Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is finally just around the corner. After a mammoth wait following the end of Season 2, it feels good to be discussing this show and its characters again properly. The Trek Central team are excited to see where the upcoming season’s adventures take them. As such, we’ve engineered a series of articles to discuss each character in-depth, exploring their potential developments throughout the series. Today, I have the privilege of discussing the engineer herself, Pelia (Carol Kane).
From her introduction in season two, she made a delightful addition to the crew. But what’s to come from the ship’s Lanthanite? Especially as the legendary Scotty (Martin Quinn) joins the show’s regular cast. Let’s dive into what we know of this marvellous character and see what we can glean!
The Lanthanite
At the start of season two, Pelia was introduced as an inspector, running routine checks on the Enterprise’s systems. She gets embroiled in an incident that involves stealing the Enterprise from Starbase One, and averting war escalations between the Federation and the Klingons. After this, she offers to fill the empty chief engineer position following the death of Hemmer (Bruce Horak) in season one.
A teacher at Starfleet Academy, she joined the Enterprise for a change of pace. Teaching was boring her, and as a Lanthanite, she’s lived too long to just lounge around. This also meant she came with a lot of interesting history and baggage. From old paintings she stole, to grading some of the senior officers during their time at the Academy.
Notably, she gave middling grades to Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn). With Number One being a perfectionist, there was an interesting spot of tension between them. Her teaching abilities never left her, notably showing Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) the ropes down in engineering. On one such occasion, they caused the franchise’s musical episode ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ in the process.
A Reduced Role
Pelia, while a regular presence throughout Strange New Worlds season two, was never formally a member of the series’ main cast. This is set to remain the case for Strange New Worlds season 3, and just how many episodes she’ll appear in is unknown.
What we do know is that her role in the season is expected to be a little smaller. The odds of Scotty becoming chief engineer straight away are slim. But given Quinn’s status as a series regular, it seems a lot of the engineering duties are likely to fall to him.
I’d personally love to see Pelia take up more of a mentoring role throughout season three, helping Scotty learn the Enterprise like the back of his hand. We know she worked as an instructor at Starfleet Academy for some time. We also know she considered Scotty one of her best students. Watching the two engineers work side by side is going to be amazing.
Time Travelling Antics
One of the highlights of Pelia’s role through season two was her presence in the episode ‘Tomorrrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’. Set in the past, this episode comes complete with alternate universe shenanigans and Pelia living on Earth in the twenty-first century. She plays a clear echo of Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) in ‘Time’s Arrow’. It also allowed Kane to show off her comedic range.
In a show known for novelty episodes – from time travel, alternate universes, crossover episodes, and even musicals – she could easily appear in a similar capacity again. She claims that she lived through the entirety of human history, so she could easily pop up anywhere. No matter where the Enterprise crew finds themselves, I’m sure Pelia’s just around the corner.
Not only that, but she could also channel her knowledge of human history into helping the crew solve problems. From her massive collection, there’s no doubt she’s seen all sorts of interesting history. We know that there’s going to be a Hollywood-style murder mystery episode, so perhaps she’ll channel her inner Conan-Doyle or Christie.
More To Come
The plot of season three is fairly secretive at this point. We know we can expect all hands on deck, Pelia included, in an explosive showdown with the Gorn hegemony at the season’s beginning. It should be nice to see Pelia working with Scotty in such a fast-paced environment.
There’s also the matter of new characters arriving to shake up the show’s status quo. Most notably, comedian Rhys Darby is appearing in an undisclosed role. I’d like to see them play off one another. We know he’s playing a legacy character. So, giving them some history together would be a nice opportunity to further tie Pelia into the web of characters and lore from The Original Series.
The series’ penchant for novelty episodes means that no two Pelia appearances will be the same. An example is the Hollywood-style murder mystery episode teased by director Jonathan Frakes. On a ship where her days are numbered (she’s not around come The Original Series after all), this feels all the more important.
Conclusion
And that’s Pelia! She’s the Enterprise’s chief engineer, at least for now. A delightful comedic presence and a great mentor figure for the younger characters from the Original Series. She has a clear penchant for helping, and sometimes inadvertently causing the show’s more absurd episodes. So, I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us in season three.
Keep an eye out for our other Strange New Worlds character spotlights before the season premiere. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 airs on Paramount+ in the United States and select international territories on July 17th 2025. Season three premieres later this year. For more lore discussions, reviews, theories, and the latest news talking all things Star Trek, follow our socials below!
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