Rebecca Romijn has revealed that she was emotional about putting on the gold uniform and playing the iconic “Number One” character in Star Trek: Discovery.
Known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men film series, as well as Joan from The Punisher, the 46-year-old was eager to play the role, originally played by Majel Barrett, Gene Roddenberry’s late wife in the original pilot episode “The Cage”.
“The first call I got was, ‘Are you interested in playing an iconic role from the Original Series?’ I jumped [at that], knowing how vast the fandom is, and how much I didn’t want to disappoint or let anybody down,” said Romijn, speaking to TrekCore.com
“I was a huge Trekkie as a kid; I watched the Original Series on rerun with my mom, and being on the sets I was on – which I’m not allowed to talk about! – in the gold uniform I was wearing, I mean, it was emotional for me.”
Romijn delved into a little more about the character and how the original portrayal by Barrett has influenced her.
“Well, you know, she was only in that one episode, so as an actor you want a certain amount of liberty to help the character unfold. She’s got a vast skill-set, obviously she’s Captain Pike’s Number One, second in command; he feels comfortable leaving her in charge of the Enterprise when he’s not here.”
“I don’t even think we know how vast her skill-set is; I think there’s a lot of exploration to do, you know. She knows her shit, and I want her to be a little bit of a fast-talking dame, in a way. It was really fun to play her.”
The second episode of series two titled “New Eden” streams on CBS All Access in the US and Canada on 24 January, with Netflix streaming at 08:00 GMT in the rest of the world.