hope Jett Reno appears in at least one of them because I'm not done with seeing Tig Notaro in Star Trek just yet.
Star Trek: Discovery streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. Tune in for the final episodes of the series and, hopefully, some unexpected surprises for fans to really put a cap on this wonderful series.
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