Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Strange New Worlds S03E03: Babs Olusanmokun Discusses Zombie Fight

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Babs Olusanmokun spoke with Bleeding Cool about his experience battling the zombie horde in S03E03.

Babs Olusanmokun is in a unique position in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, where he plays a legacy character that wasn't involved in the original unaired pilot of The Original Series, "The Cage" or the repurposed episode "The Menagerie" as Dr. Joseph M'Benga, originally played by Booker Bradshaw in the NBC series. In the Paramount+ series, it's been established that before he took the Hippocratic Oath to become a doctor, he was a special forces operative who became infamous in the Klingon War (2256-7), but failed to assassinate his intended target, General Dak'Rah (Robert Wisdom), known as the Butcher of J'Gal who later became ambassador and crossed paths with him onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Following the eventual confrontation and death of Dak'Rah, M'Benga's past catches up to him in the latest episode, "Shuttle to Kenfori." Olusanmokun spoke to Bleeding Cool about M'Benga's away mission with Pike (Anson Mount) and their battle against an unknown threat. The following contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Babs Olusanmokun on Crossing into the Zombie Survival Genre.

The episode starts as we see Pike trying to tie up loose ends with his girlfriend, Capt Batel (Melanie Scrofano), who seemed to recover from her Gorn infestation when he discovers her passed out on her stomach. After a visit to the sick bay, M'Benga reveals there's an experimental plant that may change Batel, but it might be the only chance she has to survive. After finding out the logistics of the plant's location on a planet called Kenfori, which is within disputed space between Federation and Klingon space, M'Benga is assigned, and Pike inserts himself as part of the two-man away team instead of volunteering Spock (Ethan Peck) due to the hierarchy and risk involved.

As the two land on the planet's surface, they find the plant at an abandoned research facility along with the remains of Federation scientists and Klingon warriors. As they try to discover what happened, they get some unwelcome visitors from a Klingon scout ship, which destroys the Enterprise shuttle, and the flesh-eating undead looking for a zombie feast. While the Enterprise tries to avoid the patrolling Klingon vessel using the surrounding debris to mask its presence, M'Benga and Pike meet the Klingon, Bytha (Christine Horn), who is trying to restore her honor after M'Benga robbed her of the right to kill Dak'Rah, trying to seek revenge on his killer, assisting her is her away team, who essentially end up as zombie chow.

Did you ever think you would ever fight zombies in Star Trek, and what was it like doing it alongside Anson?

It was cool. I don't limit the possibilities of things, so absolutely, fight zombies. Yeah, we could do it on Star Trek, and we can do it well, and we're so busy doing other things, too. That's the beauty of our show. We get the opportunity to tackle genres and kick the ball pretty far. It was fun to do.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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