Posted in: Paramount+, TV | Tagged: star trek, star trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Lower Decks Star Lewis on Freeman/Mariner Dynamic & Future

Star Trek: Lower Decks' Dawnn Lewis (Futurama) spoke with Bleeding Cool about the Freeman/Mariner mother-daughter relationship, the show's future, and more.

Few have had such sustained TV careers as Dawnn Lewis since her debut in the NBC sitcom spinoff A Different World, appearing in five of the six seasons from 1987-1993. She's embraced the live-action and voiceover worlds for over 25 years with memorable roles in The 10th Kingdom, Dreamgirls (2006), and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988). She's emerged as a major presence in the voiceover world in recent years with her roles on The Simpsons, Futurama, World of Warcraft, and Rick & Morty. Lewis spoke to Bleeding Cool about her role as Captain Carol Freeman on Paramount+ animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks, how her character's grown up through the current fifth and final season, her dynamic with star Tawny Newsome, who plays her daughter Ensign-now-Lieutenant Beckett Mariner, and their mother-daughter dysfunctional relationship; how empathy drives the Mike McMahan series, favorite Freeman moment, and series' future.

Dawnn Lewis on Her Five-Season Journey as Captain Carol Freeman on Star Trek: Lower Decks

Bleeding Cool: How do you break down your evolution as Freeman in these five seasons?

My evolution as Freeman…wow! I go from being a definitive authoritarian who believes it's my responsibility to fix everyone, especially my daughter, which causes us to clash because the last thing she wants to be is fixed or fit in. Each season we learn more about each other and start to appreciate each other more to where we like, regard, and trust one another. Here it is five seasons later. Captain Freeman is not just an authoritarian, but she is a leader and collaborator with her crew, who is not afraid or is not concerned about making sure her daughter knows how much she is loved and respected, which starts to bring out even better qualities in her daughter and their relationship. I love it. It's like a real mom and teenage daughter. That was my mom's journey with me.

I know that Freeman and Mariner's relationship is a little more dysfunctional and more for comedic purposes than the other parent-child relationships on Star Trek, like Beverly and Wesley (on 'Next Generation') and Ben and Jake (on 'Deep Space Nine). Was there something from maybe those other shows you may have taken from those relationships? How would you compare those previous relationships compared to what you as Freeman and Tawny as Mariner?

It's not so much the relationships are different, it's that the entire approach for our show to all those other shows is so different. In all those other shows, everybody was excellent. It was the epitome of collaboration and diversity. It was a perfect example of "How this can work" and "This is how this can happen, where people can be excellent and different genders, species, or cultures, and have a common goal of excellence and work with respect and regard for each other."

On 'Lower Decks,' we are the absolutely flawed humans that most humanity sees as. We have great hearts and real skill sets. We do our best to do our best, but more often than naught, we don't get it right. There's lots of calamity and chaos involved, and we are human and doing our best. We look more like the everyday man, the everyday relationship most of us experience on a day-to-day basis, which is why the show is so popular. So many people find themselves in one of us as a character, as a real person, which is why it translated so well when Tawny and Jack [Quaid] got to do their live-action version [counterparts] in 'Strange New Worlds' [season two episode 'Those Old Scientists'].

Do you have a favorite Freeman moment in the series?

I have a couple because Captain Freeman is always so tightly wound and she's always so in ready, go mode. The episode where we had a talent show (in season one's "Temporal Edict"), and Captain Freeman didn't want to let go of the mic. She wanted to stand, sing, and start scatting, and it showed a whole other side of her, which I thought was hilarious. There was another episode ("Room for Growth" in a different season (three) where she wanted to increase the productivity of her crew and sent them to a relaxation spot only to find out she was the most tightly wound person on the ship, and her crew was fine until they devised a way to calm her down [laughs].

Did you talk to Mike about maybe the future of Lower Decks?' I know that this is the fifth and final season, but did you talk about a possible feature on Paramount+? I spoke to Fred [Tatasciore] about how he felt like two seasons worth of material, so how's that turnaround so far?

It's still being discussed, so "Never say never," and even at Paramount+. The industry is going through certain changes right now, so the hope is that with the support and outcry of the fans, the show is so incredibly popular we can land somewhere because Mike has several more years of stories in him. All of us are a game, love working together, and doing the show. Anything is possible.

Was there an existing character in the Star Trek universe or elsewhere that served as inspiration for your performance as Carol Freeman?

When I first auditioned for the show, we were not allowed to know what the show was. We didn't know it was going to be part of the Star Trek franchise. They had changed the names of all the characters, and we had to sign an NDA. I had no idea what it was, but I was auditioning for a character called Captain McDuck, so I did my best impersonation of a combination of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks). Captain Kirk was tight and took himself very seriously, and Captain Sisko had all the swagger and command, and nothing ever seemed to ruffle his feathers. I did my best at what it would be like if the two of them got smashed up and that's what booked me the gig. I've loved that ever since.

Star Trek: Lower Decks, which also stars Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Jerry O'Connell, Gillian Vigman, Paul Scheer, Gabrielle Ruiz, Kari Wahlgren, Carl Tart, Phil LaMarr, and Paul F. Tompkins streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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