“It also imagined what we could be, didn’t just sit in what we are.”
Star Trek: The Original Series television sequels like The Next Generation provided the fanbase with a plethora of new characters. However, one of the most memorable female leads from any of the TV and streaming series over the years is unquestionable Major Kira Nerys, who was portrayed brilliantly by actress Nana Visitor on Deep Space Nine. And while promoting the new documentary The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World, Visitor weighed in what the franchise’s new projects should hang their hat on in the future.
Visitor said (per TrekMovie.com): “The structure of the storytelling has to hang on humanity and what it really is to be human: the faults, the hopes, the strengths. It all has to go back to that and don’t try to stay with a cultural moment. Think beyond that, because I really think that that’s what the original show did.”
Visitor, who played Major Kira Nerys in all seven seasons of Deep Space Nine, continued during the same interview by saying: “Even though it had, it dealt with the issues of the time, which you’re going to see in this documentary [The Sixty-Year Mission], it also imagined what we could be, didn’t just sit in what we are.”
For those who may be new to the Star Trek fandom, Major Kira was the first Bajoran character created as a series lead since the franchise debuted in 1966. However, it was the popularity of another Bajoran (Michelle Forbes’ Ensign Ro Laren), who first appeared in The Next Generation, which paved the way for Kira’s emergence on DS9.
Many of my favorite moments featuring Major Kira from Deep Space Nine came when the sequel series crossed paths with the Mirror Universe. Unlike Kira’s forthright and honorable character, she existed as the diabolical Intendant on the other side of the looking glass — the evil empress who’d lost all her humanity.
I think the reason I enjoyed those DS9 episodes so much was because they demonstrated just how important humanity was. However, I won’t lie: I enjoyed Visitor’s dark and seductive portrayal of the Intendant, especially whenever she mixed it up with either Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), or, even better, when she flirted with Mirror Sisko.
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Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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