Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax
Gen Terblanche18 December 2024

Meet the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crew

Set in the 23rd Century, just 10 years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows a five-year mission of exploration led Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) including two other crew members fans met in the series Star Trek: Discovery – Spock (Ethan Peck), and First Officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn.

The series revives all the fun and optimism of The Original Series, emphasising the Enterprise’s peaceful mission. The strange civilisations are, indeed, strange. The aliens range from ravenous lizard-like Gorn to sentient space clouds. All the classic species like humans, Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Illyrians are here, too. We witness historic Star Trek moments, including the creation of the Prime Directive, which bars crews from meddling in the natural development of civilisations through the use of advanced technology. And the crew’s lives come into focus, as we find out that the junior officers play a game called Enterprise Bingo, which dares them to try to visit locations, or get away with doing things in certain places.

We couldn’t be in better company than with the kind and curious crew of the Enterprise. So let’s re-state our mission: “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Binge Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1-2.

Who’s who in the Enterprise crew

Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

The confident, empathetic captain of the USS Enterprise who embarks on the new five-year mission despite having had a vision of his near death, disfigurement and paralysis during an experience with Time Crystals (in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, episode 12).

First Officer/Number One Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

Pike’s second-in-command is an Illyrian, but looks human as her people generally practise selective breeding and genetic modification, which puts her existence at odds with Starfleet's anti-genetic alteration laws. We learn more about the Illyrians in Season 1, episode 3.

Science Officer Spock (Ethan Peck)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

The Enterprise’s half-Vulcan, half-human science officer is still wrestling with reconciling his inheritance from both species. Spock is engaged to fiancée T'Pring (Gia Sandhu) but as he’s on a new five-year mission, he will only be able to see her during shore leave (more coming from Season 1, episode 5).

Ship’s pilot Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

This highly skilled pilot and military veteran controls the Enterprise's complex flight deck. Ortegas, a human female, has invented some of her own evasive manoeuvres in battle during the Klingon War. Her closest friend on the Enterprise is Nurse Christine Chapel.

Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

Hemmer is an Aenar, an albino subspecies of the normally blue Andorians. He is blind in one eye with limited sight in the other. But he can access additional senses including telepathy. He takes cadet Uhura and Spock under his wing. Hemmer believes that Starfleet should have a peaceful mission.

Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

This Starfleet cadet specialises in linguistics and while she is still finding her feet on the ship, she comes up with ways of interpreting unknown languages and making connections that a translator programme could never even fathom.

Chief of Security La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

The Enterprise's new security chief (a descendant of Star Trek villain Khan Noonien Singh) comes from a difficult background, having been orphaned during a Gorn attack and reviled by some people for her family’s legacy. The Enterprise crew will become her new family.

Chief Medical Officer Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

As well as having the depth of knowledge and flexibility to handle any medical condition space throws at the crew, Dr Mbenga is on a personal mission to cure his daughter Rukiya’s (Sage Arrindell) rare disease.

Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Showmax

The Enterprise’s civilian nurse has a dry, somewhat sarcastic sense of humour, and develops a playful and teasing friendship with Spock. And she is keen to extend her studies toward a Fellowship of Archaeological Medicine. Despite being a civilian, she holds the rank of lieutenant commander.

Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn)

Star Trek Strange New Worlds S2_2024

Surprise! This Original Series character who continues Scotland’s proud engineering tradition in space will arrive on the Enterprise in the Season 2 finale.

Binge Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1-2.Also watch: Star Trek: Into Darkness and its sequel Star Trek: Beyond (which are set in an alternate timeline), and animated kids’ series Star Trek: Prodigy.

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