Strange New Worlds to add legendary actress to its crew

Strange New Worlds is getting a bit more lighthearted.

During Star Trek Day, it was revealed that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was going to be getting an exciting new face on its crew. That new face belongs to a legendary actress Carol Kane, who featured in iconic films like The Princess Bride, The Addams Family, and Scrooged in amazing parts. Her comedic timing is impeccable and her arrival on Strange New Worlds is unexpected.

Kane will be playing a new character in the Star Trek mythos in “Pelia”. While not much is known about the character just yet other than that they’ll be the new chief of engineering. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds showrunner Henry Alonso Myers said that the new chief would be “a very different person, a completely different type of engineer”.

That doesn’t fully explain who she is, but the character is described as “highly educated and intelligent, this engineer suffers no fools; Pelia solves problems calmly and brusquely, thanks to her many years of experience.” (via TrekCore.com)

Will Pelia stick around in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?

It’s for sure to know what’s going on long-term with the show. The series already set up the debut of Enterprise Chief of Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott at the end of season one. So it’s not that shocking to think that maybe, just maybe Scotty is on the horizon.

Due to Kane’s age, she’s 70, she may be popping up for a cameo role, or shorter guest spot; more akin to how Betty White popped up at the start of Community’s second season. Or, Kane could be sticking around long-term, after all, Patrick Stewart refuses to retire, so why not make Kane a permanent member of the cast going forward?

She’s certainly talented enough. Though her chops have always been best used in comedies, so it’ll be interesting to see how she is as a more serious character. If this were Orville, I’d be all for her addition but for right now I’m taking a wait-and-see approach.