Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Adds Carol Kane As New Engineer, First Clip Gives Us More Ortegas

This article contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 1. 

Live long and prosper, and happy "Star Trek" day to all of my fellow "Trek"-loving fans. Today brought both an exciting announcement and a new clip for season 2 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," which makes this Trekker happier than Quark in a literal lake of latinum. First, the folks at Paramount revealed that a new crew member will be joining the Enterprise — a tough, no-nonsense engineer played by the one and only Carol Kane. There's no way to replace the curmudgeonly Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak), who died tragically near the end of season 1 when he sacrificed himself to prevent a Gorn infestation, but having Carol Kane play the engineer taking over his position is one great way to make the transition easier. 

On top of this incredible bit of casting, the "Trek" team also dropped an exclusive new clip from season 2 that features fan-favorite (and my favorite) Lt. Ortegas finally getting a chance to leave the Enterprise. We already knew that she'll be getting her own episode this season, but an away mission for the poor pilot sounds even better. 

The clip above is a great example of the character-driven joy of "Strange New Worlds." Even if Ortegas didn't get to go on the away mission, it's a blast hearing her quibble with Spock (Ethan Peck), and Captain Pike's (Anson Mount) "I was a test pilot, remember?" is both deliciously in-character and kind of funny. (Who wants to bet that he crashes the shuttle?) The interactions between the crew of the Enterprise are what really drives "Strange New Worlds," giving the stakes of the weekly adventure because we actually care about them. 

Losing Hemmer was a real bummer, as the Aenar engineer had developed a heartwarming friendship with Lt. Uhura (Celia Rose-Gooding) and was starting to interact more with the other crew. While the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise will eventually be Montgomery Scott, there's still some time before his Scottish brogue will delight our ears over the intercoms. Until then, our new Chief Engineer is Kane's Pelia, described in a press release as "highly educated and intelligent." The release also states that she "suffers no fools" and "solves problems calmly and brusquely, thanks to her many years of experience." Sounds like my kind of officer! 

Fans might recognize Kane from her roles in "The Princess Bride," "Addams Family Values," "Taxi," or "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Kane is a comedy legend, and her joining "Strange New Worlds" feels like a match made in heaven. Thank the prophets!