Boldly going where few have gone before, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams made an appearance on the season finale of the sci-fi series Star Trek: Discovery on Thursday.
The Democratic former state representative, a longtime avowed fan of the iconic Star Trek series, portrayed the president of United Earth on the episode, which wrapped Star Trek: Discovery‘s fourth season.
“I’m still floored when I think about Stacey gracing us with her presence in our Season 4 finale,” Sonequa Martin-Green told Deadline. “We spent so much of our time fanning out and pretending to be cool in her midst.”
Martin-Green — the former Walking Dead actress who plays Discovery captain Michael Burnham, the first Black woman to sit in the captain’s seat on the show — called Abrams “a legend in the making and a civil hero, and she was an absolute delight to work with.”
“She wowed us with her charm, humility, and generosity, and she whipped out some acting chops too!” Martin-Green asserted. “It was an honor for me as a Black woman to stand with her in the story. It’s an experience I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
The experience moved many behind the scenes of the show.
“Honestly, the number of times I’ve seen the episode, every time I see her face, I’m like, ‘Wow, that really happened. That’s awesome,’” showrunner Michelle Paradise told IndieWire.
Paradise added that Abrams gave her own input on shaping her character.
“When she saw the script and we started talking about costumes and stuff like that, it was just really wanting her input on those things,” Paradise said. “It’s a character that she needs to embody. She’s so collaborative and was really just wonderful about all of it. It really was just such a treat to have her there and get to have her in Toronto on set.”
Abrams is a SAG-AFTRA cardholder and had previously appeared on an episode of ABC’s black-ish.
“Yes, that was Stacey Abrams with a cameo on Star Trek Discovery as president of United Earth,” political writer Greg Bluestein wrote on Twitter. “A proud Star Trek nerd, Abrams has appeared as a guest on fan shows and has talked extensively about how the show shaped her perspective.”
Abrams has previously expressed that she has aspirations to hold the highest office in America. Right now, the renowned former legislator is running against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp in a rematch to their 2018 race, which was plagued with voter disparities. Abrams has since launched Fair Fight, a voters’ rights initiative, and has been celebrated as a champion in helping Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election.
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