It looks like Stacey Abrams has beaten Pete Davidson into space.
The politician, romance novelist, suffrage activist and yes, Trekkie, makes an unexpected comeo in the season 4 finale of “Star Trek: Discovery”. now streaming on Paramount +.
In the series, United Earth was shut down by the galactic United Federation of Planets after the catastrophic event known as The Burn, which covered the galaxy. But after Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and his crew rescued the Federation from total excavation, the President of United Earth makes his way to the Starfleet Starbase and asks to rejoin the union.
Dee President? Abrams, of course.
“We knew that season 3 was coming, that bringing the federation back together would be a two-season arc,” said the show’s executive producer Michelle Paradise IndieWire. “And in the third episode of season 3, we go to Earth and we find out that Earth is no longer a member. So we announced that Earth is equal to reuniting with the Federation. So did we know that, at the end of season 4, we had to focus on Earth.
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“And when we came to season four and came in half through breaking it, we realized: We need one person to represent the earth,” she continued. “And then the question became: who should that person be? I do not remember where the idea came from, honestly. But I sent Alex an SMS to say, ‘What do you think of Stacey Abrams?’ Right away, [he sent] Exclamation mark. “
Paradise and fellow “Discovery” executive producer Alex Kurtzman then arranged a zoom meeting with Abrams to discuss their character and explain their significance to the season. When the couple offered Abrams the role, she immediately said yes and traveled to the Toronto show to film her scene.
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Abrams has been a longtime “Star Trek” fan, which makes her recent appearance all the more special. She previously hosted “Trek the Vote to Victory,” a themed campaign event for Joe Biden in 2020, alongside Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang. The event also featured some of the franchise’s most notable stars, including Sir Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton and George Takei. And in a 2019 interview with The New York Times, the self-described Trekkie revealed that she’s a big fan of the “Star Trek: Voyager” episode “Shattered” and its main lady, Kate Mulgrew’s captain Janeway.
“We never wanted it to be a como – it was a real role,” Paradise said of Abrams’ performance. “It’s just something that made us think, ‘Well, of course she can do it.’ And she did. She just blew us away.
Other notable “Star Trek” guest stars include Gabrielle Union, Stephen Hawking, Dwayne Johnson and Sarah Silverman. At this point, it is not clear whether Abrams will reproduce her role or make an appearance in other franchise productions. Her hands are very full with her political career; Abrams is currently running for governor of Georgia.
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