‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’: Bella Shepard Reveals How Genesis’ Setback Just Set up Season 2

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 Episode 7 “Ko’Zeine.”]

Something that is clear from the start of the newest Star Trek series on Paramount+ is that Genesis (Bella Shepard), a Dar-Sha hybrid, is an overachiever — and that her goal is to follow in her footsteps, which means becoming captain herself.

But Season 1 Episode 7 sees the cadet have to grapple with what being on that path means once Nahla (Holly Hunter) says she’s submitting her name for the captain’s track. And so while everyone leaves the starship on a break, Genesis returns — finding Caleb (Sandro Rosta) there since he doesn’t really have anywhere to go (or at least that he wants to go) — and manipulates the situation to get her hands on a programmable key to access her application. That’s when Nahla returns. Genesis admits to both that she wanted to delete her letters of recommendations because she altered them; her references had written that she was driven out of fear and doesn’t trust she belongs where she is. Because of her actions, Nahla is no longer nominating her for pre-command. She also offers advice: We are all wildly flawed and have to learn to carry that.

Below, Bella Shepard unpacks that change to Genesis’ plan and what it means for her going forward.

Despite the consequences, is there a weight off of Genesis now that it is out there that she altered those letters of recommendation?

Bella Shepard: Yes. It’s very scary to admit when you’re wrong or admit that you aren’t good at something. And so for Genesis, she’s been holding onto this big secret of hers for so long, and Caleb finds out and Nahla finds out, and those are two people that she really, really admires and trusts and appreciates in her life, so, to have two people that are really important to her discover a flaw of hers is very scary, but it’s almost a relief. She knows that these are two people that really care about her as well, and she knows that they’ve got her back.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

Speaking of the consequences, this is the path she’d expected to be on for so long. She talks about following in her father’s footsteps. How is she doing since that’s changed, at least for now? Because that’s a big part of who she thought she was going to be.

Yeah, I mean, I think this whole lesson that she learns in this episode is a lot about, just because you make a mistake doesn’t mean you can’t keep going from there. It might be a setback, but she would’ve had to learn that lesson at some point in her life. So, it’s also a big relief for her to have learned this here at Starfleet at such a young age because if she kept trying to hold up this facade and fill in all of these cracks and crevices within her confidence, then eventually her confidence would’ve just exploded in her face and she probably would’ve faced a lot worse consequences if this was a lesson she was learning later down the line in a captain’s chair or in a position of authority. So, it’s like, oh, you can’t see it now, but this was meant to happen for you now before it was too late.

So she’s still thinking she’s going to be on the same path, it’s just like there might be a different way to it maybe? Or is there a freedom almost that there could be another path for her?

I think it’s a little bit of both. I think she’s like, OK, maybe I don’t have to follow the path the way that I felt like I always had to, so I can keep going and learn new ways of navigating this path. And also, I can discover new things along the way and discover other things that I like. So I think she’s kind of got both sides of that in her back pockets now, and it’s fun to work with that.

She was obviously worried about the application because she altered the original letters of recommendation, but were there any other reasons she was hesitant about being on that track to begin with?

There’s a million reasons why she was terrified to be put on that track. This need to follow in her father’s footsteps and become captain stems from the need to prove herself just as a person, just as who she is. So, the fact that her captain and chancellor sees this drive within her is like, OK, great. But also, I don’t even know if this is something I’ve been wanting or if this is something that I just felt like I had to do because I didn’t know what else to do. So it’s like, OK, this is great, but also is this something I really want and something that fulfills me.

Related

'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy': George Hawkins Explains Why Episode 7 Is 'Hinge Point' for Darem

Did she need the more lighthearted scenes with Caleb with the toxic or non-toxic?

Yes, she did. I think we kind of see them flirting with each other in Episode 1 of Season 1, and it never really gets brought up or acknowledged. And I think both Genesis and Caleb realize that, and now they’re in a position where they’re completely alone with access to an entire starship, which they’re both very comfortable with. So now it’s kind of a great moment for them to kind of relieve the tension between them and be like, OK, what’s really going on here? Even though it’s nonverbal, I think they both recognize that they do have a connection, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be romantic. They both admire each other and care so much about each other, and it’s perfectly fine if that’s what it is.

I was going to bring up that there have been some moments where it seems like there could be more, but of course there’s the whole Tarima ( Zoë Steiner) of it. Is a relationship in general even something that Genesis has had time to think about?

I think, of course, she’s thought about it. She’s a young woman, and especially as an overachiever, she probably wants to achieve great love as well. She wants to achieve as many things as possible in her life. So I think the need for connection and love has definitely lived within her, and I think that’s why she’s been so adamant about making such strong connections with her fellow cadets. Her relationship with Sam [Kerrice Brooks] is a great love that she has, and her friendship with all her other cadets are very important to her. Caleb, Tarima, Jay-Den [Karim Diané], Darem [George Hawkins], all of her friends are very, very important to her. But I think also the fear of failing at love lives within her as well because she’s afraid of failing at becoming a captain one day, she’s so afraid of failure that if she puts herself out there to really develop a romantic connection with someone, there is the risk that it won’t work out. And I think she’s always kind of put love in the background to everything else out of fear.

I was going to bring up Genesis and Sam because I think that’s one of my favorite relationships on the show. It’s so sweet.

I know, I know. I tell Kerrice all the time that — because Kerrice and George were already cast when they were auditioning people for Genesis, and I remember getting the sides for my audition and it was a scene with Genesis and Sam and a scene with Genesis and Darem from the first episode. And I remember getting that scene with Genesis and Sam and just feeling this vibrant energy between them both. And I tell Kerrice all the time how Genesis’s connection with Sam is the most important thing to her in that first episode. That’s the only script I had at the time. And it was like, yeah, she’s flirting with Darem, she’s flirting with Caleb. But that immediate spark between Sam and Genesis is so important because it’s so raw and it’s so full of this just vibrant feminine energy and connection and it just stems from love. Sam is so innocent and eager to learn things, and Genesis is so eager to guide and to love wholeheartedly. And so their mix and need to be intertwined with each other is just so natural, and I love their relationship so much.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

Genesis tells Caleb she returned because her dad was invited to a symposium and she had that ulterior motive of course to access her application, but did she also maybe not want to want to spend any time with her family at this point?

Oh yeah. I think this was definitely like, oh cool, we have a break from school? Why do I want to go on a work trip with my dad? I think even if she didn’t want to stay back and have to alter her application and recommendations, I think she would’ve beamed off somewhere else to discover a new planet. Or we see her in Episode 5 talk about how she explores in her free time and she checks out the bars in San Francisco. So I think even if she didn’t stay back at Starfleet, she definitely would’ve bailed on her dad and his symposium and went and let loose somewhere.

What else has come up for Genesis? Because the series has already been renewed, what can you say about how what we’re going to see from Genesis in the rest of Season 1 is setting up her Season 2 journey?

I think since we see her fall down and kind of get herself back up in Episode 7 of Season 1, the rest of Season 1 is her kind of still brushing the dirt off and reminding herself that she is that girl and she does know what she’s doing even though she’s got her flaws. And then we see Genesis go on a really beautiful journey in Season 2. Season 2 is great overall because we get to see a lot deeper connections between all the cadets and Genesis’s connections with each of them are all very important to her, and they’re all developed a lot deeper in Season 2. And we get to learn a little bit more about her history and where she comes from and why she is the way that she is and how even the most put together person you may know is extremely complicated and extremely messy on the inside. And I love that about her because it just makes her so real. So I can’t wait for everyone to see her journey in Season 2.

Is part of that seeing her with her dad?

You’ll have to watch and see.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Thursdays, Paramount+