During Comic-Con this year, Lower Decks stars Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome crashed a Star Trek panel to announce their characters would appear on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in an upcoming crossover episode. That’s right, it will be in live-action and also directed by Jonathan Frakes, no less. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Quaid got to talk a little more about this exciting prospect, and it looks like he’s as excited as the fans.
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First off, apparently, they’ve already filmed their scenes for that episode. “So we already shot it, and it’s Tawny Newsome and I as the live-action versions of our animated characters,” Quaid explained, talking about the lengths they went to. “I don’t know if I can get into plot details or anything, but yes, I’m going to have purple hair, we had uniforms made.” So, much like how Katee Sackhoff appeared as Bo Katan in The Mandalorian after voicing the character in Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars, there’s some satisfying continuity afoot.
“We got to step on board the Enterprise, which was really interesting,” Quaid continued, gushing about Strange New Worlds, “and got to interact with that amazing cast and that amazing crew. And it was such an interesting challenge to be a live-action version of an animated character. What do you do? What’s too much? What’s too little? How do you stay in the voice? How do you bring some physicality to it? How does the character move on the animated show, and how can you make that work in live action?”
It’s clear he’s put a lot of thought into it, which makes sense given how different the 2 shows are. Strange New Worlds is hailed by many as a return to form for Star Trek, recapturing much of what made the original series and The Next Generation so engaging. Meanwhile, Lower Decks is not only set in an entirely different time period, but it’s an animated comedy first and foremost.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Boimler and Mariner interact with the Captain Pike, Nurse Chapel, and the rest of the Enterprise’s crew. Who knows? Maybe some unlikely friendships will form.
Star Trek: Lower Decks in now available on Paramount Plus while Strange New Worlds will begin its 2nd season, which features the crossover episode, in 2023.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter
