Warning: This Interview Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 9 - "All Those Who Wander"
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 9 stunned viewers when Hemmer (Bruce Horak) sacrificed his life to save his fellow USS Enterprise crewmates from the Gorn.
Hemmer, a blind Aenar who nonetheless served as the Enterprise's Chief Engineer, quickly became a fan favorite for his gruff demeanor and his wisdom as the mentor of Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding).
Screen Rant spoke to Bruce Horak about Hemmer's tragic choice to give his life for his crew, when he found out Hemmer was meant to die, how long it took to turn him into an Aenar, and his favorite memories from his time on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
I'm really sorry to see Hemmer go. He was an amazing character. Did you know going into Strange New Worlds that Hemmer would die before season 1 was over?
Bruce Horak: I did. Yeah. Henry Alonso Meyers told me in my fourth and final Zoom audition, as I was getting closer and closer to landing the part. He outlined basically the arc of the first season for Hemmer. He explained full out, "Just so you know, Hemmer is gonna die."
They were really angling for him to be the mentor figure. They wanted him to be loved, and it seems like they were successful.
I would say so, yes. Before Hemmer made his sacrifice, he mentioned that he had a good life. Did you get any background information about him? Because I'm sorry we didn't get to see an episode about him.
Bruce Horak: Yeah, unfortunately, it's what's on the page. That's what plays. In terms of all the backstory, that was purely my imagination.
Hemmer made a beautiful sacrifice, which reminded me of the end of Terminator 2, when the T-800 sacrificed himself for John Connor. I thought that was great.
Bruce Horak: Nice reference.
What was filming Hemmer's death scene like for you?
Bruce Horak: Oh, one of the hardest things I've ever done. Absolutely. That was really hard. I mean, hard is probably relative to the world that we're living in, but it was very emotional.
The beautiful thing about that whole scene is that the stakes are so high. It's impending; he's about to erupt. His water had broken, shall we say, so the stakes were way up there. I absolutely loved the environment that Christopher Byrne, who was the director of this episode, created. The energy that he brought to the directing of those scenes, and the constant reminder of, "Look, you're having a moment and you get to say this goodbye. But also, the clock's ticking here." That underlying engine through the scene had me going, because he doesn't really take a moment to wallow. It's a moment of, "Connect, pause, reflect and act."
While I wouldn't say that Hemmer is at his core a hero, he certainly gets the chance to perform a heroic act. And what a gift; what an absolute gift.
Many actors say that it's a gift to perform a great death scene, and you certainly got that.
Bruce Horak: Yeah, I was so happy with that script. And I knew that he was gonna go, but I didn't know the circumstances. I didn't know what that scene was gonna look like, and when I read it, I was cheering through tears.
Hemmer's purpose, as he says, is to fix what was broken. That turned out to be Uhura, and they had this fantastic mentor-student relationship, which was just so beautifully done throughout the season. Can you talk about that and working with Celia Rose Gooding?
Bruce Horak: Celia is a remarkably gifted performer, and her work on the screen is just extraordinary. And honestly, offscreen she's just effervescent and fun; the connection was immediate and just so wonderful. Predominantly, she was the one that I got the most scenes with - maybe second to Babs [Olusanmokun] in episode 8. That made it very emotional to say goodbye on that last day, and to film that scene with her.
It was very touching, and I was just so grateful for how incredible she is as a performer. She's so present and giving. Yeah, what a true talent.
I imagine you don't miss sitting in the makeup chair. How long was the process to turn you into an Aenar?
Bruce Horak: I do miss sitting in the makeup chair! I really like it. I really like getting to transform in that way; to wear another face and just disappear into a character like that. It's just wonderful.
Three and a half hours in the makeup chair at the start of the day to get into it. There's two prosthetic artists, Shane Zander and Allan Cooke, who worked on me primarily in season 1. They were just so great. We hung out, we chatted, we nerded out about movies and favorite horror films. They turned me onto John Carpenter's The Thing - they just turned me on to all that stuff. We nerded out and had a great time, so it was also very hard to say goodbye to those two fellows. Because I'd say I spent the most time with them, and they were great.
I'd spent whatever a year in lockdown, basically, before I started shooting. This was the first human contact, or physical contact, I'd had in a year. It's like, "My God, somebody's touching me. It's like going to the spa. It's great." And it's an exfoliant as well, so it probably took years off my face.
A lot of Star Trek actors have said that they had trouble with the technobabble. You were the Chief Engineer so much of your dialogue was technobabble. Did you have trouble with all of the jargon?
Bruce Horak: I looked at it almost like bits of Shakespeare. In the same way that I would look at Shakespearean text and have to dig around into definitions, and pulling up of the strange syntaxes and things. For me, it was just drawing on that sort of classical training. It was digging into images, and I learned so much.
The technobabble that they've got flowing through this, I don't know how they come up with it as writers. Their research team must be extraordinary. For me, that was really just the key into it. The hurdle of nerves and getting the stuff out is like, "I want to make sure I'm saying this right, because there's somebody out there knows exactly the way the wording should be in order for it to actually properly make sense." It's a bit like learning a second language.
Do you have any favorite episodes or memories from season 1?
Bruce Horak: Favorite episode for me was working on... It's a real tie between episode 8 and 9. Obviously, for two different reasons.
Episode 8 was because, during the pandemic, I started playing Dungeons & Dragons for my first time ever. We had this online Zoom D&D, and the character I chose way back before I even started doing Star Trek was a wizard. I got to see the costume design for episode 8, and I'm like, "I wish I could show this to my D&D pals. They'd be over the moon." That was a riot.
I don't know if Rebecca [Romijn] mentioned this in one of her interviews, but one of my favorite moments was coming back from lunch to get into costume and prepare for the next bit of filming. I think we were working on 8 at the time. We heard Anson Mount almost from his trailer, and he had a Bluetooth speaker over his shoulder, pumping Van Halen. We hear the guitar riffs and rock'n'roll coming through. Suddenly the energy all changed. You're all post-lunch, sort of snoozing, and the energy kicked up. He showed up, and the music was blaring, and everybody just got in this rock'n'roll, super fun vibe. And it was like, "Wow, he has completely altered the tone back here." Everybody was smiling and having a great time. Yeah, that was a real highlight.
Check out our other interviews with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stars Gia Sandhu, Christina Chong, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Jesse James Keitel, and Anson Mount.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale streams Thursday, July 7, on Paramount+.