Paramount+ treated “Star Trek” fans to tantalizing new footage from several Trek series during its Star Trek Day event Wednesday, but sadlythere was no trailer for its newest spinoff”Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”
So while we will have to wait a bit for our first true glimpse into the new show, Paramount+ did offer a very interesting introduction to many of the characters we can expect to see.
Afterthe appearance of Capt. Christopher Pike (played brilliantly by Anson Mount) in Season 2 of “Star Trek: Discovery,” fans made it known that they wanted a dedicated series following the crew of the USS Enterprise before Capt. James Kirk took command. And fortunately, “Star Trek” showrunner Alex Kurtzman listened.
Related: Captain Pike gets spin-off series with Spock and Number One
We knew that Ethan Peck (Spock) and Rebecca Romijn (Number One – whose full name is Una Chin-Riley) would also return, but up until now, we knew little else about the new series aside from the fact that the Pike and hiscrew on the USS Enterprise were on a similar mission as that of James T. Kirk: to explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations.
We know now that the character Nyota Uhura will appear; she will be a cadet with Celia Rose Gooding wportraying the role immortalized by Nichelle Nichols on “Star Trek: The Original Series.” Jess Bush is stepping into the role of Nurse Christine Chapel, first played by “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s wife Majel Barrett on the original series. And Babs Olusanmokun (“Dune,” “Black Mirror”) will play Dr. M’Benga, a medical officer first played by Booker Bradshaw on two episodes of the original show.
In addition, there’s a host of new characters including: Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), Hemmer, an Aenar played by Bruce Horak, the first legally blind actor to play a main character on a “Star Trek” show and La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), whose name strongly implies she’s related to the infamous Khan Noonien Singh from the original series and “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”
“Strange New Worlds” will return to an episodic format, rather than a season-long story arc, with the first season being made up of 10 episodes. Sadly though, there was no information about a premiere date. We assume it will be sometime in 2022.
All the Star Trek Day celebration panels are available on-demand on Paramount+’s YouTube Channel and on Paramount+.
Follow Scott Snowden on Twitter. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
