How Each Star Trek Captain Got Cast
What do you need to do to become the captain of a starship in the Star Trek universe?
Finding the perfect lead for a series involves a lot of forethought and painstaking research. The entire production could hang or fall on the performance of this one actor. So, how best to go about sourcing the right one?
Star Trek has so many captains at this point that they should have the art down to a tee, but how did they go about it? Did they always source unknown actors, or did they rely on the body of work already established? With the exception of Star Trek Discovery, the captain has always been the front face of the show.
In Discovery's case, there have been several captains in its short life span, not to mention setting up the new Strange New Worlds spin off as well. Not included in this list are the likes of Burnham (she'll appear on another list!), Spock, Sulu, Scotty and Riker. Yes, they all made the rank of captain, but not during the main run of their shows.
Whether it is pilot episodes of full length series, the captain commands the top job on the ship. Read on to find out how they made sure they collected the right amount of talent for the role.
13. Dawnn Lewis Starred On Broadway As Tina Turner's Mum - Voice Acting Is The Natural Next Step
Captain Carol Freeman will be commanding the USS Cerritos, one of the lesser known Federation vessels, in Star Trek: Lower Decks. The show is set to debut online on August 6th, 2020 so as of the writing of this article, bar the images that have been released online, very little is known about the show.
The only thing truly known for sure is that the Cerritos will not be one of the flagships of the Federation. In fact, it has already been described as a ship that is tasked with 'second contact'. What this means is that ships like the Cerritos will arrive at a world, immediately post-first contact, and find the best places to eat.
Dawnn Lewis has a strong history of vocal acting work already, including the role of LaBarbara Conrad, wife to Hermes Conrad, in Futurama. She has also provided the voice for Storm in three X-Men games, also appearing in a Mortal Kombat game. She has also appeared in the Boondocks and Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
She is also a veteran actor of the stage and screen. As recently as November of last year, she began appearing on Broadway in the role of Tina Turner's mother, Zelma, in the show Tina.
With a wealth of acting experience behind, she is an excellent choice for the highly capable captain who knows that her ship is not that important. With every episode aiming to have an 'A plot from a typical Star Trek episode' happening in the background, expect to hear her commanding voice booming through the corridors....though maybe not always on screen.