The Sweet Story of How Rebecca Romijn Gave a Lost ‘Star Trek’ Character New Life
Plus, the Trekkie connection the model-turned-actress shared with her mom—and why she said putting on her costume for the show 'brought tears to my eyes'
It’s notoriously difficult for models to make the transition to acting, but Rebecca Romijn, who was a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue regular in the ’90s, successfully reinvented herself as an A-list actress thanks to her role as Mystique in the X-Men movies. Romijn played the blue-skinned mutant in the original ’00s film trilogy, and later this year, she’ll reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday. X-Men isn’t the only popular science fiction franchise the star is part of—in 2019, she joined the Star Trek universe playing a character who hadn’t been seen for over 50 years, and she’s now one of the stars of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Read on to learn more about Romijn’s Star Trek role and see what the stunning star has said about her sci-fi icon status.
The lost pilot behind Rebecca Romijn’s ‘Star Trek’ origin story
Rebecca Romijn, who was previously in the cast of TV shows like Ugly Betty and The Librarians, became part of the dynamic and ever-expanding Star Trek world when she was cast as Number One in Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery. While she’s not as instantly recognizable as Kirk and Spock, Number One is an important character, as she first appeared, played by Majel Barrett, the future wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, in “The Cage,” the rejected 1965 pilot episode of the original series.
Number One is the second-in-command to Pike (played by Jeffrey Hunter in the rejected pilot), Kirk’s predecessor as Captain of the USS Enterprise. Number One and Captain Pike didn’t make it into the main cast of the original series, but footage of them in the rejected pilot was used in the two-part 1966 Season 1 episode “The Menagerie,” and they became part of the Star Trek canon.
Pike came back in the 2009 Star Trek movie (played by Bruce Greenwood), but Number One didn’t reenter the franchise until Romijn was cast as her in Star Trek: Discovery 10 years later, with Pike played by Anson Mount.
The original series may have been groundbreaking for its diverse cast, but Roddenberry claimed the initial pilot was rejected due to the network’s discomfort with the idea of having a woman play such a strong role. On top of that, the higher-ups were reluctant to have Barrett, who was then unknown, as a series lead. Fast forward over five decades, and Number One has become more prominent in the world of Star Trek than ever.
Rebecca Romijn’s emotional journey from Trekkie to ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ star
Rebecca Romijn only played Number One in three episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, but in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which debuted in 2022 and takes place a decade before the original series, she’s one of the core characters. The latest series has built out the character’s lore, as she now has the name Una Chin-Riley and has been revealed to be a member of the Illyrian species, though she appears human.
Romijn is no stranger to playing powerful women, as she starred as a mysterious, double-crossing vixen in Femme Fatale (2001) and voiced Lois Lane in a variety of animated Superman movies in the 2010s. In an interview with the Star Trek site TrekMovie, the actress said that it’s been exciting to build a character who was originally a “blank slate” and praised her character’s strength and her “fastidious, meticulous nature,” saying, “She’s very, very good at her job . . . she is slightly intimidating to the rest of the crew.”
Romijn was a longtime Star Trek fan before she was ever in the show, and she revealed that her mom introduced her to the original series when she was just 8 years old. As she movingly recalled to TrekMovie, “I think moms want to introduce their kids to Star Trek because when you look into your child’s eyes—and I can say this as the only mom on our cast, I have kids—you see curiosity. You see a need for exploration. You want your kids to think universally and think totally outside the box. And that’s what the original series did. It sparked a lot of conversation between my mom and me about whether or not we’re the only ones in this universe, about acceptance, about people from all different backgrounds coming together and working in harmony, and about exploration and curiosity. These are all things that mothers foster in their children.”
Romijn said that being fitted for her first Star Trek uniform “brought tears to my eyes,” and in a podcast interview, the actress was positively giddy in describing the unique experience of going from Star Trek fan to Star Trek star, saying, “The most out-of-body experience I’ve had so far was when I walked onto the set of the bridge of the Enterprise . . . It was one of the most ‘pinch-me’ moments I’ve ever experienced in my life, because the set itself is 360 degrees, including the ceiling, and you feel like you are in Star Trek. And the bridge of the Enterprise was what I grew up watching as a child, so to step on it and realize that that’s where I get to work now was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
Star Trek is truly a family affair for Romijn. Not only was she introduced to the show by her mom, but her husband, Jerry O’Connell, stars on the animated series Star Trek: The Lower Decks, and the couple has a running joke about their ongoing rivalry over which of their characters has a higher rank.
It’s clear that Rebecca Romijn has a deep connection to the Star Trek franchise, and her love of the original series comes through in her charismatic portrayal of a character who might otherwise have been lost to time.
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