Longtime Star Trek fans get a fresh take on a classic character in Jess Bush. Jess plays the legacy character Nurse Christine Chapel. As mentioned in our roundtable interview with Rebecca Romijn, Nurse Chapel was originated by the First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.
Nurse Chapel Reporting For Duty!
Obviously, there’s a measure of gravitas that comes with playing a role like that just because it was a role originated by Majel. But then there’s another consideration. As progressive as Star Trek was for its time, there are still certain roles played by women in the show that are still very much like a show made in the late 1960s. We don’t really get to know a lot about Nurse Chapel by watching The Original Series. Jess Bush is flipping that script.
No spoilers from me, as I’ve had the good fortune to be graced with screeners, but I’ll say this much–Jess Bush elevates the role of Nurse Chapel from a secondary character to a full ensemble cast member. She’s just as big of a player as anyone else on the bridge of the Enterprise. Enough of my perspective though, let’s let Jess speak for herself. Jess is joined by Babs Olusanmokun, who plays Dr. M’Benga, in this interview.
Thank you to Paramount and ViacomCBS for inviting Fangirlish to participate in these interviews! Thanks also to Jess Bush for consenting to the interview and for her thoughtful responses. I’m so excited to watch you breathe new life into one of Star Trek’s legacy characters, which has been long overdue.
Stay tuned to Fangirlish for all your Star Trek news, reviews, and information. We’ll be sharing more roundtable interviews with the rest of the cast of Strange New Worlds soon.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will premiere on May 5, 2022, on Paramount+.
