Comedian Tig Notaro joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery in the show’s second season. She plays engineer Jet Reno, a recurring role on the series. Notaro is best known as a standup comedian. She spoke to Space about what it’s like playing in sci-fi worlds like that of Star Trek and her new film Lucy in the Sky. “It’s very different,” Notaro said, “I like it, I like being a recurring role on Star Trek… I’m not looking to become a full cast member but I enjoy the world, and I enjoy the cast and crew, and I think what I have going on is kind of perfect.”
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She goes on to say that playing Jet Reno isn’t her first brush with the Star Trek universe. “I did follow Star Trek when I was a child, the original series… obviously, I’m more familiar with Discovery now, but I love being a part of it, if just simply for the ability to tell people I am on Star Trek, it’s really fun to be able to say that. It’s fun, I’m proud to be a part of it. My sons, they think I actually work in space because whenever I go off to Toronto to film Star Trek, I always tell them I have to go work on the space rocket “
Notaro, a lesbian, also talked about representation in Star Trek. “It’s really impressive, Star Trek was already so ahead of its time with diversity and representation, but that’s, I think, another part of what makes me proud to be a part of that show,” she said. “It’s really thoughtful… it’s just a smart, thoughtful show and it’s nice to be a part of something that’s positive. It’s not just some random space series or sci-fi project. It’s a really smart, thoughtful, diverse series.
“I’m certainly in ridiculous things, like my own nonsense talk show, but the other projects that I do, it is nice to have that anchor of pride with something. And I think it’s tremendously important to have the representation that they do and the diversity.”
Star Trek: Discovery is also the first Star Trek series to feature a gay couple as series regulars, Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets and Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber. “This franchise has been around for over 50 years, and to not have LGBT characters represented was an obvious missing piece of the world,” Cruz said in a 2018 interview. “So many LGBT people have been fans since the ’60s and have been wanting the LGBT community to be a part of this universe. For them to be thanking us, it’s so moving.”
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Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm
