Rebecca Romijn Calls It “A Real Honor” To Join ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

While attending Comic Con International in San Diego last month in support of her new animated film, The Death of Superman, Rebecca Romijn — already a fairly well-known figure in the geek space — found herself being celebrated in entirely new ways by fans excited to learn that she was playing Number One on Star Trek: Discovery‘s forthcoming second season.

Romijn, who says she was already excited to take on such a storied role, found herself overwhelmed by the fan support.

“It’s awesome. I just got introduced to Trek Twitter,” Romijn said at the Comic Con press room for The Death of Superman. “It’s a world I had not known about until I just turned on my phone five minutes ago. I was like whoa! It’s wild. It’s a real honor. It’s a real honor.”

Originally played by Gene Roddenberry’s second wife Majel Barrett, Number One appeared in the unaired original series pilot, “The Cage.” Star Trek‘s non-canon novels and comics have had some fun with Number One’s name, suggesting that it is alien and too long and complicated for anyone to understand, thus making the moniker “Number One” more of a necessity than a simple nickname. Some other stories suggest that she’s immortal, and she is also sometimes referred to as Una, though sources suggest that is also not her real name.

“I play Number One, second in command to Captain Pike,” Romijan explained. “So when we get on board the ship, Discovery, which is the ship before Enterprise — it takes place 10 years before the original series — we show up in the original gold.”

Her most recent appearance in a Star Trek novel was in the Star Trek: Discovery prequel story Desperate Hours, which told the story of a joint mission between the Discovery and the Enterprise. While she was a lieutenant during the events of “The Cage,” she is referred to as Commander Una in the novel.

Number One was played by Majel Barrett, the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.” Barrett was later recast as Nurse Chapel when Star Trek was picked up to series. She also played Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its spinoffs, and was the voice of the starship computers through Star Trek‘s history.

Rebecca Romijn is best known for playing Mystique in the original X-Men movie trilogy. She also played Joan in The Punisher and more recently starred as Colonel Eva Baird in TNT’s The Librarians.

Number One will be introduced via the Enterprise, which appeared in the final scene of Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season. She will serve under Captian Christopher Pike, who will be played on Star Trek: Discovery by former Marvel’s Inhumans star Anson Mount, who personally announced Number One’s casting during the panel at San Diego Comic-Con.

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada, and through Netflix in other international markets. Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto and will premiere in January 2019.