Across four seasons, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has boldly proven that its greatest strength isn’t just the adventures awaiting the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise—it’s the people who share them. Whether navigating impossible missions, confronting terrifying new threats or simply finding strength in one another, the series has built a crew defined by empathy, resilience and unwavering trust.
As Season 4 sends Captain Christopher Pike and his crew into another chapter of thrilling, emotional and unpredictable journeys across the galaxy, our Peter Gray caught up with Jess Bush, Celia Rose Gooding and Melissa Navia to talk about the friendships that anchor the Enterprise, how their characters, Christine Chapel, Nyota Uhura and Erica Ortegas, have evolved over four seasons, and why sometimes the greatest act of courage is believing in the people who believe in you.
One of the things I love about this show is that it lets these female characters be brilliant without competing with one another. What’s been your favourite example of your characters lifting each other up?
Jess Bush: Ooh…
Melissa Navia: Good question.
Celia Rose Gooding: Interdimensional space day! The three of us. Our characters were going to help (Christine) meet…I’m blanking on the greater context (laughs).
Jess Bush: My favourite one is in the new season, and I can’t give away spoilers, but there’s just this beautiful through-line of everybody, not just specifically women, but everybody with this concept of, “If your faith in yourself is faltering, you just need to look to your friends to remind you what you’re capable of.” Have faith in your friends being able to hold you up. And if you do that, what we’re capable of is so much greater. I think, for me, that storyline…it gives me goosebumps even thinking about it. It’s just so beautiful.
Melissa Navia: Yeah. This just made me think of last season with Ortegas’ episode where she’s stuck on a death moon with her Gorn enemy-slash-friend, and the whole episode you see Uhura fight so hard to find Ortegas. That was beautiful. Also seeing Celia’s performance, and then getting to when she comes back and Ortegas is so conflicted about what happened, and having that great moment between the two of them in Ortegas’ headquarters. You always just see us uplifting each other, because without that we wouldn’t be the crew that we are.
And after four seasons together, do you still consciously act as your characters? Or has there been a point where they just sort of start living inside you?
Celia Rose Gooding: I think, for me, it depends on the genre. I think certain genres it’s easier to find Uhura’s place in it. In others, it’s very technical and required and intentional.
Melissa Navia: I always think about when fans meet me and they think, “Oh, I know your personality and the way you carry yourself.” I’m like, “Oh, no, Ortegas is significantly cooler and calmer under pressure.” She’s totally competent and so I always kind of step into that. She’s much cooler and calmer. She has all those attributes that make a pilot, right? You have to be able to be the coolest under any circumstance. I’m working on getting my pilots license. I’m not quite there yet. Ortegas is always somebody that I step into, and then we have those through-lines because she’s cool, and I’m kind of cool (laughs).
Out of your characters here, if there’s one message you could send back to your season one self, what do you think it would be?
Jess Bush: Ooh, I’m going to have to think about that.
Celia Rose Gooding: It’s all gonna work out! It’s all going to make sense. That’s it. It’s all gonna make sense. The sooner you release attachment to understanding, the quicker the answer will come to you.
Jess Bush: Stunning!
Celia Rose Gooding: I do a lot of therapy in my spare time (laughs).
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 premieres its first episode on Paramount+ on July 23rd, 2026, with each subsequent episode airing weekly before the season finale on September 24th.
