With Star Trek: Starfleet Academy now in full swing, viewers are getting to know both the cast and characters. One young cast member, Karim Diane, recently spoke to TrekMovie.com about how he felt joining a Star Trek series and how his co-star, Holly Hunter, helped him get past his initial anxiety.
Diane praised Hunter for her kindness, saying:
"Yeah. I’m a newer actor, you know? This is a dream role, this is the biggest thing I’ve ever had the opportunity to do, so it comes with a lot of nerves, you know? Especially when I’m not playing anything that’s close to who I naturally am. And I’m altering my voice and I look really different, and I’m walking different, and it’s… You have a lot of anxiety because you’re like, 'Does this look right? Is anybody believing this?'
Diane continued by saying:
"And Holly really just centered me and grounded me. And a really sweet moment where we were filming a scene together, and she just pulled me aside, she said, 'Hey, you know what? You’re doing, an amazing job.' And it was really as simple as that. And to hear something like that from an icon, from somebody who’s an Academy Award-winning actress, it made me be like, 'Yeah, you know what, I am doing a good job.' So she really gave me confidence."
Viewers who watched Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Voyager had no idea that the actors involved would eventually create some of the greatest Trek characters in the franchise, such as the beloved Captain Janeway and the iconic Commander (and eventually captain) Ben Sisko. Many viewers appreciated the confidence Kate Mulgrew and Avery Brooks brought to the screen and the way they mentored the young, up-and-coming actors in their series.
I hope that Hunter, Paul Giamatti, and the other experienced actors on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy continue to support these young actors who have yet to find their feet or slip into their characters as easily as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy probably did once they started filming The Original Series movies. This connection and support system is such an important part of the franchise, and I'm looking forward to the cast of Starfleet Academy becoming a whole new bunch of characters for fans to know and love.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is now available on Paramount+ with a new episode dropping every Thursday through March 12. For more Star Trek content, visit the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.