SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Consider yourself warned. The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wrapped up earlier this summer, and as someone who was hungry for episodic Star Trek once again… I loved it. The second season is already in the can and will debut next year, but the production has been keeping a big secret all this time. It was announced during today’s Star Trek Day presentation that Carol Kane will be beaming up for the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Carol Kane is best known for her roles in Dog Day Afternoon, When a Stranger Calls, The Princess Bride, Taxi, and much more. She also received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Hester Street. Carol Kane will be playing Pelia in the Star Trek series, a “highly educated and intelligent” engineer who “suffers no fools.” She solves problems “calmy and brusquely, thanks to her many years of experience.”
The chief engineer for the first season of Strange New Worlds was Hemmer, an Aenar who served as a gruff mentor to Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). Sadly, Hemmer died after becoming infected with Gorn eggs. Bruce Horak, the actor behind Hemmer, was the first legally blind regular on a Star Trek series, but the writers always intended that he would only appear in the first season. Showrunner Henry Alonso Myers teased that Hemmer’s replacement would be a “completely different type of engineer,” and Carol Kane fits the fill. Love that Starfleet fanny pack.
While we’re on the topic of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the first clip from the second season was released during Star Trek Day. It features Eric Ortegas (Melissa Navia) preparing to join an undercover landing party.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 will debut on Paramount+ in 2023. What do you think of Carol Kane joining the Star Trek franchise?