Actress Rebecca Romijn (51) plays the role of Number One alongside Spock in the series ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’. She came into contact with the iconic science fiction series through her mother.
Money does not exist in the science fiction series Star Trek , but in its nearly 60-year history, the series has made Hollywood a whopping $ 10.6 billion. An astronomical amount. Of Strange New Worlds , the second season can be seen via streaming service SkyShowtime, we have arrived where we started all those years ago, on The Enterprise. Without Kirk, but with Spock and Dutch input.
It was, all things considered, always fairly sparse in compatriots in the utopian future of the Federation. Famke Jansen once played one of her first major roles in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and good-natured giant Carel Struijken appeared a few times in the same series. But a central role on the bridge of one of the starships, that’s a different story. Rebecca Romijn is ‘Number One’, First Officer Una Chin-Riley in Strange New Worlds .
Romijn (51) has been a well-known actress for many years, especially in this genre. With her role as Mystique in three X Men movies, she is an icon for fantasy fans and she has more beautiful things to her credit. Her roots in the Netherlands are less well known, after all she was ‘just’ born and raised in California. Both her parents are Dutch and when proposing in Amsterdam she immediately starts in our language.
Watching Star Trek reruns with mom
Just for a moment, after all, co-star Anson Mount aka Captain Pike is sitting next to her. When the conversation has to be finished ten minutes later, she casually switches to Dutch to talk about a recent family reunion. “I come here regularly. I love the country and think it is important to keep in touch with relatives here.”
Through her family, more specifically her mother, young Rebecca came into contact with the special world of Star Trek . “I was about 7 or 8 years old when my mom sat me down for reruns of the original series. I often hear that from people. I have a theory about the reasons behind it. I think it’s a way for mothers to open a conversation with their children about the world. About how important it is to be curious, to discover. And how much power there is in working together with people who are different from you to achieve a common goal.”
Shut up about genetic engineering
The utopian idea of creator Gene Roddenberry behind the world of Star Trek is well known. All races and creeds had to work together on the Enterprise as proof that we could outgrow the narrow prejudices of the 20th century. We are now half a century further and it still does not look like it. By the way, it happened Star Trek did in the Cold War; enemies ‘the Klingons’ stood for warlike Russians.
Given the situation in Ukraine, we are talking to Romijn just after the bizarre weekend with Wagner’s uprising, not everything has turned out for the better in that respect either. How does Romijn view this? ,, Star Trek is an allegory. We tell stories in the future that can tell us something about how we live ourselves. My character has to appear in court in the second episode of this year because it turns out that she has concealed the fact that she has been genetically manipulated. If you want, you can read all about how transgenders are currently dealt with, for example. But it’s not too thick on top. People should be able to draw their own conclusions, which I feel is also important.”
Power in Hollywood
Recently, respectable directors such as Martin Scorsese have criticized the current dominance of major franchises such as Star Trek and Marvel. Both Rebecca Romijn and Anson Mount have played roles in these worlds, most recently Mount as Black Bolt Doctor Strange . “All things considered, power in Hollywood is in the hands of just a few large conglomerates. As long as that remains the case, you will inevitably get a lot of the same type of content,” Mount thinks.
Roman sees Strange New Worlds however, as ‘something else’. “We are not a binge series. There’s no big thread that we end up working towards, as is common these days. In Strange New Worlds all stories stand alone. That also means that we can surprise you every time.”
Sky Showtime, on demand