Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Christina Chong’s La’an Journey & More

Posted in: Paramount+, streaming, TV | Tagged: Christina Chong, interview, La’an Noonien-Singh, paramount, star trek, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Christina Chong discusses how playing La’an is an extension of her life, fan reactions, music, and more.

In the recent episode of Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” Christina Chong’s La’an Noonien Singh and Paul Wesley’s James T. Kirk find themselves traveling back in time to repair the past to secure La’an’s present and future. What we don’t know is how much Chong puts of herself into La’an. The actress spoke to Bleeding Cool about how she felt going into season two, how the season one episode “The Elysian Kingdom” provided the opportunity to expand her music career, how La’an’s journey is more about lineage than her potential abilities, and the narrative concerning the latest episode. The following contains spoilers.

How Christina Chong’s Life Echos in La’an in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Bleeding Cool: How did going into season two feel different from going to the first season?

Chong: Going into season two, we all knew where we were and what we were doing, but it felt exciting to get stuck not having those pre-new show nerves. That was for the first three episodes, and when the show went out on air, everyone loved it. I don’t know about everybody else, but I felt the pressure of, “Oh, my goodness! This is a hit. Oh, no!” But also, “Oh, yes!” Because now we must pull it out of the bag. Not overnight, but five or six episodes, I could tell. I was like, “This will be great.” We had pressure to deliver [to audiences], which was great, and they loved the show. Now, there are eyes on us that hadn’t been before, and it took me a little while to get over that.

At what point during season one did you feel that you were starting to hit your stride as La’an?

I felt the character. In me from the beginning. Even at the audition stage, I was like, “II know who this girl is.: It felt organic for me to play on, and so going straight into season one, I have to say, felt natural. I know that seems like a random thing because she’s in space on the Enterprise. I connected with her from off the bat, so it felt easy to play her.

In “The Elysian Kingdom” episode, we got to see another side that we got to see of you and your talents as a musician. Can you tell me if it felt like a breath of fresh air compared to everything else you were doing as a character?

It was I had free reign on a playground as a four-year-old kid running on it, and there’s no other kid there! I can go where I want, do whatever I want, and say whatever, and nobody’s going to tell me off. I was so happy to be given that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play that princess. Unless you’re doing ‘Enchanted’ or one of those Disney movies, then it is rare you would get to play a princess in that kind of outfit.

It was anything was up for grabs, I could have done her. Amanda Row, the director, permitted me to do whatever I wanted with her within the confines of the script. I brought the singing to it. I didn’t tell anyone I was going to do it. I did it now and nobody was expecting that. It took a while before everyone could kind of compose themselves, including myself while I was doing it. It was a complete breath of fresh air, especially as La’an is so reserved and trauma-driven in season one. It was a welcome break from all of that.

Did that episode inspire you to expand into that portion of your career as a musician?

It was something I’d wanted to do ever since I was a teenager. It was in the back of my mind the time would present itself. Part of that timing being right was “Star Trek” because it gave me the opportunity, not just in the way of the princess and putting that “Hey, I can sing” out there, but also giving me the profile and the means to do it. It felt right after season two to see what would happen if I put the word out. When you do that in a “let’s see what happens” way, a relaxed going with the flow. That’s when you can get the best creative outcome, and I hope that’s what we managed to achieve. Creation comes from a place of enjoying and loving it. I hope that’s what I’ve got in this EP or what people feel anyway.

A recurring theme with your character and Rebecca’s [Romijn] is Starfleet’s attitudes toward augments. How do you compare La’an’s journey to Rebecca’s as Una Chin-Riley?

We don’t know yet if La’an is an augment. She’s related to Kahn, but we don’t know if that part of him is passed on to her. For me, it’s more that I’m being judged for where I’m from, which is like how I felt for a lot of my childhood because my dad is Chinese, and I felt I was judged and bullied for being of Chinese descent. Similarly, La’an goes through that journey of being ashamed as I was back in the day of being an augment descendant.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that she is an augment. It’s different for Una. Throughout this season, we see, especially in episode three, her acceptance of coming to realize, “Yes, I am of that heritage, so what?! It’s made me who I am today, and I’m proud of who I am today!” It’s also how I came to that conclusion in my own life. I know Una is different because she’s an augment. Una’s hidden that for a lot longer than La’an’s been on the ship.

I want to talk about the episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” because it’s one of your best outings on the show so far, but by far because it was a standalone adventure with the time travel aspect. You’re working with Paul Wesley on this. Was there anything that kind of helped you like personally that into the scripts that help motivate your performance in that?

That episode, there was so much in it. It was like a journey full of ups and downs. I always put my real life into the character and the script. I personalized what was going on. I was going through similar things romantically in my life as what La’an is experiencing with Kirk. I used my life as inspiration. Also, with her meeting Baby Khan and looking into that little boy’s eyes, I felt the power of the whole legacy of Khan’s “Star Trek” legacy, fandom, and everything the moment when I was doing that scene. I felt it so strongly that was inspired by the fans, the story, and Gene Roddenberry‘s incredible franchise. At that moment, I did have personal stuff in there as well, but I couldn’t shake off that how big that moment was for everyone. I certainly felt that watching it. My inspiration mostly comes from obviously the script, but then me personalizing the script internally from within my life.

What has been the fan response to your character & how it helps the narrative of augments?

If there are any bad comments, I tend to block people [laughs]. Just a warning out there because none of us need that negativity in our lives. In general, people are excited to find out even more about La’an’s story and her connection to Khan. We will see some of that this season, but there’s a lot more to dig into. This show’s potentially going to go for years to come. We don’t want to give it all away at once, but many things could happen. Does she have superhuman powers? We don’t know. That could come out. It could not. There’s been a massively positive response to understanding Khan and where he’s seeing that in this era of Star Trek.

You can check out Chong’s latest single, Twin Flames – and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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