Original-Cin Chat: Star Trek: SNW's Melissa Navia on her Gorn-Again Experience

By John Kirk

When characters get to experience moments of growth in their development, it’s a chance for fans to not only enjoy these occasions, but for performers to connect with them as well.

Original-CIN had a chance to sit down with Melissa Navia, aka Ensign Ortegas, and talk about her performance in Episode 309 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds titled “Terrarium” which screened Sept. 4 on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and is on Paramount Plus.

Ensign Ortega’s making friends on the other side of the wormhole.

In this episode, Ortegas - cleared for solo duty but still recovering from the traumatic and savage attack by the Gorn warrior that nearly tore her apart -  volunteers for a mission into a wormhole. Her shuttlecraft, overcome by gravitational forces, crash-lands on a planetoid. Trying to both survive the harsh environment and somehow contact the Enterprise, she discovers that she is not alone. And the company is both familiar and unwelcome.

There are a lot of themes in this episode: overcoming PTSD, maintaining Starfleet idealism in the face of danger, etc. But this is a chance to shine the spotlight on Ortegas and the maturity that she shows in this instance when she has to overcome all of these themes for the chance for her character to experience this growth.

We began by asking how Melissa felt that it was finally an Ortegas episode!

“Finally!” She tells us. “I’m very happy that the fans will get to see it and I hope that this is the More-tegas that they want, but I have a feeling that they will want to see more!”

Young, bold and possessed of all the bravado a daring pilot is customarily associated with, the character of Ensign Erica Ortegas has carved a niche into the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds audience. Ortegas is a character who is accepted by those who have overcome challenge, trauma and who see her as a champion of resilience.

Melissa has experienced traumatic loss as well, and with the presence of these themes in this episode, we had to ask if she felt a closer relationship to Ortegas.

“Yes. Definitely. Getting to 309, we’ve had everything that’s happened to Ortegas; everything that’s happened in Season Three and everything that makes Ortegas … Ortegas.

She’s my best friend and I think Leonard Nimoy said that about Spock. I loved that. I understand her so well as a pilot, what makes her a fantastic helmsman and a worthy crewmember of the Enterprise. But she’s also a soldier who went through the Klingon War. And when I saw the script for 301 and that she was going to be on the brink of death, I thought, she’s been through so much: loss, grief, deaths of friends and family, and I wondered what would be different this time?”

There’s a lot of processing that Ortegas – and Melissa – have to do to get to this stage. The preparation to not only assimilate these feelings but to carefully present them, we asked her how she prepared for this episode.

“For me, I felt like this was the first time that things were completely out of her control and this was the closest to death that she had came. In 301, she was wrecked. She’s lost fingers, got acid burns … and then we see that she’s dealing with the nightmare and anxiety, the PTSD of the Gorn, and this is what leads us up to (episode) 309.

“She’s broken but she’s still her cocky, capable Helmsman self. But what are the chances that when she crash-lands, she’s going to be stuck – with her nightmare? With this and everything in this season that leads up to 309, I’m dealing with this other side of Erica.”

Imagine if your best friend is suffering, doesn’t want to experience a hard reality and you have to help her face it. How do you get through that?  

“I almost didn’t want to go there, because for me, Erica is almost always capable of everything. When you think about it, because for me, Star Trek is – I always relate it back to life, you’re dealing with somebody, or when you ARE somebody, who is constantly in charge and constantly able to get it all done, and something happens that breaks you, then it’s an even bigger mountain to climb. So that’s what we saw her go through in the third season and what she eventually goes through in 309.”

But that comes with a realisation of great cost and an understanding of how much that costs. Was this a more challenging episode than the others for Melissa? There were levels to this cost.

“Yeah. It was because there were so many elements of it that were physical and very new. Like, even though we were shooting on an AR wall, there were conditions to simulate the storm and it made filming very difficult for our whole crew, who were wearing masks We had dust, debris, soot, dirt – we had fans constantly running to make that wind. I learned that it was very difficult to act when you couldn’t hear yourself speak or even think. It was the same for Melissa.”

Then there was the personal level.

“It was difficult as well because I didn’t have my cast, my crewmates, who are just the best to act opposite against because they’re legitimately awesome people but they’re also fantastic actors. Like, you throw anything at them, which we’ve done for four seasons, and they will do it. So, Erica has all these scenes in which she’s talking to herself, trying to hype herself up and even though you’ve got a cast of 150 people, you feel like you’re carrying the day, the episode. All of that, when you’re talking to yourself, you’re on the brink of giving up, all is lost. That comes from a deep and profound sense of real understanding of the character.”

Was the cast able to provide support in those times?

“I got to spend time with Celia (Celia Rose Gooding, a.k.a. Uhura), and that really beautiful final scene. Anson (Anson Mount, a.k.a. Capt. Pike) came to the set with his friend. We were in the Green Room and I started tearing up and I just started to hug him. Everyone was going ‘Awww’ and all that, but I was just so happy to see him! I mean, it’s not like I cry every time I see Anson (laughs)! I was just so glad to see him. Chrissy (
Christina Chong, a.k.a. La’an Noonien-Singh) was on set too, which was cool.”

Cathartic episodes where favourite characters get to overcome, show growth and progression are always fan-favourites. It allows them to connect with their heroes and in those moments, believe and hope that they are also capable of that same development. Did Melissa think that this episode would connect her with the fans more?

“Oh, my goodness – yes. The fans are the best. They’re the other half of what we do and Star Trek. We do what we do on camera and then the fans make up so much of it. The love that they have shown Ortegas, me, Melissa the actor, has just propelled me through every season and I think of them while we’re shooting. It means so much for them, It’s more than just a one-time story. I hope that this is the More-tegas they are wanting and I hope that they want more.”

Episode 309 – “Terrarium” streams Thursday, September 5th on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and on Paramount Plus.