Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 2 - "Children of the Comet"
Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds already fixes the mistakes made with her character, originally played by Nichelle Nichols, in Star Trek: The Original Series. The younger version of Uhura will one day become the communications officer on the USS Enterprise commanded by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). But in Strange New Worlds, Uhura is a Starfleet Cadet assigned to the flagship of Starfleet led by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), as Nyota embarks on her first five-year mission of galactic exploration.
A series regular and part of Captain Kirk's main crew, Lt. Uhura was a groundbreaking character as an African-American woman with a prominent role in Star Trek. Uhura appeared in almost every Star Trek episode and she was stationed on the bridge directly behind Captain Kirk. Although Uhura's character was unfortunately underdeveloped - which caused Nichelle Nichols to almost quit the show until Dr. Martin Luther King convinced her to remain in Star Trek - her presence proved to be an inspiration to millions of African-American Star Trek fans. Nichelle Nichols' Uhura was part of historic moments, such as the first interracial kiss on television opposite Captain Kirk, and she also appeared in every Star Trek movie starring the TOS crew. Still, Uhura was primarily a background player who was rarely given the spotlight. This is something more recent Star Trek projects like J.J. Abrams' movie trilogy and now Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are working to correct.
Her youth and inexperience aside, Cadet Uhura is truly impressive in Strange New Worlds. As she told Captain Pike during his dinner party in Strange New Worlds episode 2, "Children of the Comet," Nyota speaks 37 Earth languages, a fact that stunned the rest of the guests. This is a smart retcon of TOS' Uhura, who was only fluent in Swahili. Nichelle Nichols' original version of Uhura wasn't an expert in languages and the fact that she couldn't speak Klingon was exploited for comedy in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. In Strange New Worlds, Cadet Uhura came aboard the Enterprise to learn alien languages, and there's little doubt that Nyota will learn as she gains more experience when the Enterprise explores strange new worlds and meets new lifeforms and civilizations. This also retcons Nichelle's Uhura to have Goodings' skills since Celia plays the younger version of the same character.
Strange New Worlds' Uhura retcon also brings the Cadet in line with the version of Nyota played by Zoe Saldana in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. Although she's remembered most for her romance with Spock (Zachary Quint0), Saldana's Uhura was a brilliant xeno-linguist and an expert in alien languages, including Klingon. The Kelvin timeline's Uhura was herself a smart reboot of Nichelle Nichols' Uhura, giving the character a skillset and talents she should have had all along. And it's no surprise that Celia Rose Gooding models her Uhura after both Nichols and Saldana's versions. Further, Saldana's Uhura followed up on how Star Trek: Enterprise's Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) was also an expert in languages, human and alien. This became a standard expectation of the Starship Enterprise's communications officers, which Strange New Worlds is bringing Cadet Uhura in line with.
Another interesting, but logical, innovation by Strange New Worlds is rotating the crew so that Cadet Uhura isn't only perched at the Enterprise bridge's communications console. Pike's lower decks crewmembers perform different functions on the ship to enhance their skillsets. For Uhura, this means she joins landing party missions like beaming into a rogue comet in Strange New Worlds episode 2. Of course, Nichelle Nichols and Zoe Saldana's Uhuras also joined their share of away missions. But it's laudable that in only its second episode, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is smartly giving Celia Rose Gooding's Cadet Uhura more spotlight, backstory, and character development than her iconic and integral character has enjoyed before.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+.