‘Unapologetically heartful’: Actors praise Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as it returns to resolve massive cliffhanger

Having left its viewers hanging for what seems like an age with a dramatic cliffhanger, this powerhouse sci-fi franchise is finally back.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns to our television screens tonight with its third season – and with a promise that the charming earnestness of the franchise remains undiluted.

Season two ended on one of the more dramatic cliffhangers in Star Trek’s history, with the Enterprise locked in a seemingly hopeless struggle against a bloodthirsty, lizard-like race of aliens called the Gorn.

When we last saw this crew, the ship was outnumbered and under heavy fire. Starfleet had ordered Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) to retreat.

But multiple key members of his team, and hundreds of human colonists, had been abducted by the Gorn, and faced a horrific fate if Pike were to abandon them.

Quite the impossible choice, then.

The face of a captain with no good options.

Meanwhile his love interest, fellow Starfleet Captain Marie Batel (Malanie Scrofano), was quarantined in the Enterprise’s sick bay and infected with Gorn young which, as we resume the story, are set to tear their way out of her, Alien-style, within hours unless a miraculous solution can be found.

The season closed with a shot of Pike’s tortured, indecisive face on the bridge, and his crew begging him for orders.

So, the first order of business is to resolve that cliffhanger. Only then will Strange New Worlds be able to settle back into its usual rhythm.

Speaking ahead of the new season’s two-episode premiere, the show’s actors stressed that it will remain true to the spirit of the franchise.

“I think, for me, personally, the thing about Star Trek that always touches me – and it has not dulled at all in the five years that we’ve been doing this show – it just opens my heart a lot to engage with it,” said Australian actress Jess Bush, who plays Nurse Christine Chapel.

“Star Trek is so unapologetically optimistic and heartful. It just believes in goodness, in the inherent goodness of humanity, and a positive version of what the future could be.

“What I find with a lot of other TV shows that I’ve watched is there’s almost a cynicism, or self-deprecation, or you know, there’s a fear of being earnestly pro-stuff.

“And Star Trek is really different in that way. It’s just very positive, and wondrous, and curious, and really owns that characteristic for itself, which is something I am so proud to be a part of.”

Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel and Ethan Peck as Spock. The characters have a complicated relationship. Picture: Marni Grossman/Paramount+

Another fairly unique quality of Star Trek is the freedom with which it can dip in and out of different genres. One episode might be serious and philosophical; the next a silly comedy; the next something approaching horror.

Strange New Worlds has been criticised at times for its handling of this inconsistent tone, most famously after its, ahem, offbeat musical episode Subspace Rhapsody late in season two. That was immediately followed by a deeply dramatic finale, with its aforementioned cliffhanger.

The actors, however, enjoy the dancing between genres, which gives them a chance to explore their characters more fully.

One upcoming episode in season three features an early version of the holodeck, a staple of Star Trek later in the in-universe timeline. Christina Chong, who plays the outwardly serious security chief La’an Noonien-Singh, leads the cast in a Knives Out-style detective story.

She described the episode as “a huge gift”.

“I mean, to be able to number one, play a different character – or be La’an playing a different character – to be able to get into the film noir/sixties world, to be able to mash those two kind of periods together and play with all the amazing characters the writers created. The holodeck was an incredible excuse to do that,” said Chong.

“It was the most incredible episode. I cried at the end of it.”

Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh and Paul Wesley as James Kirk in the film noir-style episode. Picture: Marni Grossman/Paramount+

And her character on a more normal day at the office. Picture: YouTube

Asked whether it was difficult to pull off the show’s tonal shifts, and to keep their characters feeling consistent and believable, Bush said it was, in fact, quite the opposite.

“Actually, I think it’s an absolute gift for an actor to have that,” she said.

“As soon as I feel comfortable, they shift it to something else, and you’re constantly moving and evolving in a way that’s kind of like a jungle gym, for an actor.

“And I don’t think you often get opportunities like that with long-running shows. So while it is challenging and thrilling. Like, actors are masochists.”

“Exactly. What other show do you get to do this on? Or will we ever get to do this on in our lifetime?” said Chong.

“It helps you feel more three-dimensional,” added Martin Quinn, introduced to Strange New Worlds’ cast in season two’s finale, who plays the beloved legacy character Scotty.

“You’re learning so much more about your character as another episode, or another scenario, something completely different, comes up.”

You can look forward to many of those wildly different scenarios as season three progresses. The show remains as eclectic as ever and, to steal Bush’s term, unapologetically “heartful” – as every Star Trek story should be.

Season three of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres tonight on Paramount+ with two episodes. You can read our review here.

Originally published as ‘Unapologetically heartful’: Actors praise Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as it returns to resolve massive cliffhanger