The 2025 TV schedule is just around the corner, but not before we see Star Trek: Lower Decks close out its final season in 2024. It's a show that has meant a lot of different things to different people throughout its run. Some will miss the laughs they had streaming it with their Paramount+ subscription, and others will miss their favorite characters. For Dr. T'Ana actress Gillian Vigman, she'll miss the swearing, which she talked about with CinemaBlend when comparing her character's cussing habits to her own life.
Vigman was kind enough to speak to CinemaBlend ahead of the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "Of Gods And Angles," in which her Dr. T'Ana was swearing up a storm as usual as Boimler tried to get invited to her book club. The voice actress behind the Caitian physician confirmed she does swear just as much as her Starfleet counterpart and shared her perspective on it:
I find swearing – this is such a weird thing to say – delicious. I find it hilarious. I like how you can use it in an emphatic way to really get a point across. And I know that a lot of people would say it's a sign that you are lacking in intelligence [or] that you don't know how to express yourself any other way. And I say no. I love it. I'm expressing myself in multiple ways, but this is part of the rainbow of expletives that I would love to use when talking.
Nothing yummier than a nicely salted F-bomb, we say.
Star Trek has traditionally frowned upon characters frequently swearing and generally stands by that rule in recent and, I would assume, upcoming Trek shows. Lower Decks is an exception in which all the characters swear more often than the typical Starfleet member for comedic effect. This is especially true of Dr. T'Ana, whose majority of scenes in the show include at least a swear or five.
It's hilarious, especially considering a large chunk of the fandom lost their minds when Sylvia Tilly dropped an f-bomb in Star Trek: Discovery years earlier. That controversy didn't stop Gillian Vigman from going all-out when she auditioned for the role, which she recalled while mentioning what she'll most miss about recording lines for Dr. T'Ana:
When I had the opportunity to audition for Doctor T’Ana, and they sort of said, ‘Go crazy, ride roughshod over it.’ I was like, 'F yeah,' and I really went for it in a way that was the most exciting thing I could possibly be doing. Whenever I record, I get to go bananas and do that. One of the things I'm gonna miss the most is saying the most filthy things that I know, sadly, that they have to bleep because if you heard what I said, I don't know if I'd work again.
She may never work again outside of Star Trek, but I'd like to remain optimistic. There's still hope that Gillian Vigman and other Lower Decks actors will return to the franchise. Tawny Newsome recently confirmed her live-action comedy series tied to Trek is still in the works, and also told CinemaBlend she'd love to have people from LD on it. Granted it would take a fair bit of prosthetic work to get Vigman to look like her Caitian counterpart, but the actress confirmed to me she'd be willing to go through it for a role.
We're officially in the final stretch of episodes for Star Trek: Lower Decks and the big finale. Creator Mike McMahan has promised a satisfying ending to the comedy series, and based on how fans have reacted to it thus far, I think they're going to be plenty happy with the final episode. I'm sure they'd like to see another streamer sweep in and save it as well, but we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds for this show.
Stream new Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. With the final episodes happening in the coming weeks, now would be a great time to catch up to experience the final episode alongside everyone else.
