Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set to follow Captain Pike, Spock and Una, a.k.a. Number One, but those aren't the only familiar faces from The Original Series fans can expect to see in the Paramount+ series. A new video was released on Star Trek Day that revealed there will be new actors playing familiar faces, such as Uhura and many others.
As if it wasn't already exciting enough to revisit the classic era of Star Trek with the captain who didn't get much screen time prior to his arrival in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, now even more established characters are on the way. Here are the folks who will be featured on Strange New Worlds, and, hopefully they'll help bring back the return of episodic Trek adventures with a bang.
Celia Rose Gooding As Cadet Nyota Uhura
Celia Rose Gooding will join Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as Nyota Uhura, but she's not a lieutenant just yet. Uhura is notably mentioned as a cadet in this series, so it would be cool if this series showed her eventual promotion to lieutenant, as that's her title in The Original Series. She's still on the bridge in this brief clip, and it would appear she's rocking that iconic earpiece as well. As always, credit goes to Star Trek for its attention to detail!
Jess Bush As Nurse Christine Chapel
Nurse Chapel worked under Dr. McCoy in the original Star Trek series, and it appears her time on the ship also predated that of Captain Kirk. One notable thing about Chapel is that she had a crush of sorts on Spock, and that played out over the course of episodes back then. Of course, Nurse Chapel wasn't too well-liked by fans in her time due to her pining over Spock and the fact she sometimes seemed like a detriment to the crew, so perhaps Jess Bush and Strange New Worlds will turn that narrative around a bit.
Babs Olusanmokun As Dr. M’Benga
In the original Star Trek, Dr. M'Benga was considered ranking Chief Medical Officer whenever McCoy was away from the ship. Dr. M'Benga did his medicine internship on Vulcan, so he's a specialist when it comes to treating Vulcans specifically. I'm curious to find out whether he's the Chief Medical Officer in Strange New Worlds, and if not, who is?
There Are Some New Characters Too
Among the new characters we can expect in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, there's an Aenar (or albino Andorian) named Hemmer, played by Bruce Horak; Melissa Navia as the human Lt. Erica Ortegas; and Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh. The latter is especially interesting to me considering the Noonien-Singh family is notorious in Star Trek, but really, I'm ready for anyone in this new cast to steal the show and become an instant fan favorite.
All these new actors will, of course, join Anson Mount's Pike, Ethan Peck's Spock, and Rebecca Romijn's Una in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The series will be the first new Star Trek series to return to the episodic structure of episodes popularized by previous shows, though there will be longer character arcs blended into the mix. It's also assumed the series will tap into a lot of nostalgia from the franchise's origins, judging from the latest characters added to the cast.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds doesn't have an official release date just yet, but is expected to arrive in 2021 on Paramount+. For more on what's happening in the franchise, read up on the Picard star who thinks the series could get a musical episode in the future.
