While Star Trek: Lower Decks good-naturedly pokes fun at many of Star Trek‘s established tropes, Sam Rutherford and Tendi look at its expansive world with wide-eyed wonder. Voiced by Eugene Cordero and Noël Wells, respectively, the ensigns on the U.S.S. Cerritos continue to find joy and excitement in working for Starfleet — despite the crew’s low-stakes missions.
Ahead of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ Season 2 launch on Paramount+, CBR attended a roundtable interview with Wells and Cordero. The pair shared how their characters develop across Season 2, reflected on the joys of joining the Star Trek Universe, and teased their characters’ unresolved tension that treads somewhere between a friendship and romance.
Cordero felt that for as wacky as Lower Decks can get, the crew of the Cerritos — including Rutherford and Tendi — are well-trained to competently handle their jobs in Starfleet, and actually save the day amidst all the comedy. Wells agreed with the assessment and personally identified with Tendi being so eager to find her place in the world beyond what people may expect from her. For Season 2, Cordero felt that much of his character development was gently reset by the Season 1 finale — with Rutherford losing his long-term memory in the climactic battle against the Pakleds. Cordero teased that this development will lead Rutherford to regain some of his progress across Season 2 while his character moves in interesting new directions.
“My biggest thing for developing Rutherford was finding out what he doesn’t know, finding new information, and trusting what he does know from the past now that he has some of that information again,” Cordero explained. “I think there’s a weird mix of growth in certain ways, as a friend, but just finding new things about himself that he didn’t know in Season 1, even.”
“In Season 1, Tendi is very wide-eyed,” Wells observed. “She’s soaking up everything like a sponge and is a bit naive. In Season 2, she maybe has her bubble burst a couple of times but, because of that, she gets to take herself to the next level. You see her pushing back a little bit more, having more agency, and not only taking more risks but standing up for herself.”
Cordero enjoyed the rapport Rutherford struck up with Tendi across Season 1 but revealed that the two characters will also have other pairings throughout Season 2. Cordero teased Rutherford team-ups with Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner. When asked about the possibility of sexual tension between Rutherford and Tendi, Cordero personally felt the idea of sexual tension in an animated series is a bit weird. Instead, he felt the two characters shared a lot of common interests and were figuring out where their friendship goes from there.
However, Wells acknowledged there was sexual tension throughout Season 1 of Lower Decks and shared that it opened up a lot of possibilities for their characters. Wells also teased that Season 2 would reveal more of Tendi’s dark side and her capacity to fight when needed.
CBR asked both actors what it was like joining the Star Trek franchise as it reaches its 55th anniversary and with the production of Lower Decks Season 3 well underway. “I love the fact that I have implants and there’s part of me that’s a cyborg,” Cordero said. “As a kid, there’s nothing more that I’d want to be than part-robot. To be that within the world of Star Trek is just amazing! And to fit in the world representing Asian Americans in anything and the way that he’s drawn and how cool he is, this is great! The fan that I get to be a part of it those two ways, as a fan of Star Trek but also to play and represent a cool Asian cyborg, let’s do it!”
“I’ve personally always felt like an alien so I get so excited any time I get cast in something where I really relate to it, that’s a win,” Wells said. [laughs] “But, to be a part of this intergalactic universe of all these different people coming together and what the show actually stands for — The idea of creating peace on a universal level, the diplomacy of that, and how we can all work together — I really like being a part of something that speaks to that. It connects us with so many people who also feel that way. It’s really cool to see your name in the credits of something that is so iconic and is so in the zeitgeist and recognizable and realize I’m part of this institution. Whatever part you’re playing in that, you can’t really ever take that away, that’s now part of your legacy as a human or alien!”
Cordero teased that Rutherford won’t rely as heavily on his cybernetic implants in Season 2. He also shared that he hopes some of Rutherford’s more fun personality programs resurface. Similarly, the pair confirmed that Tendi will showcase new sides to her personality as Season 2 progresses. Cordero observed that Rutherford has a greater degree of professional confidence in the way that he approaches things whereas Wells noted that Tendi is less confident but more seeking to accomplish tasks to please her friends and crewmates.
Streaming on Paramount+, Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 premieres Aug. 12.
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