Garrett Wang played the perpetual Ensign Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager for seven seasons.
As frustrated as Wang was with his character not being promoted, the fans were even more so. We all saw the absolute ridiculousness of keeping Kim as a ensign for the entirety of the series. And there has been plenty of call to bring Wang back to a live-action series to show his character has finally been promoted. That was actually a plan Terry Matalas, the showrunner of Star Trek: Picard, had before budgetary constraints got in the way.
Surprisingly, though, Wang would be okay with Harry Kim remaining an ensign forever…under one condition. In an interview with the All Access Star Trek podcast [via Trekmovie], Wang said if he could play an alien with complete prostethics on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, he would take that in a heartbeat over a Harry Kim promotion.
And which alien would Garrett Wang love to play on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?
Though, in the interview, Wang jokes about being willing to play an inanimate object, like a phaser, on Strange New Worlds, he would prefer to play a Klingon with full prosethics. He said he would even ask for his name to be at the end of the credits so no one would know who played the Klingon until the end of the episode.
One of the reasons why Wang wants to appear on Strange New Worlds is because he loves the show. He said it has that connection to the past as well as an homage to Star Trek: The Original Series and went on to say that a wonderful job was done with casting, set design, and “you name it.” Overall, Wang things SNW is a really good Trek show, and that’s why he’s “down to guest star” on it.
While the second season of Strange New Worlds is already completed, with the first episode airing on June 15, there’s plenty of time to work Wang in as an alien in season three. It wouldn’t make up for not seeing Harry Kim promoted, but it would fulfill a dream of Wang’s!