Lower Decks and Captain Freeman for live action

Dawnn Lewis provided voice Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ indomitable captain Carol Freeman for five seasons. Lieutenant Beckett Mariner’s (Tawny Newsome) mother, Freeman is always busy commandeering the USS Cerritos and corralling her rebellious daughter..

In Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, the USS Cerritos investigates rifts in space that lead to alternate dimensions. Captain Freeman discovered that his alternate reality was sent to Starbase 80the worst space station in the galaxy. Carol then travels to her own reality’s Starbase 80 in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 5, “Starbase 80?!”, where Captain Freeman finds out if he’s as bad as Mariner and everyone in Starfleet says he is.

Screen speech I had the pleasure of speaking with Dawnn Lewis about her five seasons as captain of the Star Trek: Lower Decks, the dysfunctional but loving mother-daughter relationship between Mariner and Captain Freeman, and their hopes of bringing Star Trek: Lower Decks to experience the action (and even play a Klingon!).

Dawnn Lewis digs deeper into Captain Freeman and Mariner’s mother-daughter relationship

Mariner will eventually turn into her mother

Screen Rant: I want to start by giving you your flowers as Captain Freeman. I love Sonequa. We all love Sonequa. But Michael Burnham became captain a year later Lower decks debuted. So Captain Freeman is the first black female captain of a Star Trek series. I just wanted you to know that I knew that.

Dawnn Lewis: Oh, thank you very much. Totally popcorn! Totally sold out, this will be my new board. Totally chopped.

Captain Freeman and Mariner also have the best mother-daughter relationship in Star Trek. I mean, it’s dysfunctional, but it’s also for the best. I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Dawnn Lewis: It’s reminiscent of my life with my mother, being a teenager raised by a mother. My mother came from a completely different South American country, with completely different values ​​and traditions. Raising me and my three siblings, my mother managed to get an education, get a job, survive a failed marriage, and raise us alone. She is and remains the ultimate achiever. My mother is 91 years old.

When I was a kid, my mom and I, all we did was butt heads. We loved each other. I just didn’t think we liked each other. And after I went to college, our relationship changed and we learned not just to love each other, but to like each other, and that’s the relationship I see growing between Captain Freeman and Mariner.

They love each other out of respect because they are mother and daughter, but when the series started, all they did was butt heads. But the longer they are together in the same space and learn to see and respect each other, you watch them really start to like each other. Sometimes they get mad because they really like each other, but that works in their favor. Just watching this dynamic grow, it feels like a real, living relationship between mother and daughter. It really matters. I love that.

It’s beautiful. And I feel like, 20 years from now, Mariner will be a lot more like Captain Freeman than she thinks she will be.

Dawnn Lewis: And she’s going to hate every minute of it. Every other word uttered will be, ‘Oh my God, I sound like my mother.’

When Season 5 began, we discovered that Mariner is Beckett’s middle name and therefore she is Beckett Mariner Freeman. I love the idea that Captain Freeman gave his daughter the initials BMF on purpose because she is BMF.

Dawnn Lewis: She is. Carol Freeman is always thinking: Nothing goes unnoticed by her. I love that. I love that. She saw in the future what this young woman’s personality will be and it’s almost as if she had no choice. You know how the preacher’s kids are often the worst in the church? They are the worst behaved. Well, there you have it, coming from me and the admiral, my husband, it’s like it’s her responsibility to rebel. That was her responsibility, and she fulfilled it fully. And she will be us before she knows it.

The funny thing is, I saw Mike McMahan last weekend and asked him about BMF, and he said he didn’t notice and that it was a coincidence. I was like, what? How do you not notice when you’re so perfect?

Dawnn Lewis: He doesn’t even know he’s a genius. Mike is a genius.

What is your real-life relationship with Tawny like?

Dawnn Lewis: When I met Tawny, we hit it off really well and originally managed to shoot a few episodes together before I went to New York to start working on Broadway. And then the pandemic arrived and everything was isolated. Everyone recording alone during the pandemic. Tawny had a podcast, and her mom was on the podcast, so I met her mom and discovered we had a lot in common. So now me and her real mom are kind of fighting, who is her real mom?

So yeah, Tawny is hilarious. She’s so funny, she’s so smart, she’s such a talented artist, writer, director and producer. She makes you very, very proud and is a joy to collaborate with. I’m very, very happy that we took this journey together.

Dawnn Lewis Discusses Her Hopes for Live-Action Star Trek: Lower Decks

Dawnn also wants to play a live-action Klingon

On Strange New Worlds, There’s a lot of talk about Anson Mount’s hair, but I love Captain Freeman’s hair. I love the white stripe. Her design is so good.

