What makes a memorable Star Trek foe? Casting and writing have a lot to do with creating antagonists like Khan Noonien Singh or the Borg Queen, but according to Starfleet Academy actor Paul Giamatti, sometimes it's their effect on the "good guys" that can make a hero/villain dynamic really pop!
Giamatti recently appeared on Trek Talks 5, and one of the interviewers mentioned that he thought there was more to Nus Braka's feelings for Nahla Ake than anger and the drive to be cruel. Giamatti replied by saying via TrekMovie.com: “I’m not exactly sure why — she [Holly Hunter] and I have talked about this, and she was like, ‘I’m maybe a little turned on by him.’ And it’s like, I’m not sure what it is. Yeah, there’s a strange erotic thing between the two of them.”
While heroes and their foes rarely have "will they or won't they" energy in the Star Trek universe, one has to wonder exactly how much erotic tension caused the odd dynamic between the Tellarite/Klingon hybrid Nus Braka and Chancellor Ake.
While Holly Hunter plays Nahla Ake as unbothered, laid back, and at times might remind you of your mom's younger ex-hippie buddy from work, it's this type of personality that gives her the confidence to admit that on some level, Braka's ways excite her character.
Nahla's never encountered someone like Nus Braka in her long life. So, seeing him after his escape from the penal colony she sent him to 15 years earlier may have subconsciously sparked a bit of that "we love a bad boy" energy. Sadly, with Starfleet Academy's recent cancellation, we will never know.
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