The cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds teases what’s ahead for season four during roundtable interviews.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 sees the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise embark on a series of thrilling and emotional adventures across the stars. As they journey to strange new worlds, they will battle inner demons and external threats, encounter colorful new characters, reunite with familiar faces, and confront terrifying aliens.
Mama’s Geeky recently had the incredible opportunity to attend a roundtable-style discussion with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Carol Kane, Ethan Peck, Paul Wesley, and Christina Chong. From discussing the franchise’s milestone 60th anniversary to teasing the highly anticipated genre-bending episodes, the cast shared insights into character growth, psychological horror, and the enduring magic of the Star Trek universe.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Interview Highlights
Q: Going into Season 4, looking back, where do you see the greatest growth and change in your character?
Anson Mount: “Well, I’ll just start. For me, I believe, obviously, it’s the end of season three, is Pike being gifted this, you know, being given this gift of getting to live a complete, fully realized life. You know, that was our goal. We wanted to make it very clear that it wasn’t just a dream. It was actually a fully realized life. And we took our cues from the Next Generation’s Inner Light episode. It was really a callback to that, but perfectly suited the place where Pike was at that time. Because that’s, you know, completely put him off his footing because he assumed that he had very little time to squeeze a lot of stuff into. And now suddenly, he’s alleviated of that pressure. There are new questions, particularly how are his decisions affecting those around him? And can you have a complete journey without a conclusion?”
Q: How does the “shore leave” episode rank in the series, and did you get to pick the song you karaoke in Klingon?
Rebecca Romijn: “I think just to get a shore leave episode where you see us, I mean, we say at the beginning of the season, everyone needs a weekend. We’re all feeling stressed and overworked. And so it sets up perfectly for this shore leave episode, um, where we get to see a completely different side of the crew, um, letting loose and, uh, going to this planet where the gases make them all inebriated and everyone’s inebriated in a very different way from one another. Um, no, I did not get to pick the song. It was originally scripted with a different song, which they did not, which they couldn’t afford. I don’t know how it goes, but anyway, I was thrilled with Total Eclipse of the Heart. And, um, uh, I, it was, it felt a little overwhelming because I know that there are at least 20 people in the world who speak Klingon fluently. So I worked with the dialect coach to make sure I got all the pronunciation correct and the translation correct. Um, I recorded the song first and sang to playback. Uh, it was a challenge that was massive to me that I never knew I wanted, but I was really proud of myself. I loved it. I loved everything about it.”
Q: I’ve often thought of Pelik as Space Mary Poppins, and now we’ve got hints that she may have been a doctor’s companion. How do you view her?
Carol Kane: “Whoa. Both of these things are news to me. Yeah, I’m not kidding. I just guess I was a teacher. I taught engineering, you know, at the school, and I think I was good at it and invested in it, inspired at it, and maybe I had some secret wish that I might be a little more than a teacher and maybe work on the ship, and I think that came true. That’s as much as I know. I also know that I’ve been around a long time, much like myself. So, you know, like generations of learning have gone into my education and have gone into what I’m able to pass along. That’s how I see it.”
Q: Were there any questions that you had about Kirk that you feel the show answered for you?
Paul Wesley: “Yes. His relationship with his father and his relationship with his son and some of the stuff you guys haven’t seen yet. But to me, your relationship with your father is very important to who you become as a man. And Kirk had to go through some things in order to understand why he is who he is and why he becomes who he is. So, yes, what’s great about Strange New Worlds is that, you know, we have obviously we have this wealth of Trek is, you know, 60th anniversary. We have so much, so many spinoffs, etc. But TOS kind of like we just meet Kirk and he is who he is. Right. He’s this sort of like sure-footed kind of man who’s in command. And being able to explore some of those vulnerabilities with his family, I think for me and hopefully for the viewer, provided a lot of information and context as to, you know, why he becomes who he is.”
Q: With physical media facing an uncertain future, how do you feel as a performer about losing special features and deleted scenes?
Ethan Peck: “Well, I probably am the only one of the three of us that buys physical media. Accurate? Yeah, probably… I feel like that world is kind of having a renaissance, but I might be wrong. I’m not sure. I think for the most part, everything is trending towards digital and a lack of special features and sort of bonus content, which I think is so unfortunate because I love to know how things are made. I love interviews with directors and cast and production designers and set designers, but I would be really heartbroken and disappointed if physical media ceased to exist and we stopped getting these wonderful special features.”
Q: Can you share what your favorite thing was that you did on Strange New Worlds that you never expected to get to do?
Christina Chong: “For me, it would be the ballroom and Latin dancing. Yeah, I was a dancer, but I’d never done ballroom or Latin. And that’s the last thing I would have expected La’An to do. Or just acting with puppets.”
Be sure to watch the full interview for more from the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, which premieres on Thursday, July 23, with new episodes dropping weekly.
