2. Celia Rose Gooding | Strange New Worlds
Prequels are tricky. They can flatten characters into Easter eggs or erase what made them iconic. Strange New Worlds avoids that. In just a few episodes, Gooding had more to do as Uhura than Nichols did in all of TOS and the original films combined.
Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura is brilliant, thoughtful, and still discovering how to wield her skills. She makes decisions, navigates crises, and claims the bridge while showing vulnerability. Her personal stakes were highlighted through her relationship with Hemmer, from partnership to coping with his death, showing her depth while remaining a capable officer.
On top of that, Gooding — an acclaimed musical theater and Broadway star — brought a vocal performance dimension that Nichols only touched on in TOS. In episodes like “Memento Mori” and “Subspace Rhapsody,” Gooding elevated Uhura’s musical side, turning a brief character trait from TOS into a full, expressive element of the character’s identity.
This makes her portrayal not only nuanced but also fully multidimensional: Uhura as a living, breathing officer, a cultural touchstone, and a performer. Gooding doesn’t just honor Nichols’ legacy — she expanded it in ways the original scripts, and the time in which they were produced, never allowed.