How Star Trek's Quirkiest Character Can Unite The Entire Canon Beyond 2027
The woman who has lived forever could also be in Star Trek forever. Here's what Carol Kane has to say about the past and future of Pelia.
Now that the dust has settled on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, it's natural for fans to be looking, hopefully boldly, to the future. And, within the current ensemble, there’s one character who not only has an uncertain future, but also a mysterious past. Starting with Season 2 in 2023, Strange New Worlds introduced the centuries-old character of Pelia, played by the incomparable Carol Kane. At the time, it seemed like a bit of stunt casting, but after two seasons in the role, it’s actually quite hard to imagine the vibe of the series without her. Technically, she’s the incumbent chief engineer on the Starship Enterprise right now, but as Season 3 revealed, she’s certainly getting Scotty (Martin Quinn) prepped for the job.
And yet, the future of Strange New Worlds is finite: After Season 3, we’ll get Season 4, which has already completed filming, and then, likely in 2027, a six-episode swan song in the form of Season 5. Presumably, Kane’s Pelia could be around for all of those episodes. But her unique status as a long-lived Lanthanite also means she could be hanging around the Trek canon well beyond Strange New Worlds. We caught up with the legendary actor to get her take on her trek so far, and how she thinks about the sprawling franchise as a whole.
Spoilers ahead for Strange New Worlds Season 3.
Spock (Ethan Peck), Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), and Pelia (Carok Kane) face a very illogical problem in Strange New Worlds, Season 3, Episode 8, “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans.”
In “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans,” Pelia didn’t get to turn into a Vulcan. Were you bummed?
Not at all! You know what? I have had my fill of prosthetics. Between The Princess Bride and Addams Family Values, I was like: No, enough with the prosthetics. I know our beautiful Ethan [Peck] goes in early to get those ears on, and I escaped that, so, no, I wasn’t bummed.
Pelia is very often the comic relief on Strange New Worlds. But could we have a more serious Pelia episode?
I think there are some things coming up. I think you’ll see in Season 4. I don’t just want characters that are serious or funny or whatever. I want a whole, real person in some way. And I think that’s what they’ve given me, because they’re such good writers. My relationships are developing with Scotty, Spock, and everybody. I think it’s becoming more three-dimensional as time goes on. I started out on Taxi, so I know good writing when I see it.
I know when you started in Season 2, you were pretty unfamiliar with Star Trek. Have you done more research since then?
You know what? I'd like to say I've done a lot more research, but I haven’t. Instead, I’ve kept it sort of in the present about what Pelia is doing now with my Strange New Worlds crew. And the writers say, that’s good for my character that I’m in the present.
But my history is thousands of years old. I haven’t looked closely at how that works with other Star Trek episodes, even though I know they’re brilliant, and I admire the political point of view in the writing and how brave the writing is. It’s always about life on Earth now, and our life on Earth now is pretty frightening in my opinion.
Pelia uses her old-school knowledge to save the Enterprise in “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
Because Pelia is thousands of years old, and in theory could live thousands more years, it means you could potentially appear in any future Star Trek project. Have you thought about that?
Well, I think our cast is extraordinary. I hadn’t really thought about anything like that, beyond this show, because I don’t really know how that works. But I would say that I’d be thrilled to do that. Wouldn't that be fun?
