“I didn’t know that we were the main trio”: Christina Chong on the One Thing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Does Better Than Discovery and The Next Generation

Christina Chong has several notable projects on her portfolio with her ongoing work being Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The Paramount+ series stars her as La’an Noonien Singh who is relatively new but shares a great connection with the Star Trek saga due to her notorious ancestor, Khan Noonien-Singh, one of the franchise’s infamous villains. 

Christina Chong Reflects on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Role

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is surely making a grave impact in the sci-fi franchise that continues to leave fans hooked on its new adventures. First premiered two years ago, it is already extending to a third and fourth season. 

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While Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn take the lead in the series, the show still leaves room for the supporting cast to shine. One such actor is Christina Chong, who plays La’an Noonien-Singh, the chief of security of the USS Enterprise on the show.

Oh, I didn’t know we were the main trio. Well, I mean, it’s incredible to be a part of La’an being a new character, to get to be a part of the canon in that way, and for her to be such a prominent character.

She continued, 

Especially, you know, her having a relationship with her, being connected to him, and you know, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, this character. Where is she now? What happens? That’s the question.’ Is she off on her own ship? Is she with him somewhere, married with babies? I don’t know. Or is she dead?

Chong’s role is quite crucial in the series as she is the descendant of one of The Original Series‘ antagonists, Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). Throughout her life, La’an has struggled, which in turn has made her a complex and nuanced character who likes to take her work seriously rather than engage in fun activities on Enterprise.

But the actress’ recent comments have made one thing quite clear: the ongoing series is way better than Discovery and The Next Generation (TNS). 

Why Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is Better than Discovery and The Next Generation

The seven-season series featured an ensemble cast. However, all of the actors were given the same spotlight. This is despite the fact that the series developed its ensemble cast through individual, mostly self-contained episodes with no interconnected plot between episodes.

Still, it was unable to push its characters to significant limelight, leading to Denise Cosby, who portrayed Tasha Yar, choosing to leave in season one, among a few others (with other factors leading to their exit).  

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In contrast, Star Trek: Discovery focused significantly on one lead character, Michael Burnham, portrayed by Sonequa Martin-Green. Since the show was all about following Burnham’s journey, it allowed for deep character development, with each episode contributing to its overall plot, unlike TNS, which featured standalone episodes with no continuous storyline across the season. 

What distinguishes Strange New Worlds from these two series is its modern approach to the representation of diverse characters. Despite the show handing over the lead positions to  Pike (Mount), young Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn), it still took out the time for supporting characters to shine with increased screen time and background stories.

Without stealing the focus on the trio, the ongoing series has pushed supporting characters to evolve and get in the limelight in their own way, thus striking a subtle balance. That way, fans can still have favorite characters while adhering to the Star Trek tradition of not centering the story on a single character. That approach is what contributes to the overall success of Chong’s show.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available on Paramount+.  

The post “I didn’t know that we were the main trio”: Christina Chong on the One Thing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Does Better Than Discovery and The Next Generation appeared first on FandomWire.