‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: Melissa Navia Breaks Down Ortegas’ Surprising Gorn Experience

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 9, “Terrarium.”]

Ortegas (Melissa Navia) just has the worst luck when it comes to leaving the Enterprise on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

The season kicked off with her pilot, one of the landing party, who had been taken captive by the Gorn. She was injured in the process, and the experience left her with a serious (and understandable) case of PTSD. Now, in the latest episode, she ends up stranded on an alien planet — and the only other one there is a Gorn, a pilot just like her. Under those circumstances, and to survive, the two become friends. But when the Enterprise crew does arrive to rescue her — after Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) fudges some numbers to get Pike (Anson Mount) to agree to a plan — La’an (Christina Chong) kills the Gorn.

But who was responsible for bringing the two together in the first place? A Metron, who had been curious about how a human and a Gorn would react under such circumstances, to see if the two species could ever find peace. Ortegas’ memory of the Metron is taken, but she is left with her experience with the Gorn and how that’s changed her perception of the alien.

Marni Grossman / Paramount+

Below, Melissa Navia discusses Ortegas trusting in her crew, her bond with Uhura, the introduction of the Metron from The Original Series, and more.

Ortegas was so certain that her crew would come looking for her and find her. Do you think she ever lost hope in that, even just a little?

Melissa Navia:. I think so much of what is endearing about Ortegas is, of course, how she carries herself as a pilot, as a helmsman, but also and especially how she interacts with her crew. And I think we saw that because of the writing from day one from our premiere in Season 1, that she trusts them and they trust her and that is why they work so well together. So in my heart and in Erica’s heart, they were always going to come, right? It was just a matter of surviving, possibly finding a way off, but she knew that they’d be looking for her.

And it’s funny because so much of the episode was Ortegas and the Gorn fighting to survive, and you almost — not that I would forget that there was other scenes eventually happening with my other castmates, but I knew that it was going to be Celia as Uhura who was really going to be fighting for it, “We have to continue looking for her.” And so we would have these moments on set when I was just like, “Thank you, thank you for not giving up on your best friend on the ship.” And we really are best friends on set, but also as our characters on the show, and she really is this little sister to me. And so the fact that she would not let go, I know that my little sister, that I have in real life, would be the same. So I know that Ortegas was constantly, and this was going through me as Melissa, as I was shooting every single long day, was that it’s this feeling that you can continue to go on because, you know, have this support team behind you, because she’s also grappling with all of what we’ve seen throughout the season.

And there’s also things that we did not see throughout the season, but I am always just like the story continues. There’s only so much time for all of our characters, and I know the fans have not always been the happiest that Ortegas doesn’t get as much screen time as everyone else, but I understand the reasoning for it. But there was episodes when her brother Beto [Mynor Luken] was stuck on the planet with all the couples, and I’m like, even though you see very little of Ortegas in that episode, for me, I’m like, she’s dealing her own anxiety, stress, PTSD, and also the fact that oh my goodness, she could lose her brother, which is massive. And so all of that, even though they’re not actual scenes where people can watch them, that was always playing into my performance in this episode.

Speaking of that, because of everything that she’s been through this season, what makes her trust the Gorn as much as she has to in order to work with her? Because there is that level of trust that she has to reach to trust this Gorn, especially after what she went through.

Yeah, she understands that it’s the only way. At first, it’s that absolute terror. What are the chances? What are the chances of all the people, of all the bars she could have walked into, she walks into this one? And I think that’s so much, too, of her personality, where she’s just like, it’s about the mission, it’s about getting it done. And we see her weigh the options, and is this going to be my last day? Is this Gorn that’s in front of me going to try to eat me? Are they going to try to… You have no idea. But once you’re like, it’s either we die alone or we die together, and if we’re together, we may not die at all. And there’s also so much we shot, too, that didn’t make it into the final cut, which was a cool thing for me to experience because I got to see what it’s like essentially shooting a mini movie where there’s so much that you shot that you’re like, “Oh, I wish the fans could have seen that.” And so there was also these moments where you got to see her making that decision to finally be like, alright, we have to work together if we have any shot at this at all.

Marni Grossman / Paramount+

Are there any other scenes besides those that you shot that didn’t make it in?

Oh my goodness. I remember when I first watched it, there were just things where I was just like — and there was an element of the actual shooting conditions, even though we were on an Airwall for a significant part of the episode, in order to replicate the feeling of the storm or to replicate the storm itself and that the growing storm, we needed to have actual large rusty metal fans that were blowing at all times. And so it was a constant war, and our crew was incredible, and that’s on a daily basis, but in particular this episode, because sound was constantly fighting because we had to be working with these physical elements that made everything difficult. I learned that it’s really difficult to think and to act and to speak when you can’t even hear your own voice sometimes. And there were all these obstacles that I had to overcome and figure out on the go, which made me laugh when I wasn’t struggling to figure it out.

