Celia Rose Gooding continues to go where no one has before as the fan-favorite character Nyota Uhura even thought season 3 of SNW was a bit of a letdown. However, two seasons remain before the show reaches its finale and production on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 recently wrapped production. The talented actor has played the USS Enterprise’s beloved communications officer since the Paramount+ series debuted back in 2022,and Trekkies are undoubtedly aware of all these facts. However, fans might find it interesting to know that Gooding didn’t have a clue who they were auditioning for back in the day — but their mother did, though.
As it turns out, Gooding’s mom is a “huge Trekkie,” which allowed her to deduce the true identity of the character Gooding was auditioning for even though a fake name, “Yuboa” was being used to conceal Uhura’s identify from those who had access to the script. Gooding told the humorous story while appearing at the ST-NJ: TREK TO NEW JERSEY event, and they said (via TrekMovie.com): “My mom is a huge Trekkie… and she was like, ‘Who?’
Apparently, Gooding’s mother kept asking about the character’s name her daughter was auditioning for because she suspected Yuboa was actually Uhura. Gooding continued her story by saying: “And I said, ‘Yuboa.’ And she was like, ‘Are you sure you read that right?' And I was like, ‘It wasn’t Uhura, Mom. It’s the communications officer of the USS Enterprise, you know, Yuboa!” My mom’s like, ‘Okay, come back to me in like two weeks.’ Yeah, she was right. Moms always are.”
Yes, mom was right. However, she was hardly done sharing her love of Trek because Gooding had a lot to learn about the franchise and the rich history the late Nichelle Nichols brought to role of Uhura as a part of the USS Enterprise’s OG crew. Gooding then explained how her mother educated them on the epic universe created by Gene Roddenberry. Gooding said:
“My mom popped the biggest bowl of popcorn we could possibly fathom, and we watched almost the entire first season of The Original Series in the span of three days. And that was all I watched of The Original Series, because it became very clear to me that I’m watching my future, and no one should be allowed to know what the future holds. So, I did a little bit of research, but enough for me to know her physicality and her body posture and like how she carries herself. But not enough to memorize the person she becomes.”
Celia Rose Gooding does a brilliant job bringing her own likable iteration of Uhura to the small screen, but her voyages on the USS Enterprise are sadly winding down, at least on Strange New Worlds. Season 5 will sadly mark the end of the run, but there's no question that she's lived up to the legacy laid down by the incomparable Nichelle Nichols.
Now, how would you like to see Uhura's story end during the fifth and final season of SNW? With two season to go, there's still a lot of room for the character to grow before she begins serving under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) Please share your thoughts and comments about Uhura and SNW on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.