Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gives Cadet Uhura a compelling backstory

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives on Paramount Plus in May.

We haven’t been given much information about what the first episode will be like for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds nor have we seen an official trailer that encompasses the season. We’re getting down to the wire where we should be seeing something soon. The press, however, has been able to view at least one clip that introduces Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and in it, Uhura finally has a backstory that is going to make her a truly interesting and multi-dimensional character.

Den of Geek offered a full breakdown of the clip that has Uhura discussing her past, and even if she wants to be in Starfleet, with Captain Christopher Pike. The cadet was chosen out of thousands of applicants for the place aboard the Enterprise, and it’s clear she’s extremely well-qualified. Speaking 37 languages, she’d always planned to study alien languages at the University of Nairobi where her parents were both professors, but when they and her older brother are killed, it was too difficult for her to be on the campus without them.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds opens a new world for Cadet Uhura

After the death of her parents, Uhura moved in with her grandmother who was a former Starfleet officer. After hearing how much her grandmother enjoyed her time in Starfleet, Uhura joined, which ended up placing her on board the Enterprise. Captain Pike (Anson Mount) surmises that Uhura ran away to Starfleet and hoped she would find a place where she fit, wherever that was.

In this one brief scene, we learn more about Uhura than we ever did in Star Trek: The Original Series and in the movies. Hopefully, this is just the start of what we’ll learn about Uhura and the rest of the cast will be given full and varied histories as well that we’ll be able to explore.