Aussie Picard star Evan Evagora on ‘Space Legolas’ and why he wants to keep pointy ears

Trailblazing Aussie Star Trek actor Evan Evagora has revealed the best and scariest parts of making the second season of Picard.

Many actors talk about their dream role but Star Trek favourite Evan Evagora took his to ludicrous lengths.

So enamoured did he become with playing Elnor in Star Trek: Picard that the pointy-eared, arse-kicking, sword-swinging Romulan warrior actually began to occupy his sleeping hours too.

“The scary thing is that I started to dream that I’d have those ears on all the time,” the Melbourne-raised actor confirms.

“It got to the point where the only time I’d see my reflection was as Elnor, so that’s what I looked like in my dreams.

“So, that was the scariest part but if I could have a surgical change, I think I’d want to keep the pointy ears.”

Landing the role of Elnor in Picard, in which Patrick Stewart plays an older, more vulnerable version of his beloved The Next Generation character Jean-Luc Picard, was a big deal for Evagora.

Not only did he become the first Australian to become a core member of a Star Trek show but as someone of mixed Maori and Cypriot lineage, he felt proud to add to the richly diverse cultural legacy of the long-running sci-fi series.

“I could really sit and understand the weight of the role that I’ve been given in terms of representation,” he says.

“Hopefully some kid watching the show can have a look and even though I’ve got pointed ears and eyebrows, they can be like, ‘That guy looks like me and sounds like me’.”

Jeri Ryan, Patrick Stewart, Michelle Hurd and Evan Evagora in Season Two of Picard.

Evagora, like everyone else involved in the show, was relieved the notoriously demanding Star Trek fans embraced the first season of Picard. Having the love of the Trekkies, he says, made it easier to return to the character dubbed “space Legolas”.

“I think given the positive reception of it, it actually eased everything that I was feeling and it’s always fun, going back and being able to explore new facets of an old character,” he says. “And as I’m growing as a person, so is the character I’m playing and I can’t help but find these weird matching parallels between me and Elnor. It’s crazy.”

Evagora moved back to his home town after the first season of Picard, when the pandemic shut down TV and film productions globally. But waiting for season two to get started and “too much downtime in Australia” left him feeling like a caged tiger and itching to return. “As soon as I got the green light to come back over to LA, I did not look back,” the 25-year-old says with a laugh.

Season two of Picard has had a bleaker tone than most Star Trek shows so far, which tend to show an inspirational, aspirational future for humanity.

Evagora’s co-star Stewart, who he is proud to call a friend and mentor, says he is “profoundly disappointed” with world affairs in 2022, but the Aussie says its up to his generation to make a difference.

Santiago Cabrera, Isa Briones, Michelle Hurd and Evan Evagora at Paramount+'s 10 Forward: The Experience VIP Opening Night in Los Angeles this month. Picture: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+

“Gene Roddenberry’s vision of Star Trek was always to hold the mirror to the issues that we face in our society today,” he says.

“And I think by us showing this very bleak future reminds us that we as people all have a choice and those choices have consequences and it paints this idea of a future that humanity could end up leading to, but then also this hope that we could go the opposite direction and better ourselves. And that really does come down to the choices we make.”

While Evagora is happy to ride the Star Trek space wagon for as long as he can, he also as other acting goals to tick off, including a superhero and reviving a role made famous by the late Brandon Lee.

“I’d really love to play the Nightstalker, which is a very different role to what Elnor would be. I’d also love to play The Crow – I think part of me was born to revive that role. So whoever is listening, please, the powers that be – make it so.”

Star Trek: Picard is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Originally published as Aussie Picard star Evan Evagora on ‘Space Legolas’ and why he wants to keep pointy ears