Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams made a cameo appearance Thursday on the Season 4 finale of “Star Trek: Discovery” as the “President of United Earth.”
Abrams is a huge Star Trek fan, according to Decider. She’s appeared on Star Trek podcasts, spoken openly in interviews about her love for the franchise, and even compared her candidacy for the Georgia governor’s seat as sitting in the “captain’s chair,” the outlet reported. Abrams did a deep-dive interview with NowThis Nerd in 2020 where she detailed how Star Trek has shaped her as a woman.
Stacey Abrams just guest starred on Star Trek as President of the United Earth. Yes, really. pic.twitter.com/dO9cNhzCpG
— Lavern Spicer (@lavern_spicer) March 17, 2022
Abram’s cameo on the show as the President of United Earth was a surprise to fans, as there was no prior announcement or tease of her appearance, according to Decider. In the episode “Coming Home,” Abram’s character visits the “Discovery” to officially accept an invitation to join the “United Federation of Planets.” (RELATED: Stacey Abrams Campaign Scrambles To Do Damage Control Following Maskless Image With Children)
“We wanted to lock it down at every stage of the game,” Michelle Paradise, “Star Trek: Discovery’s” co-showrunner and writer of the finale episode, told Decider, “We didn’t want that to get ahead of the show, and we wanted that to be an organic moment, for the audience to experience that in the moment. Everyone on our whole team was on board… It’s not as hard to lock those things down when everyone is on the same page.”
Paradise went on to tell the outlet, “When we got about halfway through [the season], and were coming to the finale, we realized, we needed a face for this, [President of United Earth]. We needed someone to represent Earth, who can say the words, ‘Earth is back.’ … Stacey Abrams came to mind, knowing she’s a fan of the show, and all that she’s done for obvious reasons, all that she has done and continues to do.”
Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman was apparently so excited by Paradise’s idea to bring Abrams on as the President of United Earth that he sent “so many exclamation points when he texted” her back, the outlet continued. When Paradise spoke to Abrams about the opportunity, she was insistent that the cast and crew tell her nothing of the storyline for Season 4, Decider reported.
“She is a political figure, so anytime you make that choice, to cast a real life person in a fictional role, there are going to be people who like that choice, and going to be people who don’t like that choice. We felt really great, and very honored that she would come in and do our show, and play this role on our show. We couldn’t be happier about it. We feel very lucky,” Paradise told the outlet.
Depending on whether Abrams loses her gubernatorial bid in Georgia, again, the show is apparently open to doing a “Star Trek: West Wing” spinoff, Paradise concluded in the interview. Until then, Abrams is campaigning to become governor of Georgia, not President of the entire planet.