Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ original characters are what keep the series from being just a clever prequel. They let the show interrogate war, legacy, and Federation idealism from fresh angles that the legacy roster alone can’t cover. This ranking looks at five of the most impactful Strange New Worlds originals, ordered from “still underused” to “absolutely essential."
5. Erica Ortegas
Erica Ortegas has been the show’s stealth MVP in terms of presence: she’s on the bridge constantly, she’s one of the first voices viewers associate with the USS Enterprise, and she brings a rare mix of gallows humor and raw piloting swagger. A veteran of the Federation–Klingon War, Ortegas has the resume of a hardened soldier, yet she treats flying the flagship like a thrill instead of a trauma response, which gives Strange New Worlds a lighter energy even in tense moments.
For a long stretch, the problem was not who Ortegas is, but how little the show was willing to center her. Brief war anecdotes and banter hinted at depth without committing to a real character study. Season 3’s heartbreaking “Terrarium” episode and the escalation of the Gorn conflict finally push her beyond one‑liners, stranding her in survival situations that force her to confront fear and failure instead of hiding behind jokes, but she still feels like a character just beginning to get the focus she deserves.