Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, strange new worlds

Strange New Worlds Star Melissa Navia on S03 Challenges, Ortegas, Gorn

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Melissa Navia spoke with Bleeding Cool about the Season 3 challenges for Ortegas, the Gorn, and more.

With the first two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in the books, there are some interesting ongoing narratives in the works, particularly regarding how the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise has been dealing with the aftermath of their latest encounter with the Gorn in the two-parter "Hegemony" that stemmed from the season two finale cliffhanger and season three premiere. Just as the Enterprise security chief in La'an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) has been trying to cope with her childhood trauma regarding the reptilian species, we're also finding out how it's going to affect helmsperson Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia). The actress spoke to Bleeding Cool about what we can expect from how Ortegas is going to deal with the events following "Part II" and the tease at the end of "Wedding Bell Blues." The following contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Melissa Navia on Ortega's Latest Challenge: Trauma

During the events of "Hegemony," the U.S.S. Enterprise is trying to assist the residents at Parnassus Beta, a colony that resides outside of Federation space, but particularly of interest is the U.S.S. Cayuga with Capt. Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano), when they find themselves in the middle of a Gorn invasion decimating the local life and the Cayuga, are egregiously overmatched. As the Enterprise mounts a strategy that includes an away team to save the captured colonists, that includes La'an, M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte), and Ortegas. As they save whoever is not too far gone in the Gorn digestive enclosures, the away team is desperately trying to find ways to communicate with the Enterprise while trying to navigate their vessel. As M'Benga finds a flight console, the badly injured Ortegas insists on taking control despite being in excruciating pain, having to force her weight on her stomach and her injured abdomen in a prone position.

Can you talk about going through the motions and challenges as an actor, about how Ortegas is dealing with the aftermath of her Gorn experience at the beginning of season three?

Navia: We get to see Ortegas go through some ups and downs in season three, and it's kicked off by the Gorn and her experience on the away mission that we are in the middle of at the end of Season two. What we get is we're seeing her in the aftermath of really getting to experience that she's not invincible, and for all her confidence, bravado, relaxed attitude that makes us fall in love with Ortegas, then also [continue to] see she's also amazing at her job, all that didn't save her from what could have been her demise.

We see how she must put herself back together, what it takes to do that, who she chooses to lean on, and if she's going to open to her fellow crew members in ways that she hasn't done so before. I love it, because the fans and the audience get to see a side of her that we have not gotten to see. I'm looking forward to, and I've been saying it all day, but "more Ortegas."

As the Enterprise triggered a biological response within the Gorn to abandon their potential invasion of Federation space, the away team made it back with the survivors. In the follow-up episode "Wedding Bell Blues," we see Ortegas sparring with her brother and filmmaker Beto Ortegas (Mynor Luken) with things seemingly back to normal, but in the final tease, as Ortegas looks into the mirror in her quarters, we see a Gorn emerge beside her. New episodes of Strange New Worlds stream on Thursdays on Paramount+.

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