Spoiler Alert: This story explains the plot development for Season 3 of Star Trek: Stranger New World Episode 9.
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” follows the early days of the USS Enterprise due to some of the beloved characters in the franchise, such as Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), but one of the biggest fan favorites was a character that specialised in the show.
To the joy of many, in the penultimate episode of season 3, Ortegas – finally! – Get her in an episode completely dedicated to her. The culmination of Ark began with the premiere of Season 3. Ortegas suffers from fatal injuries after a reptile alien, along with several other enterprise crewmates, is captured by Ghosn. This experience haunts Ortegas throughout the season, affecting her morale and completely softens her.
The Terrarium brings back to life Ortegas’ nightmare. While flying through the shuttlecraft, she is sucked into a wormhole and crashes into the barren moon. The injured Ortegas must maintain her wisdom while searching for food as the Enterprise crew scrambles to save her. Convinced that Ghosn means killing her, Ortegas is shocked to save her from the giant, centipede-like native species of the moon, then shares her shelter with her. In the classic “Star Trek” fashion, Ortegas learns how to communicate with Ghosn. They form bonds and work together to ignite the gas from the intense storms around them, informing businesses of their location. When the rescue arrives, they mistake Ghosn for the enemy, kill her, and mistake Ortegas for his anguish and regret.
This episode is nothing more than a toured force for Navia, who has to hold the story completely on her shoulder for most of the episode. “Fans wanted more Ortegas screen time and bigger storyline,” she says. “But I didn’t know they were going to send the rest of my cast on vacation!” The actor spoke about how it was with so many fans in Ortegas’ corner, the challenges and profits of shooting against the actor in a huge Gone costume, why the episode is like a preparation for a Marvel movie, and how it feels like it’s starting to film the fifth final season of the show.
Ortegas has quite a story arc this season. Did you know the full scope of it from the beginning?
I knew about (episode) 309. It was spoken in a whisper. I knew what was going on in the premiere of season 3. I knew it was the first time I’d seen Ortega break and deal with something she had no control over. She’s this extremely capable, confident, cheeky, cool, reliable Helmsman, right? She will drive you out of trouble. Even if she had gone through the Klingon War, the one I brought to it was that this was the first time she had truly died. So I knew the beginning of what was going on (with her). And finally, towards the middle of the season, I got the full range of what the 309 is.
Was Ortegas eager to finally get a showcase episode about her?
yes. It’s interesting. Season 1, Ortegas doesn’t have as much screen time as everyone else actually didn’t dawn on me. She was an integral part of every episode. Only when fans responded to Season 1 would they love Ortegas, but it wasn’t enough for her – I think I started thinking about it. I just trust the writers so much, and I understand the difficulties behind holding this truly amazing ensemble show and giving everyone time to the story when there are 10 episodes (per season). I want to do something useful in the story.
Ortegas gets a big moment in the second episode of Season 2, “Inside The Lotus Eaters.”
That was her big “I’ll fly the boat moment.” I remember telling my fans, “More Ortegas is here!” And when I was doing the press for that episode, the journalist said, “By the way, I loved everything about this episode, but this isn’t what you mean. And I, oh, I’m like, me. She should have this big, big episode, wasn’t a big question for me.
So, when you realised that much of this episode was focused on you alone, what was your reaction?
Our producer director, Chris Fisher, was just walking around at the start of the episode, and it looked like “I’ll be able to shoot a Marvel movie after this.” When I did it all, I didn’t fully understand what he meant until we reached the end of the episode. You know, we had explosions, dirt, debris, madness. I knew it would be a challenge, but I wanted it all.
Marni Grossman / Paramount+
What was it like being the only actor on set?
I laughed at the fact that the cast was on vacation. Some of them actually went home – like a distance. And there’s a crew of 150 people coming to set up every day. Every day it felt like we were standing up to the clock.
What surprised me during the filming?
To simulate a storm, we were on the wall of AR, and we have this multi-million dollar technology, but we need huge metal, rusty, old fans. It was a battle almost every day we filmed. Sound – Blessing their hearts, they tried every day to get the best sound. We had to do a lot of ADR work. But I had to relearn how to do certain things when I couldn’t hear myself say, or when I didn’t even think about it because it was so loud. There were all these elements every day. It felt like I was learning how to do things for the first time.
How did you collaborate with actor Warren Scheller who played Ghosn?
I thought that was the most difficult. That wasn’t the case. Special effects, puppet shows, everything they put in Ghosn was so incredibly lively. The suit was very heavy and there was a lot of sweat – Warren had fans inside, so he was always on the timer whenever he was wearing the suit. So many of my close-ups were us (assistant director), or the other side of the stone, or the head without a warren. It was very difficult because Ghosn wasn’t talking. Therefore, you need to be genuinely confident in what you are doing, the story, what is underneath, what is there to do that job.
How did you approach the scene before Ghosn appeared?
When we read the table, I joked that everyone came to see my one woman’s show. Much of it also depends on the physicality of the moment. For example, when she crashes first and wakes up and is bleeding, she needs to make it all work. What about the first time you make water?
That reminded me, I’ve traveled so many space. As Star Trek actors, we can do a lot in the space community if we want, and space travel is all solving all the problems. You have a really big goal, but it’s all a bit of a thing right in front of you. So I thought about it very intentionally. I’m not going to think about what will happen tomorrow. What are we doing at this moment? What everyone loves about Ortegas is that it can bring mentality and its cheekiness. Okay, this is the worst possible situation, but I’m going to do this.
What do you think this experience means for Ortegas?
In the episode’s premiere, she is broken. It almost took her out and her literal nightmare. (Episode) 302 has a great scene where her friends dance, but she knows what I’ve experienced – you can see that her nightmare is watching what’s in the background there. So, after turning an enemy into a friend, it’s all that has to do with her, so that she knows that it’s all out of her control. I think that being unable to control everything gives her peace. We’ll hear more about her backstory. She was something she could control, so she entered Starfleet. There are works to help you know there is something specific that is beyond you. We would wish we could see more – and maybe we would – but in this episode, how does Uhura treat it after leaving the room? I’m hoping – and saying that we know we filmed season 4 – that’s what it means to ground her in a new way. She had to understand that in the month of death.
You are about to film the final season where the producer said it would end with the beginning of the Kirk era. When Kirk takes over as Captain, Ortegas knows he’s not in the business. Do you have a sense of what happens with the character and where she goes?
My answer to that is yes and no. I know what’s coming. I’ve heard what the fans are saying. There is concern that everyone loves this crew so much, and we are just trying to leave this crew behind. What I want everyone to know is that we’re entering season 5. And there’s a lot of talk about going to Kirk’s businesses, but for me I’m still in a “strange new world.” We are still fully included in this crew. We still have many “strange new worlds.”
This interview was compiled and condensed.
