Someone is apparently envisioning big, big things for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. The popular Democrat played the “President of United Earth” — in the 32nd Century — in Thursday’s Season 4 finale of “Star Trek: Discovery” to help patch up the Federation.
The cast was thrilled by Abrams’ appearance.
“We spent so much of our time fanning out and pretending to be cool in her midst,” star Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays USS Discovery Captain Michael Burnham in the Paramount+ series, told Deadline. “She’s a legend in the making and a civil hero, and she was an absolute delight to work with … and she whipped out some acting chops too! It was an honor for me as a Black woman to stand with her in the story.”
Director-producer Olatunde Osunsanmi told TV Line that “everybody’s head exploded” when Abrams walked on the set “because 90% of the crew didn’t know she was coming. You could just see necks break like, ‘What?! Stacey? What is going on?’ She killed it.”
Abrams is a huge “Star Trek” fan who quoted dialogue from the long-running franchise when she was first contacted by a representative of the program to appear. She was part of a long-term strategy for the plot, executive producer and co-showrunner Michelle Paradise told Deadline.
After Season 3 with the Federation in upheaval and Earth no longer a member, Abrams is the one who announces in the Season 4 finale that the planet is ready to join up again, promising a brighter future for the Federation — and the cosmos.
“We realized we’d need someone to bring that moment to life, an Earth president to say those words — that Earth wanted to rejoin — and honestly, there’s no one better for that than Stacey,” said Paradise.
The plan to patch the Federation back together this season initially appears to be in trouble when President of United Earth Abrams tells Federation President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal) that “there’s nothing to discuss.”
But she adds, smiling: “United Earth is ready right now to rejoin the Federation, and nothing could make me happier than to say those words.”
Check out the scene up top.