Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Celia Rose Gooding on Giving Uhura the Backstory She Deserves

Fans are halfway through the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+ and one of the first characters to get the spotlight is Cadet Nyota Uhura. Originated by Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek: The Original Series, the linguistic prodigy is played in her early days aboard the USS Enterprise, fresh out of the academy, by Celia Rose Gooding. ComicBook.com spoke to Gooding at the Strange New Worlds press junket about how she’s approaching playing a character with such a significant legacy (seen in the above video). Now that a few episodes of Strange New Worlds have debuted, we had the chance to catch up with Gooding and see how she’s feeling about reactions. 

Gooding spoke about her expectations for Uhura, how the cadet’s journey reflects her own, and where Uhura is headed next. Here’s what she had to say:

How has it been for you to watch Strange New Worlds finally go out to the world and to see people’s reactions? I feel like it’s been the strongest reaction to a new Star Trek show yet.

Celia Rose-Gooding: I’m so proud. I’m, of course, honored and humbled and really just like washed in love and support. But I’m also really, really proud of the cast and the crew and the creative team of this show because we really have been putting our heart and soul and committing so much of ourselves to this show, and for it to be received with so much love and so much positivity and support, I couldn’t feel better.

It really couldn’t have been received better and for the show to be doing so well and to be so well received — I think it was announced yesterday that we are the most in-demand show week to week across the country — and for that to be the case, it’s an incredible feeling. I’m sure I speak for the whole Strange New Worlds team when I say that we are so, so excited that it’s doing so well.

Uhura is an iconic character but I think the second episode of Strange New Worlds gave her more backstory and history than the entire run of her character up until then. When you read that about her, what was your initial reaction? Did it fit with the idea you had of Uhura going in? 

At first, I was really, really nervous. I think seeing how truly Uhura-heavy and me-heavy this episode was, especially because it’s one of the first few episodes of the premiere season of the show, I had an immediate understanding of how big this moment was, and how incredible this moment was for, of course, the character of Uhura, but for the franchise of Star Trek as a whole.

It was incredibly important for the Strange New Worlds team to make sure that we have an opportunity to humanize each of these characters and really show who they are, less as officers of Starfleet and officers on The Enterprise, and more as just people in this franchise who are complex and multifaceted, and really have a deep love for what they do but also are just trying to make sense of it as anybody would, stepping into a new job and trying to make a space for themselves and feel comfortable.

It was incredibly important and incredibly exciting as an actor, knowing that this character, Uhura, was a trailblazer for the sci-fi industry, for the sci-fi community, and also for the entertainment industry, having a black woman in a role of non-servitude, but also in a role of command and a role of importance and integrity. It was incredibly important for black women in entertainment for the future. And so to have an opportunity to really do justice to this role, that I really would not have a career without, it meant so much to me, and it continues to mean so much to me.

I mean, I’m playing an early version of a character. If that character did not exist I don’t know if I would have a job, of course, in this franchise, but in this industry. Nichelle Nichols, her legacy, it really widened the scope of what the world believes black women could do. And it’s not lost on me, the incredible importance of this role and of this character and to give her a bit of background and a bit of humanization, and to really flesh out who she is, it’s an incredible opportunity.

You’re coming to Strange New Worlds from a celebrated career in Broadway and theater. When I spoke to Bruce Horak, he mentioned how your theater background helped in your scenes together. What about your theater background do you feel has helped you in Strange New Worlds and what are some of the things that you feel like you’ve had to adjust to working on this giant, expensive, special effects-heavy show?

I would say that theater acting versus TV and film acting, they’re very different. I would say that theater acting, simply because of how it’s presented, it’s a lot more full body. It’s a lot more full physical because when you’re performing in front of a live audience, they see everything. So you don’t really get to control what their eyes are on beyond lighting and stage dressing.

But in TV and film, it’s very specific. It’s framed specifically. Everything is presented with a specific motive in mind, and that was definitely something I had to adjust to, getting used to presenting myself differently than how I would on a stage.

The advantages of having a theater background, I think, are very specific to this character, knowing that Nichelle Nichols, herself had a dance background and had a stage performance background. It was a real advantage to have my background that I had because Nichelle carries herself like a dancer, and she has the grace and the confidence of a dancer, and while I don’t really consider myself nearly as skilled as a dancer as Nichelle was, I think something that fans are really looking for are the similarities between my Uhura and Nichelle’s Uhura in how we see this cadet Uhura, and we see the bits of the person she’s going to grow into.

While her mindset and her outlook are very different than Nichelle’s Uhura, I think the way that she carries herself is an opportunity to bring as much of Nichelle’s Uhura into mine as I can. Having a theater background was definitely an advantage so that I could have an opportunity to really marry our Uhuras as best as possible, even though we have two very different outlooks. I think body language and presentation, those are some things that stay the same as you grow. And so to keep an eye on that and to really have that detail in mind, I think it’s something that the fans pick up on. And it’s something that I know the creative team is picking up on, and so to have that really detail-oriented bit for this character, I think that was incredibly important.

Uhura is positioned in this show as a point-of-view character. She’s new, she’s still adjusting to being on a ship as opposed to at the academy. Is that something where you’ve been able to draw on your own experience to show that period of adjustment?

Oh yeah, absolutely. So much of what cadet Uhura goes through are things that Celia the actor is going through. It’s finding the bits and pieces of their talent and ability that are helpful for the world that they’re working in. I remember going to the writers and being like, “Who is in my journal? Who is talking to my therapist? How do y’all know so much about what I personally am going through? And how did you find this information? Who told you this?”

But I think there’s so much of my personal lived experience that Uhura as a cadet goes through. And so to share that from a very, very truthful and vulnerable place was really, really awesome to do as a character and to do that character work, but also as a person, to share those truths that you may not want to share in front of your commanding officer, to be really blunt and honest and say, ‘I don’t know if this is the end goal. ‘I don’t know if this is where I want to do for my entire life.’ And for that to be met with feelings of, that is fine. That is okay. Uncertainty is okay, vulnerability is okay, insecurities are okay. That’s a part of being a human being and all of that aside, people who are incredibly established in this franchise and also characters who Uhura really looks up to and looks to for guidance, for those characters to turn around and say, ‘We value you. And we know that you’re worthy of this space.’.

It’s incredible for Uhura, and also it feels very good for me to have these incredibly critically acclaimed teams and crews come to me and say, “This is exactly where you should be.” That’s an incredible feeling. And so for Celia to have that, that feels amazing. And for Uhura to have that, I’m sure that feels even better.

Can you tell us anything about what’s coming for Uhura through ther remainder of the season? Significant challenges, favorite scenes, big themes, or however else her arc will progress?

I would say something that I really, really enjoy is Hemmer and Uhura’s relationship. I think Bruce, I really love Bruce. I love him so much. And so having Hemmer as someone who I can be honest with, and Hemmer is someone who can challenge Uhura in a way that I think she really needs, to have someone who takes her very, very seriously, and someone who isn’t there to sugarcoat this experience for her. Hemmer really is integral to Uhura’s growth in this first season, and so I’m excited for fans to watch their relationship grow and blossom.

Bruce said pretty much the same thing when I asked him a similar question. So it sounds like you’re on the same page.

Yeah, I sure hope so!

New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debut weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.