This character needs more story on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just concluded its second great season

Although the season was another good one, there is one character whose story hasn’t been told on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Though we’ve seen bits and pieces of Lt. Erica Ortegas’ (Melissa Navia) backstory, we don’t know that much about her. We’ve been shown more about the rest of the crew, but Ortegas remains a mystery.

An excellent pilot, Ortegas was in the Klingon War and had an issue with Ambassador Dak’Rah when he was being escorted on the Enterprise. That gave us a glimpse into her past, but, considering how much we’ve gotten for Nurse Chapel, Dr. M’Benga, and Spock, that isn’t giving us much. And it’s disappointing since, with her skills and temperament, she’s bound to have a really great backstory…once it’s written and shown.

Star Trek: Strange New World has done a great job with many characters on the series

The characters that were once on Star Trek: The Original Series have been given good storylines and solid pasts, although I’m sure there’s more to come. Lt. La’an Noonien Singh has had some good material on the series, and we definitely know more about her past than Ortegas.

Among the Lotus Eaters was a compelling episode that highlighted Ortegas’ love of being a pilot, and it also showed just how good of an actress Navia is. Navia told Comicbook at the Strange New World season two press junket that episode aligned very much with what was happening in her own life at the time of filming.

"“And for me personally, I was very open with fans about the personal grief that I was going through last year. I was going through all of that as we were filming Season 2. And so, to have this highly emotional episode where Ortegas is falling apart and has to remember that she is capable of doing all these things that she has suddenly forgotten how to do, that aligned very closely to what was happening in my own life.”"

With Strange New Worlds being an ensemble cast, it’s not easy giving everyone their moments. While Navia has gotten a few of those moments, she hasn’t gotten that storyline that really tells who she is, and I hope season three will rectify that!