Dawnn Lewis: I absolutely agree. I think it reminds me a lot of Nancy Wilson, one of my absolute heroes, and who ended up becoming one of my favorite aunts before she passed away. So yes, Captain Freeman is built like an athlete with hair and swagger, like Nancy Wilson. I’m a happy girl and I can’t wait to be a live-action version of Captain Freeman. I’m ready. Yes, I’m ready to rock.

I know Mike said he wants to do a live-action version. I think the whole cast wants to do that. It would be amazing to see you all in full uniform, fully playing these characters.

Dawn Lewis: Thank you. And I think a lot of us really look like our characters, like when Tawny and Jack did Strange New Worlds, they really looked like Beckett and Boimler. They really want it.

Did Tawny mention anything to you about her live-action show? And if you weren’t playing Captain Freeman, would you want to be an alien?

Dawnn Lewis: I would absolutely like to be an alien. And Tawny is sworn to secrecy about her live-action gig, except that she’s excited about it. You’re talking about Starfleet Academy, right?

She’s also developing something else, a comedy show.

Dawnn Lewis: Oh, that’s for sure, I can’t say anything. But yes, I would love to put prosthetics on my forehead, nose, ears, teeth, take a bat’leth in my hand and go after someone. I want to be a warrior.

Star Trek: Lower Decks goes to Starbase 80

Nicole Byer guest stars as Commander Kassia Nox

Lower decks we went to Starbase 80, which we heard so much about. And we find out that the alternate universe’s Captain Freeman was sent there. Nicole Byer was the guest voice and she was great. I think “Starbase 80?!” might be my favorite episode of the season so far. It’s so good. I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Dawnn Lewis: I love it. And you’re right. Nicole is hilarious and kind of plays against the comedy, which makes her even funnier. And there’s something about her voice that you know will be hilarious. We didn’t get to record together, but I met Nicole several times. She and Tawny are good friends. She is so funny with this dry humor. You can’t help but think, ‘Wait, did she just say that?’ Really, it’s hilarious. She’s hilarious and just a lovely person to boot. All of our guest stars were truly wonderful to be around. And like I said, sometimes we’re just as surprised as the fans when they see the show, simply because we don’t record it together. So it’s great for us too.

It’s so perfect the way it all comes together. You would never know you’re not in the same room.

Dawnn Lewis: You’re right. We have incredible editors. Between Mike’s writing, and Mike, over the years, really got to know our individual voices. So he knows our timbre, he knows our rhythm, and between the way he writes, the way he lets us improvise on the microphone, and then the editors take every line, every sound and scream, and put it all together, it feels like we’re finishing the each other’s sentences. So it really is an incredible collaborative effort.

What Dawnn Lewis is most proud of about Star Trek: Lower Decks

Lower Decks exemplifies what Star Trek is all about

Season five is the last for Paramount+, but we’re all hoping there’s more in some form. Looking back, five years, five seasons, what are you most proud of?Lower deck?

Dawnn Lewis: I’m most proud of – And thank you for saying this, by the way, because we all hope for a life beyond our current circumstances – What I’m most proud of is the way our show brings to all men this incredible legacy of Star Trek . Star Trek is defined by its diversity, by its inclusion, by the expectation of excellence from everyone. Nobody is better than anyone else. People have different cultures, different genders, different species, all different things. But what is expected is that everyone you see on that screen comes with excellence and is respected by everyone around them.

Lower decks are the same thing. The only difference is, whether it’s the bridge crew or the Lower Deckers, we are imperfect human beings. In these other franchises, everyone is excellent. On our show, we have your neighbor. We have the other guy at work who always seems to get on your nerves. We have people who try their best to do their best, but they never seem to get it right. But there is nothing but respect, appreciation, diversity and a true humanity in each of us I love. I’m really proud that, in our own way, we continue to walk this path of ‘see me, respect me, appreciate me, let’s do this together.’

I absolutely agree. Even though it’s an animated series, it’s the most human team, I think.

Dawnn Lewis: We don’t always get it right, but our hearts are in the right place.

About Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5

In season 5 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, the crew of the USS Cerritos are tasked with closing “space holes” – subspace rifts that are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant. Hole duty would be easy for junior officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford… if they didn’t also have to deal with an Orion war, angry Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries and most frightening of all: the your own career aspirations. This upcoming season on Paramount+ is a celebration of this downtrodden crew who are dangerously close to being promoted from the lower decks to strange new roles in Starfleet.

Check out our others Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 interviews: