This year’s Star Trek Day shared glimpses of all the upcoming treats awaiting fans from every corner of the Starfleet universe and allowed fans and peers a moment to pay tribute to the late, great Nichelle Nichols.
The Los Angeles-based event, which was live-streamed for fans globally on various Star Trek platforms, featured appearances by Star Trek stars from across the franchises, including Picard‘s Patrick Stewart, Michelle Hurd, Jeri Ryan, Kate Mulgrew, Melissa Navia, Christina Chong and Rebecca Romijn.
The excitement on the red carpet was nothing compared to the reverence with which stars reflected on the memory of the late actress known for playing Lt. Nyota Uhura in the original William Shatner-fronted Trek series.
“She is really the reason why I feel so proud to be a part of this amazing franchise,” Hurd told ET. “When I was a young kid… my father was an actor and he knew that it was really important for his three brown girls to see themselves represented. So when we would sit down to watch something, Star Trek was always the first thing and it’s because of Nichelle Nichols.”
She added, “I hope that people understand how impactful and how much she changed everything. It wasn’t just that there was this beautiful Black woman in this cute dress sitting at a console — she had importance, she had control, she had power, she had a service that she contributed. Seeing that as a child, I saw that I could have a purpose, I could serve.”
The Picard actress shared how Nichols’ shift to wearing her hair naturally inspired her own decision to style her character Raffi similarly.
“I wanted all of our brothers and sisters to see that in [the year] 2400, curls are still there and they’re not going anywhere,” she declared. “So I’m so humbled and appreciative to think that Nichelle did that for me and for so many of us, and that maybe I have a tiny little impact in conveying that same message to little brown and beige girls and boys around the world. That they tune in now and they see me and they go, ‘I could do that, I could do anything.'”
Actress Celia Rose Gooding, who plays Nyota Uhura on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, had a similar outlook.