“I did not realize that we were sharing this Star Trek reality together.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Commander Pelia only appeared in four episodes during the show’s fourth season, but the 5,000-year-old Lanthanite continues to dazzle as one of SNW’s best recurring characters. However, the brilliant actress who portrays the Enterprise engineer, Carol Kane, wasn’t aware that fellow Trek performer Holly Hunter played a Lanthanite.
When asked if she’d ever talked to Starfleet Academy’s Holly Hunter about also playing a Lanthanite, Kane said via ScreenRant: “I did not realize that we were sharing this Star Trek reality together. I have not talked to her. Holly and I have done several plays together, so we have an ongoing conversation. She's a genius, as you know, and I love to talk to her any time. But we actually haven’t.”
Sadly, both Pelia and Starfleet Academy Chancellor Nahla Ake (Hunter), who is also captain of the USS Athena, don’t have much more screentime to enjoy within the confines of the Star Trek universe.
It’s unclear if Kane will return as Pelia in Strange New Worlds season 5 for a cameo, as the character left the USS Enterprise to live on that bizarre medieval ship to be with its miracle-working cook, Max — a nod to her role in The Princess Bride decades earlier.
Meanwhile, Starfleet Academy only has 10 more episodes scheduled to stream on Paramount+, likely in early 2027, since the streaming show was unfairly canceled. And season 1 concluded its run earlier this year, so, like Pelia, Nahla Ake’s time is almost up, too.
I wish the two Lanthanites would’ve had the opportunity to meet on-screen, either in a Strange New Worlds or Starfleet Academy time-travel episode, since they are set in the 23rd and 32nd centuries respectively. However, Pelia and Nahla bumping into one another simply won’t happen now, unless the characters are brought back for some future Trek.
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Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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