Comic legend Carol Kane loves being part of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, even if joining the Trek franchise was a bit intimidating.
Per ScreenRant, Kane joined her Strange New Worlds co-stars at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention where she talked about playing Chief Engineer Pelia alongside the original USS Enterprise crew, stating, “I just was so challenged and surprised to be welcomed into this universe. I just thought I gotta jump in with both feet and try it. And I’m very glad I did.” Later in the panel, several actors discussed which personality traits they try to emulate from their characters, with Kane singling out the Lanthanite’s bluntness. “Pelia has so much more confidence than I do, and she’s never worried about speaking her mind in a very direct fashion. That’s a challenge for me, and I really love that. I really love stretching into that place where she is,” Kane elaborated.
Pelia has so much more confidence than I do, and she’s never worried about speaking her mind in a very direct fashion.
Aspects of Strange New Worlds’ writing that challenged Kane, on the other hand, included the franchise’s trademark sci-fi jargon. “I was terrified. Just let me say, terrified. Because there’s sort of nothing to hold onto. You really just have to learn it so literally. And I’m very unfamiliar with almost everything I say,” she confessed. Other techniques for memorizing Trek rhetoric, according to Christopher Pike actor Anson Mount, is “to figure out what this stuff is in your head so that it has substance,” while Spock actor Ethan Peck jokingly recommended “repetition and a lot of prayer.”
Season 3 Might Be the Best Season Yet of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
While Strange New Worlds season 2’s episodes ranged from a musical to a crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks, Mount teased season 3 taking more storytelling risks and being the show’s “best season so far.” One of these episodes will reportedly be a murder-mystery episode directed by longtime franchise alumni Jonathan Frakes, who previously worked on the aforementioned Lower Decks crossover “Those Old Scientists.” Another episode — briefly shown to fans at San Diego Comic-Con — teased Pike and several Enterprise crew members transforming themselves into Vulcans, only for the group to show more bias toward Spock for his half-Vulcan heritage and the DNA changes seemingly becoming permanent. An official season 3 release date hasn’t been announced yet, though it will premiere some time in 2025.
Along with Strange New Worlds season 3, upcoming Trek releases include the final season of Lower Decks on Paramount+, as well as the Star Trek: Discovery spinoff film Star Trek: Section 31 starring Michelle Yeoh. Earlier franchise releases this year included Discovery’s final season and Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 on Netflix. Kane, meanwhile, recently starred opposite Jason Schwartzman in the religious drama Between the Temples.