But it made me laugh because I was like, this is very much what Erica is going through. She’s figuring all this out in the moment. And so there was just a lot. I also had just our really fantastic, talented stunt team, Warren [Scherer], who was our Gorn. And so there was a lot that we shot that I understood why it got cut for time. But the fact that they were able to put in everything, all that they did, just for me, I was just like, it was kind of cool because we shot this little movie and I got to see that as much as you shoot, not everything can make it in, but everything that did make it in, I’m glad that you guys have the story that you now have.

The episode also brought in the Metron from TOS and Ortegas doesn’t remember that encounter, but if she did, how do you think she’d feel about that and the way it was all orchestrated?

Oh man. Alan McElroy, our writer, was just an encyclopedia of Star Trek knowledge. And so he explained to me where that came from. We had other things throughout the episode that were Easter eggs that fans are going to see and are going to love finding. But with the Metron, I really do feel, because it was also understanding when I read that in the script, this idea of you really do feel like you are a chess piece, that you are being moved for somebody else’s satisfaction or for their own edification. But so much of what Erica has created in her life and her career is because she went out and did it, right? And we got some backstory in the season when she talks to their brother Beto and about why she joined Starfleet and about their family dynamics, she wanted to do something where she felt like she was in control.

And so much of Ortegas is as a pilot. She’s in control. She flies the ship, and she gets things done when nobody else can do it. So I think that she would continue kind of grappling with that. What is that like when there’s something out of your control? And at the same time, too, that’s also maybe she would also eventually find that that also kind of lightens the burden, that there are things at play that we don’t fully understand. So it gets really existential and deep. But I think Ortegas, she likes being in control, which is also why throughout the season she’s struggling so much because there was something that almost knocked her out, and that she could not fix herself. She needed everybody. But again, what we do in Starfleet and in Strange New Worlds is our people rely on each other.

There’s the matter of what she’s wrestling with at the end, with her views on the Gorn and having befriended one and then her friend La’an killed that one. How do you think that is going to change her going forward?

Yeah, I think in that moment that was so beautifully shot and so just profoundly acted because I got to have Celia opposite me — I appreciate so much every time I get to work opposite her because she’s just a joy as a person and as an actor. And so when we got to do that, I feel like she’s very much my little sister on the ship. And so I being Erica, I was being very vulnerable with her that you feel this, the Gorn was my friend. She became my friend, and so is La’an, but La’an did what she had to do in the moment, what she thought she had to do. And there’s no way to have — I think so often in life people go back and they go, I wish this didn’t happen. I wish I’d done this differently. But hindsight is 20/20, right?

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So I think if we were able to see — and perhaps we will in later episodes — Ortegas work it out and discuss it and talk it out, she’s going to see the rationale behind that she can be upset with the situation, but the anger should not be directed at La’an. And also she’s going to be dealing for a while with being like, how did this thing that I thought was a monster ended up in this scenario, becoming not only my friend but the Gorn that helped me survive? So there’s a lot to unpack, and as I say with everything, as you guys have seen the last few seasons, we don’t always get to see Ortegas doing it on screen, but trust that all those storylines are happening under the surface. And I am working that into everything that Erica does and every time I’ve given a script, all of that plays into it.

I know you filmed Season 4 already, but when you wrapped Season 3, what were your hopes for Ortegas going forward?

Well, I was so happy when we wrapped Season 3 because it had taken so long to start because of the very necessary writers’ and actors’ strikes that we had. So we were just thrilled that we had actually gotten it completed. And what did I want for Erica going into Season 4? I wanted more of the expansion of who she is, of getting that backstory. So much of when fans want more Ortegas, and I love it so much because it is the absolute highest compliment as an actor that you want to see more of that person’s character, but I also love that she leads with her career and her job, and because she does that so well, it’s so rooted in who she is. And I’m working very slowly, but I’m working on my private pilot’s license, which is hard because I’m constantly filming in Toronto. But you get to see that so much of what makes pilots, to me anyway, so cool is that they are calm under pressure, and so much of what in life keeps us calm and cool and collected and being able to tackle different problems, is the exact thing that they need in the sky when they’re flying. And so I think so much of what makes Ortegas or makes Erica, we see through her flying.

So what I wanted was definitely more — I love, love shooting on the bridge. I know for a lot of actors in my cast, it’s like very, very long days. But so much of what has made Erica such a fan favorite has happened on the bridge. So I wanted more time with Pike [Anson Mount], definitely, because I love the camaraderie between Pike and Erica. And then I wanted to see more of her interaction with other characters and more of that humor that I think is so intrinsic to who she is, and whether or not we get that, we shall see. But I definitely wanted more of the humor, more of the relationships, the interpersonal interactions, and more bridge time with Pike.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 3 Finale, Thursday, September 11, Paramount+