Paramount Plus’ latest iteration of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, spins off from the events of Discovery to tell the story of the USS Enterprise before the days of Captain Kirk and Star Trek: The Original Series.
Fans knew Anson Mount would lead the series as Captain Christopher Pike, but on Wednesday, during a Star Trek Day panel, Paramount confirmed a few more additions to the Enterprise's crew, including some familiar names from The Original Series.
Familiar names from Trek lore played by newcomers include Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga, and Celia Rose Gooding, who will play Cadet Nyota Uhura, in the years before she became the communications officer under Captain Kirk. Paramount also announced Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak as Hemmer, who are new characters for this series.
One particularly mysterious cast member is Christina Chong who will play La’an Noonien-Singh. While this doesn’t seem to be a character from the Original Series, she does have a very familiar last name — the same as Khan Noonien Singh, the antagonist from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Whether this is just a neat bit of fan service, or a clue to one of the show’s storylines, we’ll have to wait and see.
All these characters join Mount’s previously announced castmates Rebecca Romijn as Number One — who is now officially named Una Chin-Riley — and Ethan Peck as Spock.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will stream on Paramount Plus, but there’s no announcement yet of just when it will be released.
