Actor Rebecca Romijn recently discussed stepping into the iconic role Number One in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery.
For a character that has been largely a huge unknown for fans for over 50 years, Number One has become a Star Trek legend.
Number One, which is what she has always been called because her name has never been revealed, was originally played by Majel Barrett, who would later go on to play Nurse Chapel in the Original Series. She served as Captain Pike’s second-in-command on the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original Trek pilot “The Cage” which many people considered incredibly daring for the time. In fact, some think that due to Number One being a woman and in such a high place of authority on the Enterprise, it played into television executives passing on the first pilot.
In the decades since, Number One has become something of a feminist symbol in science fiction and Star Trek icon. This despite the fact the character has very little dialogue, never appeared anywhere other then “The Cage” and fans know next to nothing about her.
This Thursday, that all begins to change.
That is when Number One will make her first appearance on the fourth episode of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2. The episode, titled “An Obol for Charon” will mark the debut of Rebecca Romijn as the character in what is promised as a recurring role.
Ever since the announcement of the casting, fans have been excited to see the return of Number One and the chance for the show to fill in some of the many blanks for the character. Like, you know, starting with her actual name.
Star Trek.com recently spoke to Romijn about joining the franchise as Number One and that, as a lifelong Star Trek fan, it was a no brainer to accept the role.
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"I got a call about playing an iconic role on Star Trek, no more details than that, and I jumped, because it’s a franchise I’ve always loved, that I’ve always been a viewer of and a fan of. With this, with the fandom, which spans decades and is so vast and so huge, you don’t want to let anybody down. There’s added pressure to not let anybody down, especially with a character that’s already so well known to people, though the interesting thing is that people don’t really know much about her."
Romijn also indicated that the mystery of Number One may not be solved by the time Discovery finished its second season.
"Well, we don’t know how vast her skill set is, but she’s got a skill set that goes deep. Captain Pike, obviously, relies on her for a lot. I don’t even think we, in this season, get to know how much she knows. I know that he’s comfortable leaving her in charge of the Enterprise when he’s not there."
As for how Romijn would describe Number One?
"She knows her shit."
Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 is currently airing on CBS All Access and “An Obol for Charon” debuts this Thursday, February 7.