Star Trek Las Vegas included a lot of panels dedicated to Star Trek: Discovery. We have already done reports on panels with Rainn Wilson, Jason Isaacs, Mary Chieffo and other recurring actors, makeup designer Glenn Hetrick, and the six members of the main cast including Sonequa Martin-Green and Anson Mount. We also covered new Discovery merchandise on display and the Discovery expansion of STO.
But believe it or not, there was another actor panel, featuring bridge crew cast Sara Mitich (Airiam), Emily Coutts (Keyla Detmer), and Oyin Oladejo (Joann Owosekun), along with Rekha Sharma (Commander Landry) and Sam Vartholomeos (Danby Connor).
Season two will reveal more about characters, including Detmer’s implant
A fan asked if the second season of Discovery would reveal more backstory about the bridge crew. Without wanting to give away much, both Emily Coutts and Sara Mitich said “Yes.” When specifically asked if Detmer’s implant is related to the Borg, the actress did give some details about what we will learn in season two:
It is an original. It is not a Borg piece. You guys will learn more about that soon…It will be explored a little bit more. I know there is not a ton of information on it right now.
Emily Coutts at Star Trek Las Vegas 2018
Moderator Matt Mira jumped in and said he assumed it was due to how she got injured during on the USS Shenzhou during the Battle of the Binary Stars and the implant was used to “put her back together,” to which Coutts replied:
Yeah, it is a healing…That is pretty much it, actually.
Emily Coutts as Keyla Detmer, with her implant
Doug Jones has taken Sara Mitich under his wing
Sarah Mitich talked about the process of being transformed into Lt. Commander Airiam and how prosthetics veteran Doug Jones (Saru) has been a big help:
They have got it down to about two hours…I think the makeup is phenomenal. I had never done anything like this before. I had never done prosthetics for Halloween, not for anything. Doug Jones, he was one that took me under his wing. As all of you know, he is king.
Sara Mitich at Star Trek Las Vegas 2018
Mitich went on to talk about how the makeup team takes care of her.
It took some time getting used to and how everything works and I had a lot of questions and they always answered them. And James [MacKinnon] and Hugo [Villasenor] and Chris [Bridges] and Shane [Zander] and everyone in the group who does it is so professional and great, that they take the best care of me.
Sarah Mitich as Lt. Commander Airiam in season one finale of Star Trek: Discovery
Rekha reveals deleted scene that gives context to Landry’s death
One fan seemed perplexed by the decision-making of Commander Landry when she dropped the forcefield, unleashing Ripper the tardigrade and getting herself killed. Actress Rekha Sharma revealed that a deleted scene would have helped add context to Landry’s state of mind:
What they were exploring, which may not have been totally clear. There was a scene that was cut that showed my very complicated relationship with Lorca. Basically he had me wrapped around his little finger and things were getting very, very intense. And I was going to do what ever I could to make my captain happy and to do what I could do to try and save my people.
Rekha Sharma at Star Trek Las Vegas 2018
But, Sharma went on to agree, Landry was not thinking straight:
From the point of view of the story, of course it was a terrible decision. But you know when you think you have a good idea, but you have narrow tunnel vision because you are so scared, and you make terrible decisions because you are in your own little world? Well, that is what Landry did.
Landry telling Lorca she will do “Anything, anytime, Captain”
Sam doesn’t share the same fond memories of Sonequa
Some of the actresses talked about how much they have picked up working with Sonqua Martin-Green. Emily Coutts noted “the way she runs the set as the leading woman is the greatest gift to watch, she brings us all together” with Rekha Sharma agreeing, calling Sonequa a “queen” and drawing a favorable comparison to how Edward James Olmos led the cast when she was on Battlestar Galactica. Sam Vartholomeos then interjected some sarcasm into the love fest, quipping:
I am just going to jump in. I don’t have very fond memories of Sonequa.
Sam Vartholomeos at Star Trek Las Vegas
With a nod to how his character has died violently on the show twice, arguably at the hands of Martin-Green’s character both times, Vartholomeos deadpanned:
I have no idea what these fine women are talking about. I don’t want to be in an elevator with her. I don’t want to be in a room with her. She texted me today to invite me out to dinner, I said “Nope!” Listen to them, but have that in the back of your mind. You see her in an elevator…
Sam Vartholomeos’ Mirror Connor getting killed by Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery
Star Trek makes Oyin try to be a better person
A fan opened up with a question to Oyin Oladejo saying it meant a lot to her to see so many women of color on the show and women with natural hair, and she wondered if the actress had to fight to keep her hair for the show. Oladejo said she was actually ready to change her style, but there was no need:
I had my sides shaved prior to me getting this job. I came on set and realized Emily [Coutts] had her sides shaved. But because I had my sides shaved and I had my hair twisted, I think they went with that look. They tried to accommodate us. There was no fight, whatsoever. I was willing to do whatever, if they wanted to shave my head I was willing to do that, but it was easy.
Oyin Oladejo at Star Trek Las Vegas 2018
In response to a question from a fan about what they learned from Star Trek since starting working on the show, Oladejo gave a heartfelt answer about how the show has changed her:
When reading the scripts, you feel such a connection to it that the longer you do it and the longer you are on set and the more you spend time with the family and the more you spend time with the scripts, on some level you are forced to try to be a better human being. Because, the show demands that of you as an actor. Then you go away and are like “Oh shit, I have to live up to this.” I know it is TV and fictional, but I want to be a better person. I say these lines and hear people say these lines and then we go and wrap after twelve hours and you forget about it, but there is something that remains the next day. On some level you are forced to try to be a better person and Star Trek does that.
