Star Trek: Strange New Worlds unveils original Trek characters, including its new Uhura

Variety

Tony-nominated Broadway star Celia Rose Gooding will take on the role of Cadet Nyota Uhura, first played by Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek: The Original Series, on Strange New Worlds. The announcement was made at Star Trek Day, commemorating 55 years of the iconic franchise. The role is Gooding's first major on-screen credit. “I am thrilled and honored to say that I will be playing Cadet Nyota Uhura,” Gooding says in Paramount+'s "Meet the Cast" video. Also joining main cast members Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn are Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel -- first played by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s wife Majel Barrett on the original Star Trek -- and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga, a medical officer first played by Booker Bradshaw on the original Trek. Strange New Worlds will also feature new characters: Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas and Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh, who is likely related to the infamous Trek villain Khan Noonien Singh. The announcement also revealed that Bruce Horak will become the first legally blind actor to play a main character on a Trek TV series, in the role of Hemmer. Asked by moderator Wil Wheaton about the future of Trek on TV, Star Trek TV boss Alex Kurtzman said that with five ongoing series, he’s “not in a hurry” to launch any more. But he did bring up the fan enthusiasm for a series set at Starfleet Academy. “I know there’s been a lot of conversation about Starfleet Academy, which we are very excited about,” he said, according to Variety. “When we talked about, there’s this new generation that’s going to inherit the problems of the old generation, what are they going to do to make the world better to solve it, how are we going to avoid the mistakes of our elders, and how are we going to learn from the wisdom of our elders — that’s a really wonderful thing to consider when you think about something like Starfleet Academy.”