The Discovery mainstay discusses her character’s legacy ahead of the franchise’s 60th anniversary.
Star Trek will officially celebrate 60 years of boldly going on Tuesday, Sept. 8, which marks the first time the television series aired on NBC. However, it was over 50 years later before The Walking Dead actress Sonequa Martin-Green was cast to portray Michael Burnham during the five-season run of Discovery. And the actress recently reflected on portraying the Star Trek franchise’s “first Black female captain.”
Martin-Green said in a new interview (per TV Insider): “I hope and pray that Burnham has a solidified position in the franchise, because there’s so much more to her than being the leader who found her way falling forward. She’s the one who figured out who she is and how she can contribute to the greater good through moral failures, confrontation, and true maturation.”
Martin-Green, who first portrayed the mutinous Michael Burnham only to later become the captain of the USS Discovery, continued during the same sit-down by saying:
“Those are tenets of her legacy. There’s also the historical context: the first Black female captain and lead of a show in the Star Trek franchise. I hope she’s seen as a testament to the fact that your deepest failures can drive your greatest successes.”
For those who are new to the fandom, Madge Sinclair of Coming to America (1988) and The Lion King (1994) fame is technically the first Black female to portray a Starfleet captain, not Martin-Green.
However, Sinclair’s character, who was the commander of the USS Saratoga, only appeared briefly in the 1986 blockbuster Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, when her Federation vessel came across and was disabled by the probe venturing to Earth in hopes of communicating with humpback whales.
Despite the negativity thrown Discovery’s way by some corners of the fandom, like a MACOs' stun grenade from Enterprise, I believe Michael Burnham is by far and away one of the most intriguing Star Trek characters to come out of the highly scrutinized Kurtzman Era.
I particularly enjoyed Michael's interactions with Spock (Ethan Peck) as she was adopted by his parents and raised on Vulcan. And the show was obviously at its best, in my opinion, while the future cast of Strange New Worlds was finding their eventual spin-off footing on Discovery's 32nd century playground.
What are your feelings about Michael Burnham’s legacy within the confines of Discovery and even beyond in Star Trek’s rich 60-year history? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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