Oyin Oladejo as Joann Owosekun in Star Trek: Discovery
Singing and dancing on the disco set
The group talked about life on the set a few times, discussing how they keep things light. Emily Coutts talked about how director Jonathan Frakes saw parallels with the notoriously boisterous set of Star Trek: The Next Generation:
When Jonathan Frakes was directing he was like “Ah, this reminds me of the good old days, back on the bridge shenanigans.” And that is kind of like what it is. You get so deliriously tired that eventually you start singing. Saru gets his long legs up there on the captain’s chair and it is a good old time.
This subject of singing on set came up again, when a fan asked about set pranks, with Coutts revealing:
I don’t think it is pranks, but a lot of singing and dancing. Doug Jones [spearheads the singing]. He is going to get his own show.
And in reference to the dancing, a fan asked if they would back up Shazad Latif’s claim that he is the best dancer in the cast, and in reply, Mitich talked about a scene recently shot:
I don’t know about dancing, but we were shooting recently and [Shazad] pretended to jump out of the front window of the bridge, that was pretty crazy.
Both Mitich and Coutts also talked about how they deal with boredom in scenes when they have no dialog:
Sara Mitich: I know for myself what my buttons are. I made it up in my mind. So, when it is black alert I am going to hit these three buttons and hold this thing like this.
Emily Coutts: I try to create these weird games because there is a lot of automated things, but I like to get it at the right time so it is actually me doing it. And there are numbers that roll, but they stop at weird places, like 177. And I’m like “OK, I’m going to tap it when it gets to 177.”
Star Trek: Discovery supporting actors’ panel at Star Trek Las Vegas 2018
More STLV 2018
We still have a bit more content coming from Star Trek Las Vegas, so stay tuned for more. Click here to see all of our STLV coverage to date.
All photos by Andrew Britton/TrekMovie.com
I am very anxious to see the role of Ariam develop. She seems like such a unique character with a lot of potential. I wonder if her modifications are the result of an accident, or was it something congenital in nature? I would love to see her trying to find the humanity inside her that was lost when she became biologically dependent on her cybernetic modifications. Plus I’m curious to see how she handles the role when she’s actually got something to do.
I feel the same way; I’m fascinated by the character of Airiam and I hope we get a little more insight into her in Season 2.
Emily Coutts is so cute. I thought for sure Mirror Detmer was going to be up to no good.
Sam Vartholomeos… IS. SOOOO. CUTE.
Right?!
One of my major problems with the first season was Landry. Her death made about as little sense as any tv death I’ve ever seen. And then the Mirror Universe version of her seemed like the nicer of the two, which makes even less sense. What a waste of Rekha Sharma!
I hope they can do more with the bridge crew. I like all of them pretty well.
I always wondered whether the Landry we saw in the Mirror Universe was really from the Prime Universe; and that the Landry we saw on Prime Discovery was really from the Mirror Universe. Her attitude certainly looked like that. Maybe the crew that was caged by the Emperor was Prime Lorca’s crew? Maybe Prime Lorca is still in the Mirror Universe? Mind-blowing if that were the case…
Given that Discovery is a streaming show and doesn’t have a fixed run time it seems strange that they would cut the only scene giving some context/motivation for her actions. Maybe there was something wrong with the scene as shot, or they really thought they didn’t need it.
I’m betting they cut it because they didn’t want o give away too much of Lorca’s true nature too soon.
Maybe there were some further hints that Lorca was from the MU and after fans guessed it already after episode 3 they decided to cut.
Edit: ok, mullet ma already said it
These episodes were finished long before they started airing. So they likely cut this long before any fan ever saw more than a trailer for the first season. TV production schedules just don’t allow that they change an episode based on people’s reaction to seeing the previous episode.
I must say what a beautiful group of people!
Indeed, and it’s such a pity that a couple of them were given such ugly-looking make-ups to detract from them.
Im STILL upset about Ensign Connor being gone. UGH!
he was the equivalant of a red shirt he was destined to die same with landry
My goodness, Sarah Mitich is a knockout. What a shame her beauty is so completely obscured by her cyborg makeup. Indeed, what a handsome cast all around, but I’ll admit a particular admiration for Patrick Kwok-Choon (Rhys) and Kenneth Mitchell (Kol)… grrrrr!
I look forward to learning more about all of their backstories in S2 (or in the case of Kenneth, whatever that mysterious role is that he’s in this season).
It’s surprising to hear that scenes that could have expanded upon the situation and perhaps made things more clear ended up on the floor. Which doesn’t make sense since the show is streamed and has no time restrictions. But then, there are a lot of advantages to being a streamed show that for some goofball reason this show does not take advantage of.
ML31,
Correction, the show is largely streamed but formatted for Canadian cable as well, and the production clearly expects to make its nut, as all tv production companies of successful shows expect to do: eventually in reruns and rerun syndication. Used to be this could only be achieved via a current minimum of 4 seasons [See:ENTERPRISE], but the rise of MeTV, AntennaTV, DECADES, etc. has created a market for shows of any number of episodes.
Which led me to a question I asked some time ago but never got an answer to. Was the show shown in Canada in it’s entirety or was it edited for time? Most episodes seemed to hover around the 40-45 minute zone. So I’m thinking SOME of them were indeed edited and some just had a few more commercials. But… Canada was the one and only one place the show was seen on a more traditional format. So my guess is that the episode length was still not something they were a slave to. Hence, the question about why cut a potentially worth while scene? How long could it have possibly been? 5 Minutes? Likely less than two.
So, asides from singing the joys of the supporting cast, how many of these characters get red shirted by the end of season two?