This year’s San Diego Comic-Con was Paramount+’s first in-person event since 2019, and they brought a slew of titles to the table. This year’s Comic-Con brought together cast members from Star Trek: Picard, the adult animation series Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the rookie prequel programme, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Picard Season 3 included guest appearances by Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden, and the riotous Lower Decks ensemble followed suit, bringing their own brand of raucous humour to the stage. When it comes to Season 3 of Lower Decks, the cast and crew had a lot to say.
There was a panel for the Lower Decks, which included producers Rod Roddenberry and Alex Kurtzman along with Tawney Newsome, Jack Quaid, Nol Wells, Dawnn Lewis and series creator, showrunner, and executive producer Mike McMahan. The cutout of Ensign Rutherford was also supplied by Newsome, as Eugene Cordero could not come. At SDCC 2019 they appeared before the programme premiered, however, due to the pandemic they are attending for the 1st time now that the show is airing.
The discussion began with questions from the moderator, Lea Thompson, who asked each of the actors in attendance about their time making the animated series. Newsome jokingly referred to Starfleet as the “kindness space military” before making a reference to Netflix’s Space Force cancellation. Later, Quaid quipped that Star Trek and Paramount could sell Boimler Family raisins like they do Chateau Picard wines in honour of his fondness for the scene in which Boimler is shown labouring on his family’s raisin vineyard. Wells was quick to praise the show’s animators, noting how much of a team effort it requires to work on an animated series.
Animators are building up to Tendi’s performance because of the quality of her work, McMahan said. As a longtime Trekkie, Lewis had a wonderful anecdote to tell about her audition. Audience members were treated to a first peek at Lower Decks Season 3’s spectacular teaser, which concluded with the announcement that the USS Cerritos will be visiting Deep Space 9. When McMahan revealed that the crew will be going inside of the station and strolling around the promenade, fans immediately started to speculate which members of the DS9 crew might be making a cameo appearance, fueling speculation about who else may be making an appearance. According to McMahan, “the Deep Space 9 Episode is out of control.”
Every few months, the showrunners of each of the five Star Trek programmes will meet & discuss their plans to ensure that none of them conflicts with one other. Since so many of their histories intersect, he hinted that certain characters may appear on more than one programme as a result of this cross-pollination. Newsome and Quaid then interrupted the Strange New Worlds segment of the panel to reveal that there will be a crossover episode between Lower Decks & SNW, along with series star Anson Mount. There will be a live-action and animated crossover in the second season of Strange New Worlds.
It’s presently impossible to predict how the two series will interact because they take place at separate times in the Star Trek universe. Before Captain Freeman (Lewis) can be taken away in handcuffs and falsely charged with treason, the lower deckers & the crew of the Cerritos triumphantly complete Season 2. Season 3’s premiere, according to Newsome, “feels like an epic adventure, like a movie,” as they begin their quest to reclaim her. The actors also gushed about how much fun it is to see Earth in the animated series & to see their characters in that atmosphere and in new clothes in the show. Hall H resounded with the cast’s last chant from the lower levels as they concluded their panel. Star Trek: Lower Decks returns to Paramount+ on August 25 with the beginning of Season 3.